Why Wetland Restoration Matters in Your Coastal Community

The wetlands are a vitally important biome here on Earth, but very underappreciated by most people. Fortunately, many environmental companies serve the specific purpose of working to restore wetlands and preserve everything that the wetland ecosystems have to offer. If you’re not sure why wetlands are so important to your own coastal community, this quick guide will help.

Wetlands Serve Critical Environmental Purposes

A wetland is any swamp, marsh, bog, riverbank, mangrove, rice field, or floodplain, which means that many people view wetlands are mere inconveniences. However, the truth is that wetlands play a crucial role in helping keep the planet healthy. In addition to containing more plant and animal species than any other biome, the wetlands also feed downstream waters, trap floodwaters, and refill dwindling stores of groundwater. Most notably, wetland act as a natural filter by removing pollution from water.

Given all of these environmental benefits, coastal communities that lose their wetlands are left vulnerable to flooding, drought, contaminated water, and a loss of valuable biodiversity. This makes wetland restoration all the more important as they face incredible development pressure. “When they are viewed as unproductive or marginal lands, wetlands are targeted for drainage and conversion,” according to Wetlands International.

The Principles of Wetland Restoration

Companies that focus on wetland restoration stand by a few key principles in their work. First, they want to preserve and protect aquatic resources. This protects biodiversity and paves the way for recovery of damaged natural systems. Just as important is restoring natural structure and function, which commonly involves reversing things like stream channelization, ditching, and disconnected ecosystems. By restoring the physical attributes of the wetlands and facilitating the original function of the natural environment, the wetlands can come back to life.