When the Army Corps of Engineers is building a road and a boulder gets in the way, they just move it. If there are deep ruts in the way, they fill them with dirt. Incredibly, this policy has been applied to "inconveniently located" wetlands that are in the way of a road or a development.

If it's in your way, move it and fill in the hole that is left. Then dig a new hole somewhere and call it a "mitigated wetland!"

But wetlands are not boulders or ruts. They are extremely complicated systems that require a specific list of geological, hydrological characteristicts, along with adapted plants and animals. There are many types and sizes of wetlands, but they all do certain things that benefit humans in the particular place that nature has prepared over centuries. The concept of mitigation assumes that man can do it in 5 years or less, in a place that might be miles away from the original site!

And it can be dangerous to your house...

"Build your house in a wetland, and you've got a hobby for the rest of your life," warns Ed Perry. You will be fighting that water forever."

• Why We Must Preserve Them
• A Few Facts
• How They Work
• Iceberg
• Door- Site Map