Sister Janet Ryan: Vanishing wetlands endanger the web of life
Fears of flash flooding are growing across the nation with increasingly heavy downpours of rain. Threats increase when "the earth’s kidneys," or wetlands, are destroyed. Our water quality is threatened, the natural purification process is weakened and more polluted streams, rivers and lakes occur without maintaining these vital filters.
Wetlands are areas that are regularly inundated by surface water and have aquatic vegetation and plants that create natural purifying systems. Wetlands filter pollutants from waters flowing through them and are very productive eco-systems, comparable to rainforests. They provide valuable habitat where fishing, hunting and birdwatching occur and where wildlife and vegetation flourish. Without wetlands, both farm field and lakeshore erosion occur and flooding increases as demonstrated in states like Louisiana, California and even in Michigan.
Recently, Michael and Chantell Sackett of Idaho, owners of an excavation company, after being informed that their property contained wetlands and that backfilling of soil for their home construction violated the Clean Water Act (CWA), brought suit against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Their wetlands were classified as “waters of the U.S.” because they were near a ditch emptying into a creek that fed into a navigable, interstate lake.
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in the couple’s favor and narrowed the definition of “waters of the U.S.” to include only wetlands immediately adjacent to a navigable river or lake as qualifying for protection, not just nearby. The SCOTUS decision that Utah wetlands are expendable is the most important water decision in a generation and it lessens our national flood protection. If one state suffers wetland destruction, all suffer. “Water does not care about state lines” was a recent comment in a National Public Radio report. It flows where it will.
This unanimous decision ignores how nature works and raises tension between individual property owners and the common good. The Supreme justices evidence silo thinking is not utilizing any scientific knowledge of hydrology and the purpose of wetlands. Their action permits the diminishment of wetlands by removing them from the CWA and eliminates any federal EPA regulation. Now each state, including Michigan, will now have to regulate and protect their own wetlands.
Since the 1972 national CWA passage, Michigan’s scientific knowledge and appreciation of the economic value of wetlands has steadily increased, with 73% of citizens stating in a 2003 survey that they are essential. Preserving the state’s wetlands to control soil erosion, prevent flooding to improve water quality and reuse have been our state’s environmental goals for over 30 years.
Michigan law offers some of the strongest wetland protection after having experienced the loss of 4.5 million acres of wetlands over the last 200 years due to farming, industry and urbanization. Michigan still has 15%, or 6.4 million acres, of wetlands, but not enough with climate change. Monroe County has drained and lost 97% of its wetlands, which were largely lake plain ,wet-mesic prairies and now has only a small remnant left.
Michigan’s wetlands protection stands in contrast to many other states where they are easily expendable. Wetland restoration, creation and preservation is promoted here. Fellows Creek in Canton is an example of wetland restoration. Creation of constructed wetlands (one of which is located on the IHM Campus in Monroe) is also encouraged.
Sterling State Park in Monroe County, our 500-acre local park, is a premier example of both wetland restoration and preservation. Eighteen acres of emergent and submergent Great Lakes marsh and 32 acres of lake plain prairie, plus shoreline restoration, a part of the River Raisin Legacy Project, are being restored and preserved, while addressing the great need to preserve wetlands.
SCOTUS was wrong in ruling that wetland preservation is not a federal matter, but one determined by each state. They either did not consider or did not understand how water flows. National regulation and collaboration are needed to sustain the whole life web including wetland protections.
Sister Janet Ryan, IHM, is a member of Stronger Together Huddle, a group engaged in supporting and promoting the common good of all. She can be reached at mcneil102@icloud.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Sister Janet Ryan: Vanishing wetlands endanger web of life
