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Example research essay topic: U S Congress Ice Caps - 3,050 words

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... silly means that any and all assistance that comes from the government to help farmers. Things like disaster insurance, and bonding are all cut from them until they either get a permit or restore the wetland (Mitchell, J. (1992, October) Our Disappearing Wetlands. National Geographic, Pg. 35). It was said before that farming is one of the most destructive forces working against wetlands, which is why theres a whole section devoted to it. Farming has always used wetlands for their water and then destroyed them to raise crops.

Farming can cause destruction so devastating to the land it may never recover. Things like demolition, pollution, and upsets in the ecosystem can all be attributed to farming. The most direct form of destruction from farming is the clearing of land for farms. During the early parts of this century wetlands were regarded by everyone to be useless wastelands, this is why farmers never hesitated to remove a marsh that was in the way of their orange grove. Also there were no laws to stop farmers from doing what they wanted to with wetlands.

With growing technology and mechanical advances farmers have been able to maintain larger and larger areas of land, which intern means more wetland destruction. Since 1950 the population of Florida has grown by leaps and bounds, and the farm industry has followed close behind. As of now the number of Farmers in the Sunshine State has reached an all time high, in response for the demand for food. Another way that Farms wreak havoc on wetlands is in the chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides.

Pesticides take the most direct toll on the environment, they not only kill the insects that feed on crops, but the insects in wetlands where the run off from farms make their way into swamps. From here the pesticides can kill even large animals like ducks and fish, and upset the natural bacterial and microorganisms that form the base of the food chain. Herbicides are what farmers use to keep down weeds. This has a disastrous effect on the environment that is made up mostly of plants. The herbicides make their way into the swamp the same way as pesticides the only difference is that on most farms herbicides are sprayed much more often as weeds are a consistent problem. These chemicals do not just hurt plants, they are extremely poisonous to wild life.

The last and seemingly least dangerous chemicals to wetlands are fertilizers. While fertilizers do not kill or destroy any plants or animals they can have a huge indirect impact. Fertilizers cause plant life to over grow, to kind of tip the ecological scale. What does this mean? It means that there are more plants than the herbivores can eat and this disrupts the ecosystem.

The final form of wetland destruction that is sprung out of farming is the draining of wetlands for their water. To farmers this is the only good thing they see in wetlands, a cheap accessible source of water. Farmers realized that these inconveniently placed roadblocks could provide a useful resource before they are plowed over. This problem is what continued the destruction of wetlands after the wetlands protection act was passed because there was no law against the draining of wetlands. The thing with wetlands is that taking away their water is just as bad as removing them because the life inside them cannot survive with out the water and the whole place dies anyway. This loophole allowed wetlands to be violated still, until the swamp buster law made this illegal (Mairson, A. (1994, April).

National Geographic). Right now it may seem that man is completely at fault for the damage done to wetlands, but there are many environmental factors that are causing wetlands to disappear. Things like droughts, erosion, and rising sea levels are all causing damage in some form to wetlands. Droughts have always been a problem for wetlands, they cause the ecosystem to dry up and when this happens the wetland is basically destroyed. However this problem does have its roots with man, water pumps and dams can prevent wetlands from receiving their sources of water and dry up. Erosion usually happens when a river that is connected to a wetland overflows and washes away the area.

Wetlands are designed to have water that is stagnant or not moving, when this water begins to flow like a river the wetland is devastated. Plants begin to wash away and the current takes away the offspring of animals, like fish and tadpoles, since they are too weak to fight against it. Rising sea levels are a big problem especially for coastal marshes. Im sure many of us can remember the movie WATERWORLD (Universal Pictures, 1995) where the earth is covered with water because the ice caps melted. Well according to scientists this is becoming more science fact than fiction. As pollution continues to ravage the ozone layer the ice caps melt causing the oceans to rise and this is proving costly for coastal marshes.

These areas cannot survive when completely submerged in salt water. With out these wetlands we lose a vital link between the land and sea. Construction is another huge threat to wetlands. As the population grows the need for affordable housing becomes obvious.

Contractors are always begging to turn wetlands into low cost housing, malls, or movie theaters. Construction in itself is a very permanent form of wetland destruction in that it may be difficult to get permission to build over a bog, but its impossible to move someone out of their house to replace a precious ecosystem. This may seem like wetlands are holding back the economy by preventing construction, but how much money to we gain or lose because of wetlands each year. Wetlands contribute to the economy by producing resources and commodities and providing other benefits. One of the largest industries that have sprung from wetlands is the fishing industry. Wetlands are important spawning nursery areas and provide plant food for commercial and recreational fish and shellfish industries.

