(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Wetlands and Buffers [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-06-26
What are wetlands and what is a buffer? Wetlands are often defined as any swampy natural body of water, including marshes, bogs, swamps, fens (See: www.epa.gov/...). Often these are associated with lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks, as well as the ocean. NOAA has defined wetlands more broadly as marine (ocean), estuarine (estuary), riverine (river), lacustrine (lake), and palustrine (marsh) (See: oceanservice.noaa.gov/...). Such waters are vital to the natural environment, including many wetland plants, microorganisms, insects, birds, fish, aquatic mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and ourselves. Many photosynthesizing organisms are included. The functions of these productive areas include sequestering CO2, producing oxygen (which we breath), flood control, purification of wastewater, wildlife habitat (including salmon runs and habitat for other food fish), and as recreational areas (boating, fishing, swimming) (See: www.americanrivers.org/...). While many of these have become so polluted that we cannot eat the fish because of heavy metal contamination, some others are still functioning, such as Rocky Mountain trout streams. It is in our best interest to maintain and restore such areas. A buffer is an area of habitat surrounding a wetland that helps maintain its integrity and provides additional space for terrestrial species that are part of a normal wetland biome.
While rivers and creeks are not classified by the EPA as wetlands, it is easy to see that they are often associated.
Baker River, North Cascades, Washington.
Icicle Creek, Chelan County, Washington.
Diablo Lake, North Cascades, Washington.
When I first arrived in Edmonds, Washington, in 2015, I almost immediately got involved with the Committee to Save The Edmonds Marsh, which was also an estuary and contained a historic salmon stream, Willow Creek. I suggested a science subcommittee to research data on wetlands and became its chair. The committee settled on a 100 ft. buffer for the Marsh, with an additional 10 ft added by the City Council. This was not at all an extreme position as is noted in a detailed analysis by the Massachusetts Department of Natural Resources Conservation published by the Vermont Department of Natural Resources (see: dec.vermont.gov/...) and the recommendations of the State of Washington Department of Ecology (Hruby, Thomas. 2013. Update on Wetland Buffers. Department of Ecology, State of Washington, 47pages. apps.ecology.wa.gov/...). The buffer of 100 ft. for wetlands is considered a minimum for natural wetlands with wildlife habitat and often 200 ft. or more would be better. Below a 100 ft. buffer a wetland is usually considered to not be a wildlife habitat (See; the ratings of wetlands by the Washington State Department of Ecology).
Goodhope Pond in winter, Pine Ridge Park, Edmonds, Washington.
Goodhope Pond in fall, Pine Ridge Park, Edmonds, Washington.
Male Wood Duck, Goodhope Pond, Pine Ridge Park, Edmonds, Washington. An example of wildlife in wetlands.
Recently the Snohomish County Commission in Washington state decided by a 3-4 vote to cut the county buffer to 50 ft. plus a fence! A 50 ft. buffer is considered as having little wildlife value in the Washington State Department of Ecology’s view and it would likely be easy to downgrade the buffer area to a mere 25 ft or less, making the site open to development. Also a fence is not habitat! The County Commissions who supported the change reasoned that the buffer reduction was necessary to accommodate an expected increase of over 100,000 residents in the county over the next ten years. There are always such reasons to devalue environmental regulations, fostered by developers, including energy companies, who argue that human needs are more important than environmental regulations, completely overlooking the amount of research that went into developing such regulations. They also usually ignore the long term effects that will actually have negative impact on residents of the areas involved.
Wetlands are necessary parts of ecosystems and the should be protected, cleaned up if necessary (at least as much as can be done) and have decent buffers for maintaining wildlife values.
All photos by me, as usual.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/6/26/2327870/-Wetlands-and-Buffers?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
