BALTIMORE, Md. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Our nations wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate. But now, marshes are being restored to help save the planet.
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Bill Giese has lived near wetlands his whole life, and year after year he's watched a once thriving marsh disappear. "We've lost over 8,000 acres of wetland vegetation," said Giese.
Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide causes global warming, which causes rising sea levels that are then washing away wetlands. But tidal marshes are excellent at capturing carbon dioxide.
"Now, the beauty of a tidal marsh the decomposition is very slow, so most of the carbon that's fixed, or sequestered, stays. It doesn't get returned back to the atmosphere," Brian Needelman, Ph.D., soil scientist at the University of Maryland, told Ivanhoe.
Now, soil scientists are wading through soggy, murky marshes in a new project to help restore wetlands and help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Dirt and sediment from the bottom of rivers and bays are pumped into washed-out marshes. New marsh grasses are planted, die and decompose in the water -- taking carbon dioxide down with them. A healthy marsh can collect three to eight tons of carbon dioxide per acre a year.
"What we do is take a soil sample each year and we try to tell how much more carbon is in the soil after each year, and it increases slowly from year to year," Dr. Needelman said.
Marshes are a vital habitat for wildlife; they improve water quality and prevent shoreline erosion. Restoring wetlands is essential for a healthy earth.
"If we want marshes as part of our ecosystem and part of our lives, then we need to restore them and we need to build new ones," said Dr. Needelman.
Helping to save the planet one marsh at a time.
The American Geophysical Union and the American Waterworks Association contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.