In 1991, the dockside value of fish landed in the United States was $ 3. 3 billion, which served as the basis of a $ 26. 8 billion fishery processing and sales industry, which in turn employs hundreds of thousands of people. An estimated 71 % of this value is derived from fish species that during their life cycles depend directly or indirectly on coastal wetlands. For example, Louisiana's marshes alone produce an annual commercial fish and shellfish harvest of 1. 2 billion pounds worth $ 244 million in 1991. Another large form of income from wetlands is recreation. More than half of all U.

S. adults (98 million people) hunt, fish, bird watch, or photograph wildlife. These activities, which rely on healthy wetlands, added an estimated $ 59. 5 million to the national economy in 1991. Individual States likewise gain economic benefits from recreational opportunities in wetlands that attract visitors from other States. (Taken from [U. S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. 1993.

Preparing for an Uncertain Climate]. ) It has been said already that wetlands protect the environment from pollution, what hasnt been discussed is what that saves people in terms of taking time and natural resources to clean water. Wetlands help stop pollutants from entering receiving waters. For example, the wetlands of the Congaree Bottomland Hardwood Swamp in South Carolina remove sediment and toxic substances and remove or filter excess nutrients. The least cost substitute for these wetlands benefits would be a water treatment plant costing $ 5 million dollars to construct, and additional money would be needed to operate and maintain the plant. (U. S.

Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. 1993. Preparing for an Uncertain Climate) Since wetlands can retain excess water, they can replace expensive man made dykes or canals. Which brings me to my next point, the savings on drainage. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has come up with the cost of $ 300 to replace, on average, each acre-foot of floodwater storage. In other words, if development eliminates a one-acre wetland that naturally holds 12 inches of water during a storm, the replacement cost would be $ 300.

The cost to replace the 5, 000 acres of wetlands lost annually in Minnesota would be $ 1. 5 million (in 1991 dollars). It is obvious now that wetlands pose a great benefit to the economy through its resources and recreation, how its one of a kind ecosystem supports a wide variety of wild life that makes it precious to the environment, but what does the future hold for wetlands. When this country was first founded in 1776 there were over 220 million acres of wetlands in the lower 48 states, today less than 100 million acres remain. This translates to 60 acres per hour from then until now, and at the current rate of destruction there will be less than 10 percent of wetlands remaining in the US (Mitchell, J. (1992, October) Our Disappearing Wetlands. National Geographic, pp. 13 - 14). Even though this is a scary statistic EPA officials are confidant with the new laws in place protecting wetlands we can look forward to still having more than 10 percent around in the future.

Currently some states like California have less than 9 % of its original wetlands remaining. For states like California there is little we can do to repair the damage that has been done. Thats not to say that there hasnt been attempts to replace what nature has created. This even made its way into the white house when the Clinton administration looked for a solution to try to stop the terrible flooding problems that have been affecting the states bordering the Mississippi River. In 1993 the administration decided to convert nearby agricultural land into wetlands.

According the plan, the new areas would be converted to wetlands, rather than having their levees rebuilt at taxpayers' expense. Rivers could then spread across floodplains with less threat to property, less water speeding downstream toward cities, and lower government costs for emergency relief and cleanup. However when nearby farmers complained that levees should be built instead of taking a gamble on artificial wetlands, this became known as the Levee Controversy. Artificial wetlands had never been used before and had had a terrible track record. Farmers were also mad that they had to give up hundreds of acres of land that could be put to agricultural use.

To quote one farmer These levee districts protect land that produces good for mankind. They don't get flooded every year. Maybe once in 20 or 30 years. That has to be considered. (Steven Swanson (February 23, 93) The Levee Controversy Chicago Tribune). Regardless of its critics the plan was put into effect and the land was converted into wetlands. To this day we sill do not know how effective the wetlands have been since there has not been a great enough flood to test the flood preventing abilities of these wetlands.

In 1985 there was an attempt to replace the Sweetwater marsh in New Mexico with bad results. With in a year half the species that were placed in the wetland died out, and with in two years the wetland had gone completely dry. It was as George Zedler said, I told the sponsors of the wetland restoration that these man made wetlands were only half as good as the originals. In response to that they said then well make twice as many. To that I said if you had an original Van Gogh would you replace it for 2 copies because they take up more wall space? (Mitchell, J. (1992, October) Our Disappearing Wetlands. National Geographic, Pg 43). (Marshall, 1978) Since the late 1700 s, over half of the wetlands of the United States, excluding Alaska, have been lost.

About 35 percent were gone by the 1950 s; wetland destruction during the next two decades resulted in an additional loss equal to the combined area of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Although still substantial, the rate of loss has since decreased, with inland marshes receiving better protection but forested wetlands sustaining more damage. Wetland losses have resulted in greater flooding and erosion, reduced water quality, and reduced populations of many plants and animals. (Pg. 3) So what is being done now to successfully help bring back wetlands? There are several States that have started wetland conservation programs that are run both privately and publicly.

