NatureBoost Episode 64: Wetlands
May 2025
SMA
[Intro music ♫]
>> Hey there, and welcome back to NatureBoost! The podcast where we explore the outdoors in Missouri, one adventure at a time! I'm Jill Pritchard with the Missouri Department of Conservation, and this month we're diving into one of the most vital ecosystems on our planet . . . I'm talking about wetlands!
[Music ♪]
What comes to mind whenever you hear the word "wetlands"?
>> I think of frogs, and water, obviously . . . swampy trees . . . a lot of ducks.
>> Cattails is one thing that comes to mind. Another thing that comes to mind is just a lot of animals, whether it be birds or aquatic animals and . . . just the way that wetlands serve as a filtration system for the area.
>> Can I ask you a question for the podcast?
>> Sure!
>> What do you think of whenever you hear the word "wetlands"? What comes to mind?
>> Oh, I have no idea! Umm . . . soggy ground, and turtles!
>> Okay. What do you think of whenever you hear the word "wetlands"?
>> Wetlands . . .? I think of a flat area with tall grass, marshy, with water . . . I dunno, wet lands!
[Music ♪]
>> Did you know the name "Missouri" originates from an Algonquin word said to mean "people of the big canoes"? It was in reference to our large and extensive rivers and wetlands throughout the state. May is a great time to learn about these habitats, because it's American Wetlands Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and appreciation for these incredible ecosystems. But what are wetlands, and what comes to mind when we think of them?
[2:03.]
Media and pop culture can influence how we perceive certain topics . . . and sadly, they've been doing a disservice to wetlands. You may think of a dark, murky lake such as the setting from the classic horror film The Creature From the Black Lagoon, or the dead marshes that Frodo and Sam have to cross in The Lord of the Rings. Or, even in animated films like the swamp that Shrek calls home, depicted as a gross, lonely place only fit for an ogre.
So, I'm sure you can see wetlands haven't been shown in the best light in the mainstream media, but in reality, these habitats are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on earth, and they support a wide variety of plants and animals. And May is a great time to visit a wetland, as spring migration peaks.
[Nature sounds, birds chirping.]
>> Just like people, birds are attracted to water. Wetlands are a great place for people to come and bird, because you'll have so many different species moving through. Especially in spring, in May . . . you've got spring migration, you've got birds that are residents like the herons that are around . . . and so, yeah. These are areas with a lot of activity. It's going to be a great opportunity for folks to be able to come out to an area, whether they're long-time visitors, or first time birders. Here, we've got more blueing teal . . .
>> There's a lot!
>> Do you see the bird on the far side that looks different than the others?
>> Umm . . .
Frank Nelson is MDC's wetland ecologist. He's the guy you want to talk to about these habitats, and I got the chance to speak with him last month while he took me around Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area in Columbia.
[4:01.]
Eagle Bluffs is a wetland area, and a popular spot for waterfowl hunters. Now, it may be because I had a scientist as my guide, but I really don't think I've ever seen as many different species of wildlife in one place before visiting this area. And, keep in mind, we were only there for a few hours.
>> Yeah, it looks like . . . we've got green wings and blue wings, and then the lone shoveler, just hanging out.
>> Are those red-eared sliders on there? Do you see those?
>> Yeah.
>> Those are massive!
>> Yeah. It's a sunny day, and a sunny day in spring. It's a good time to get out and soak up some rays. And, there's our pelicans to the right!
>> Oh my gosh! Whoa! They're all coming in for a landing.
>> I wasn't making it up!
>> Nope! [Laughing.] Wow . . .
>> The Missouri river once flowed through what is now Eagle Bluffs, and sunk the Plowboy steamship, which is now believed to be buried under the sand and silt in the area. MDC would later purchase the property to help offset the loss of 90% of Missouri's historical wetlands. Eagle Bluffs wetlands have been restored by creating 17 shallow pools which allow the flooding of more than 1,000 acres of marshes and crop fields. These marshes provide habitat for migrating and wintering birds and permanent wildlife, as well as great wildlife viewing and hunting opportunities. The area was actually experiencing dry conditions at the time of this recording, due to several construction projects that had started, but as you heard, we still saw so many different wildlife species.
[Music ♪]
Before we go further, let's rewind. What is a wetland? It can be a little difficult to define.
[6:00.]
Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface for part of the year. So yes, some wetlands can be dry. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs and estuaries. They can be freshwater, saltwater, or a mix of both. And, they exist all across the U.S. from the Everglades in Florida, to the Great Lakes region, to the Pacific Northwest.
>> And, that's the challenge with wetlands. You know? It's defining them. They're this transition between wet and dry. And, they don't fit in a good classification system because they typically fit right on that line. So, there's three indicators for the legal definition of a wetland. That is, that ponding of water, sometimes it's just saturation of the soils. You can have ground water table, you may never even see water. But, the ground water is high enough that it influences the soils, makes it wet, and so the soils as another characteristic, it has to be a hydric soil. That means, it's a wet soil and has different colorations that show that there's water permanence.
