NYPIRG's Watershed Protection Campaign

Types of Wetlands
TIDAL
Includes coastal marshes, mudflats and mangrove swamps that are subjected to periodic flooding by ocean-driven tides.

NON-TIDAL
Includes the edges of rivers and lakes, freshwater marshes, bogs, wooded or shrub swamps, shallow ponds, and bottomland hardwood forests, as well an inland saline and alkaline marshes and ponds. They can be dry in the summer, but flooded during winter and spring or they may have no standing water yet their soils are saturated due to groundwater seepage or seasonal high water tables.
What Are Wetlands?
According to the Wetlands Resource of the EPA*, wetlands are "wet places where land and water mingle in novel and intricate ways to create a remarkable diverse assortment of habitat types. Water is the dominant influence on soil structure and the kinds of plants and animals characterizing a wetlands."
Wetlands can be determined by looking at three things: certain plants (hydrophytes), certain soils (hydric soils) and the level of wetness (frequency of flooding). They can be bogs or peatlands, shallow and deep marshes, prairie potholes, shrub and wooded swamps, seasonal basins or flats and wet meadows.
Why are wetlands good?
• Flood control—can slow runoff, lessening the frequency streams and rivers reach flood levels
• Water detention—detain water like a sponges, slowly releasing the water into the ground water supply
• Natural Filter—by trapping and holding water, pollutants are stored in water
• Recreation—good to canoe, fish or explore
• Rare Species—43% of threatened or endangered species, both plants and animals, in the U.S. live in or depend on wetlands
• Wildlife Habitats—many animals, such as fish, reptiles aquatic insects and amphibians, depend on wetlands for home and resting spots

How are wetlands in danger?
Wetlands have been drained, diked and filled to make way for houses and buildings, highways and roadways. Some wetlands still exist, but have been degraded by the effects of fertilizers, pesticides and oil runoff while other wetlands have been threatened by non-native plants. These impaired wetlands cannot function properly in the ecosystem. It is important that we work to protect and restore wetlands so that they can continue to play a critical role in watershed protection.
A key consequence of over-saturation of developments and sprawl is the destruction of local wetlands. As evidenced by the numerous roadway expansion projects within the watershed, protection needs to extend to smaller wetlands. Unfortunately, the City1s failure to adequately implement and administer a Wetlands Protection Program leaves many small, isolated wetlands at the mercy of developers. Recent changes in federal law make it more important for the City to protect these critical resources by acting independently to assure watershed-wide protection of wetlands.
Safeguarding wetlands is a key element of watershed protection and to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Filtration Avoidance Determination. Wetlands naturally purify water by filtering out sediments, detoxifying harmful chemicals, and weakening nutrients that can cause algae blooms in reservoirs. Even the smallest marsh or bog has a beneficial impact on the water quality.
Clean Water Act Information
Wetlands Remapping
NYPIRG Home Page • NYPIRG Environment Page • Watershed Page
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