Wetlands provide storage areas that slowly release water downstream. They are a massive sponge, and like a sponge has the ability to go from saturation to dryness such as we had in last summer s drought. Wetlands reduce the flow and velocity of flood waters, reducing erosion and helping waters to deposit sediments. Wetlands are storage for vast amounts of carbon. They prevent the carbon from escaping into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, known to be one of the leading causes of global warming.
Wetlands are producers of life, some wetlands as productive as a similar size of rain forest.
This 4800 acre Great Swamp is host to rare and endangered plants and animals. The Great Swamp provides a filter to remove pollutants that would otherwise degrade our streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and aquifers. These pollutants flow from shopping centers, farms, homes, septics, roads and all the rest of our creeping urbanization. Every time another development occurs within the watershed of The Great Swamp this irreplaceable treasure is compromised a little more. No wetland can continue forever to absorb water and pollutants when there is slow but sure damage to its functions.