Or . . . that the plants or the microbes are staining that soil, and giving it characteristics. Or, it could even be, like we were talking earlier, the texture. Clays, or it could be organic matter. Wetlands that are flooded for a really long time . . . decomposition really slows. So, you'll have a build up of that organic matter in the soils. So, it has unique soil characteristics.
The third factor is . . . hydrophilic plants or "water loving" plants. Basically, not everything like it's feet wet. Wetland plants have certain adaptations that allow them to live in these wet areas, that may not have oxygen.
[8:02.]
So, that may be kind of a snorkel . . . the cypress knees are essentially like a snorkel for the trees. Or, there may be. . . . like, cattail leaves and rushes have little tubes in the stems that are essentially like a snorkel, and it'll allow them to breathe.
>> So, I love the cypress trees. Those are very unique-looking trees. Their little knees . . .?
>> It helps with respiration, yeah. It also helps with stability because those soils are so wet, basically the roots in wetlands typically go sideways. It's not helpful to go down, because there's no oxygen if you go any further down. So, they kind of go sideways instead. That helps with stability.
>> Wetlands do so much more than just look beautiful. They play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy environment, by filtering pollutants from the water before it flows into rivers, lakes and oceans. Wetlands are so great at water filtration, they're often referred to as "nature's kidneys."
>> When we're thinking about excess nutrients, or contaminants, or sediments . . . as the river gets out and spreads out in the floodplain, you have plants that are soaking up those extra nutrients. The microbes are actually working also, and will kind of degas . . . and nitrogen will go back up into the atmosphere. Phosphorus on the other hand will kind of become part of the plant roots or . . . you know, even the trees, so the biomass of the plants themselves can be locked away.
Other times, some of that material and contaminants are just buried within the floodplain. As that water is leaving, the nutrients and contaminants are left in those places and stored. So . . . in that way, wetlands act as a kidney for the larger system.
[10:01.]
>> Other benefits include carbon storage. Wetlands store vast amounts of carbon, helping to combat climate change. They provide habitat for countless wildlife species, and they help with flood control.
>> Wetlands are so diverse. I mean, there's so many different critters that take advantage of the abundant resources that are here. You've got the plant growth, and you've got . . . you know, the grazers that are keying into the plants. Then you have the whole food web that is essentially taking advantage of this "buffet" that's occurring within the wetlands. So, we've seen the birds out on the area today, we've seen some fish flopping around, we've seen turtles . . . we've seen deer. You know? I'm sure underneath this forest, they've got some rabbits . . . we've seen the raccoons. We know that those birds are foraging on bugs, the raccoon was probably foraging on crayfish. So, yeah. There's a lot of different species that they . . . live in a wetland, they thrive here, or there's critters that come to wetlands, whether they migrate or are residents.
Wetlands are also helpful in reducing flood damages. So, allowing water to spread out and basically slow it down. Then, the vegetation itself, whether it's the trees or the cattail, will also help provide surface roughness and essentially slow the velocity down. Flood velocity is what causes most of the damages. By allowing spaces like wetlands to let that slow down and spread out, you're reducing costs elsewhere.
On the flipside of that, during droughts . . . wetlands slowly reduce or release that water. You know, often times you need a sponge to soak water up, but if you leave that sponge in place, it's just not going to dump it all out. It slowly releases it. That's the same way that wetlands do.
[12:03.]
During a time of drought, it can provide some soil moisture that's really needed, to adjacent habitats.
>> [unclear.]
>> Part of that too, in terms of slowly releasing water, is really important when those wetlands are adjacent to small streams. So, when you think about it, most of the flow in our big river systems is the culmination of all those small little headwater streams. So, where does that water come from? Well, if there are small, adjacent wetlands slowly releasing it, especially in drought times . . . that's slowly feeding the stream, which is slowly feeding the bigger river systems downstream.
[Music ♪]
Just being outside is stimulating for the mind.
>> You know what I call that?
>> What . . .?
>> Getting a nature boost.
>> Exactly! [Laughing.] Whether you're in a wetland or not, you can get a nature boost. Sometimes the smells, specifically in a wetland, will tingle your nostrils.
>> Such as . . .?
>> Well, the sulphur smell sometimes. Some people call it the rotten egg smell.
>> Does it have a sulphur smell, because of . . .?
>> Yes, because of what the microbes are doing in the water, and everything. That's nutrient cycling.
>> That's a sign that it's working.
>> Yes, exactly.
>> That's a smell you want to smell, even if you don't want to smell it . . . you want to smell it . . . yeah! It's good.
