Since the first European settlers colonized North America, we have lost well over 50 percent of our wetlands. Wetlands provide tasty foods for people, including cranberries, mint, wild rice, and of course, seafood, like oysters, shrimp and crabs. Even the pollen of cattails is edible. Some cities are built on wetlands, including Washington, DC, Boston, and San Francisco. A man who fell into a bog and died about 2000 years ago was found in the 1950's in an almost perfectly preserved state.
Decomposition occurs very slowly in bogs.