However most of the time these group are made up of volunteers that do not come back after working for a day in a mosquito infested swamp. After a while these programs fall apart and on top of that when they were running they were very limited in scope and did little to help the wetlands while they were there. While this seems to be what happens the majority of the time, there are a few states that have a wetland programs that are really making a change. One example of this is Texas, Texas's WCP, State Wetland Conservation Plan, will focus upon non-regulatory and voluntary approaches to wetland protection to complement its regulatory program (Allen, 1995).

The plan will encourage development of economic incentives for private landowners to protect wetlands and educational outreach for State and local officials. Tennessee is following a similar route, trying to educate the owners of private wetlands to preserve them rather than convert them to more profitable forms. Maine on the other hand will work more on improving state and federal relations on the SWCP do that more funding can occur as well as to come up with a more organized plan to restore or maintain wetlands. This will not help wetlands in the beginning but will pay off in the long run. These conservation plans for the most part are working. According to the National Fish and Wildlife Service, since 1985 the rate of wetland destruction has began to slowly recede, due to things like SWCP and the new laws protecting wetlands.

The wetland issue actually gained enough attention to have their own field of study given to them. In the early 1980 s, wetland science emerged as a separate field, and better information concerning the importance of wetlands was available to the public. As a result of the raised awareness of wetland values, attitudes began to change. Laws like Section 404 of the Clean Water Act of 1972 (revised 1975), which regulates the dumping of solids into wetlands and waterways, (Encarta 2001: Role of Wetlands) and the 1985 Swampbuster provisions of the Flood Securities Act were passed to protect and preserve wetlands. Public and private programs were developed to restore wetlands. Because of this wetland losses began to go down.

In 1988 the National Wetlands Policy Forum established a program of no net loss of wetlands, (Mitchell, J. (1992, October) Our Disappearing Wetlands. National Geographic). with stronger wetland protection policies but also recognition that some wetlands will be destroyed by development. Under this program, lost acres may be recovered by the creation of new wetlands and the rebuilding of degraded wetlands. Overall wetland loss has slowed significantly due to the combination of laws and helpful organizations.

From 1985 to 1995 there has been a loss of 1. 2 million acres in the United States, which is about 120, 000 acres a year. Since then the number of wetlands destroyed has dropped to less than 100, 000 (Encarta 2001: Wetland Losses Slowed Due to Regulations). This study done by the National Fish and Wildlife Service also found that 80 % of wetland loss was caused by agricultural development. They assume that through the new laws, making wetlands less profitable to destroy, that wetland deforestation will continue to have its steady downhill decline. By 1991 60 countries had joined the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, adopted in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971 and known as the Ramsar Convention (Encarta 2001: Wetland Conservation Issues). Member countries are required to designate at least one wetland as a conservation project to add to the List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The Ramsar List includes 74 million acres of wetlands in more than 500 locations. Still this is only about 3 percent of the total wetland area of the world. Twenty of these sites are considered to be seriously at risk, and many have no management program. Conflicts over wetland policies remain, since the public benefits the most and individuals the least from restrictions on developing wetlands. Much of the argument centers on the legal definition of a wetland. Many wetland activists believe that a greater area of a wetland should be protected than the area suggested by some landowners or developers.

All in all what is and isnt a wetland will continued to be fought over because the definition of a wetland can always be thrown up for debate. One thing about wetlands is that though most of history they have remained unchanged. Like hot geysers their habitat has remained unchanged allowing the life inside to remain the same. Some scientists are guessing that something like a complete wetlands overhaul may occur with in the next century, if they are not all destroyed. Experts believe that due mostly to the intervention of man wetlands may change to fit the surrounding environment. Things like pollution and the intervention of man have caused wetlands to adjust to have life forms more resistant to pollution.

Other scientists predict that the wetlands should remain the same the way they have for the thousands of years they have been around. All in all it is our responsibility to preserve these landscapes, and with the clock ticking we are rapidly running out of time to save these precious ecosystems. By the time you finish reading this 42 acres of wetlands will be gone BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, David, Jr. Stream Ecology. Sioux City: Chapman and Hall, 1995. Angel, Heather.

The Water Naturalist. Memphis: Windmill Publishers, 1982. Gomez, Jane. The Everglades. Boston: Houghton, 1992. Marshall, Alexandra.

Still Waters. New York: William Marrow & Co. , 1978. Mitchell, John G. Our Disappearing Wetlands. National Geographic October 1992: Pgs. 44. Mairson, Alan.

Florida Everglades: Dying For Help. National Geographic April 1994: Pgs. 2 - 35. Wetlands Encarta Encyclopedia. Ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Inc. Copywrite 2001


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Research essay sample on U S Congress Ice Caps

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