>> Exactly! So, whenever you smell that in a wetland, maybe look around for a "wetland is working" sign as well. I think sometimes, it kind of harkens back to when you're a kid, and just exploring. Just being able to be curious about your surroundings . . . and, often we don't know what we're looking at. I think having that curiosity and whether you're using an app, or a field guide . . . that's always good to connect with your surroundings.
[14:05.]
And, I think that also kind of harkens back to cultural values. Wetlands have always . . . for a lot of the United States history, in the last 200 years, we haven't valued wetlands. But, that's not always been the case. A lot of indigenous tribes depended on wetlands. It was basically their grocery store, or medicine cabinet. You see that in the words that they use . . . there wasn't this weird, ambiguous "wet land" . . . what does that even mean?
>> We're still not sure what it means!
>> Exactly! You know, there's a tribe, the Abenaki tribe from the Northeast . . . the root word was "water" and "medicine." It really referred to wetlands as a "medicine water garden." Then, the Ojibwe . . . their migration prophecy was to go west until they found food on the water. That word is "manoomin", which is wild rice. So, the wild rice of the Great Lakes is where they settled. There's this real cultural identity and place in their society that wetlands play. I think that's important for any culture, quite honestly, to value these places and find ways to connect with them.
Part of that, is spending time in these spaces.
[Music ♪]
>> Over the past century, wetlands have been drained, polluted, or filled in for development or agriculture. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. has lost more than 50% of its wetlands in the last 200 years. But, conservation efforts are working to make a difference.
Tell me about this wetland reserve easement program.
[16:02.]
>> Yeah. So, we've lost a lot of what we once had in Missouri. A lot of that was in agriculture. And . . . locations that didn't exactly make sense for agriculture, and the fact that they're flood prone. So, we have an option for private landowners that want to do something different. It's a voluntary program through the USDA. It's a federal program in which you can basically set your land aside as a one-time easement to restore that farm ground back into a wetland area. It's been very successful in Missouri. This was established in the 90s, and since that time we've restored over 160,000 acres across the state. That really is one of those wetland restoration success stories that we have in Missouri.
>> 160,000 acres! Just, Missouri?
>> Yes. Yeah. It's definitely significant. In places that we have . . . we continue today to have large flood events. In some of these spots where we have these complexes of wetland reserve easements . . . their functioning, and slowing the water down, slowing the nutrients down, and not having the damage that we see in other places that don't have those kinds of wetland complexes.
>> Not all of us have land that we can use in the wetland reserve easement program, but there are other ways each of us can support these habitats.
>> Learning more about our ecosystems in itself, and greater awareness of how our actions may impact our surroundings is the first step. Water is everywhere, and we can all take different steps in being better water conservationists. You know . . .
[18:00.]
If you have a house . . . you can figure out where your water is going in terms of storm water runoff. So, rain gardens is one way to take part. You know, supporting neighborhood and city and county ordinances for smart and sustainable development is also . . . so, where is that water going? And, allowing us to work with water, and getting it space during big times of flooding. That's also critical. That kind of filters up to, how do you practice your right to vote, and supporting legislation? Those that will be supportive of conservation activities?
I think there's a wide range, or even . . . you know, volunteering. There's a wide range of, whether it's watershed groups, or community groups, even wetland-specific groups like Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl and others that will be strong advocates for wetlands. Those are other ways in which people can take part and support these vital areas.
>> What's your favorite wetland . . . in Missouri?
>> I have to say, I'm biased to . . . you mentioned right at the top, that you think of cypress swamps. Well, they are pretty cool. Southeast Missouri, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge and Duck Creek have cypress swamps. There's something about, you know, being out there say in October with the sun coming up, and the light filtering through the leaves, and the water hitting . . . the light hitting the water, and the wood ducks screaming through the branches . . . it's pretty amazing.
>> They're screaming?
>> Oh, yeah.
>> That's a specific term! [Laughing.]
>> Well, they do! Their call sounds a bit like a scream, and they're on fire, flying through the branches. So . . .
[20:00.]
>> [unclear.] How does it sound?
>> Uhh . . . I can't do it! It's a whistling sound.
>> A whistle scream?
>> Yes.
>> Try it. [Whispering.]
>> I wouldn't do it justice.
[Bird call sounds.]
[Music ♪]
>> Wetlands are some of the most valuable ecosystems on our planet, and they need our help. Whether it's by volunteering, learning more, or simply appreciating their beauty and value . . . every effort counts. Learn more and find a wetland to visit near you, at missouriconservation.org. Thanks again to wetland ecologist Frank Nelson, to digital media producer Peg Craft, and to you, for listening to another episode of NatureBoost! Be sure to check out next month's episode, where I prepare for my first ever backpacking trip, and I'm taking you along with me!
I'm Jill Pritchard with the Missouri Department of Conservation, wishing you a happy American Wetlands Month, and encouraging you to get your daily dose of the outdoors!
[Outro music ♫]
[Nature sounds, birds calling.]
[End of podcast.]