Most people have some sense of the value and/or limits of having a wetland on their property, but it’s not always easy to explain why wetlands have value or where the line is between wetland and upland.

The key words are water, soil, and vegetation. A simple way to define it is that wetlands are areas that are wet enough—long enough and often enough—to support plants that thrive in wet soils. How wet that actually is can be very different from wetland to wetland, and what the soils and vegetation look like as a result can also vary a lot.

There’s tremendous variety in what a wetland actually looks like, and there are several different wetland classifications that you’ve probably heard before which reflect some of that variety: bog, fen, swamp, marsh, etc.

As a general rule of thumb, the more time water is held in a wetland, the more processes are able to work to clean that water.

Why Care About Wetlands?

Wetlands have long been viewed as wastelands particularly since they can make it more difficult to grow crops, raise livestock, or build a home.

However, improving water quality, reducing the impacts of big storm events (flooding, etc), and keeping streams flowing with cool, clean water during the hottest months of the year are just some of the benefits wetlands provide to fish, wildlife, and humans alike.

Cleaner Water

Wetlands essentially act as stepping stones as water moves down through the watershed. Rather than allowing the water to run straight through the system as fast as it can, picking up sediment and pollutants, wetlands give the water an opportunity to slow down. As water slows down, it loses its ability to move debris. Much of this sediment drops out, which wetlands collect and filter, resulting in cleaner water downstream.

Drought Prevention

The Pacific Northwest typically has wet winters and hot, dry summers. From a watershed perspective, that translates roughly to too much water in the winter and not enough in the summer. Wetlands protect against this by storing water higher in the watershed, allowing more of it to soak into the groundwater. Gradually, this winter storage is released downstream, keeping our streams flowing with cool, clean water even during hot and dry summers.

Wildlife Habitat

Wetlands provide great habitat for birds and wildlife. The unique soil and vegetation conditions, along with an abundance of decaying plant material, lays the foundation for robust populations of macroinvertebrates, amphibians, birds, and mammals. Snags, brush piles, and downed wood—staples of many healthy wetland systems—contribute valuable nutrients and building material to promote the health of these populations.

Protection Against Flooding

Because they’re so effective in slowing down water, wetlands are critical in protecting against the effects of major storms. If you were to remove all of the wetlands in a watershed, water would have more of a direct path to travel from the top of the watershed to the bottom. Wetlands add complexity to the water’s pathway downstream, slowing the water down and spreading the storm’s influx of water throughout the watershed, reducing the flood impact in any one spot.

What Can You Do?

If you have a wetland on your property, there are a lot of things you can do to help protect and improve its health and ensure its ability to provide the functions we all depend on.

Plant native plants: Native plants can help restore some of the functions of your wetland. Many native plants are adapted to growing in the unique saturated conditions of wetlands in the Pacific Northwest.

Keep it Messy: Wetlands are inherently messy. Learning to love the mess can go a long way in ensuring it stays healthy and functional. It’s okay to leave snags, downed wood, and brush piles!

If you are struggling with beaver issues on your property, the District’s habitat staff are happy to visit your property at no charge, answer your questions, and help you come up with a solution.

Sound Nature Fact Sheets