Wetlands clean the water in other ways, too. Eutrophication is one of the biggest problems threatening our region's most precious resource-Chesapeake Bay. Years of land development, road construction, agriculture, forest removal and wetland filling have left our river's shores open to erosion. Silt and excess nutrients eventually wash downriver to the Chesapeake. But if we were smart, we'd leave the wetlands alone to do their cleanup job.
Wetlands also provide food, vegetative cover and water.
Many commercial or recreational fish breed and grow in wetlands that surround open waters. They include perch, pickerel, bass, sunfish, muskellunge, catfish and walleyes. Aquatic insects, amphibians and reptiles also live and breed in wetlands. Unfortunately, some of these species are endangered or threatened because they have lost wetland habitat. The bog turtle is one such species.