By Alison Mitchell
Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Gathered round Martha’s Pond in New Jersey’s iconic Pine Barrens, students in Claude Epstein’s environmental science class were instructed to put down their notebooks and simply observe. Under a big blue sky, amid verdant grasses and patches of lily pads intertwined through soggy ground and rambling streams, the students lost track of time and space.
“We couldn’t tell where in the world we were,” remembers Epstein, who has since retired.
Epstein founded the environmental studies department at Stockton University and has dedicated his life to hydrology – the study of water. From rivers to scenic coastline, there are many different types of water features around New Jersey. But what often gets overlooked are the precious freshwater wetlands – marshes, swamps, bogs and fens – that make up so much of our landscape.
When we protect land, we’re also protecting our water systems. But the state has lost more than half of its original freshwater and saltwater wetlands. Until the later part of the 20th century, it was common practice to drain or fill wetlands in order to create land that was suitable for development and agriculture, and freshwater wetlands were often used as garbage dumps.
By the mid-1970s, 20% of New Jersey’s wetlands had been destroyed. Although wetlands gained some protections with the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, many freshwater wetlands fell through the cracks because of the way the law was crafted. In 1983, concerned citizens and conservation groups, working with then-state Assemblywoman Maureen Ogden and other legislators, initiated a campaign to enact a freshwater wetlands protection law.
They rallied for four years, until former Gov. Tom Kean issued a moratorium on building in state wetlands. Seventeen days later, legislators unanimously passed the New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act of 1987, adopting some of the strongest wetlands protections in the country.
Now, most of the state’s more than 600,000 acres of freshwater wetlands – and nearly 300,000 acres of saltwater wetlands – are protected to some degree under federal and state law. But they are still vulnerable, threatened by climate change, contamination and human-induced destruction.
The wetlands are vital to water quality, flood control, and rare flora and fauna. Of the 15 species on the federal threatened and endangered list in New Jersey, about half depend directly on wetlands, including bog turtles and blue-spotted salamanders.
The idea that wet areas are a problem to be remedied persists in some ways to this day. Many homes were built on wetlands before protections were in place, leaving people with periodic or persistent flooding. But many don’t realize the chain of events that led to the problem.
Freshwater wetlands protect communities. They take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. They soak up runoff from heavy rains and snow melts. They release stored flood waters during droughts, and help protect drinking water.
It’s essential that we continue to protect freshwater wetlands. That means holding fast to our landmark Freshwater Wetlands Protection law and regulations, and working to ensure sufficient resources are allocated to implement and enforce them.
Individuals can also help keep these vital lands healthy by using fewer chemicals and opting for organic alternatives to fertilizers and pesticides in homes and yards. This helps reduce runoff of excess nutrients that end up in wetlands and lead to harmful algal blooms and other disruptions to the ecosystem.
For more information about New Jersey’s wetlands, please visit The Watershed Institute at https://thewatershed.org/value-of-new-jerseys-freshwater-resources/.
To learn about preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation Foundation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.
