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Wetlands encompass many different habitats including ponds, marshes, swamps, and peat lands. They are areas where land and water meet and are wet for an ecologically significant pat of the year. Wetlands may be temporally flooded each day as with tidal marshes, or filled seasonally with water from melting snow. Plants and animals present in wetlands are from land and water habitats making them highly productive environments. Wetlands function as ecotones, transitions between different habitats, and have characteristics of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Figure 1).
Wetlands are found along the shorelines of oceans, lakes, rivers, and in local depressions. The water in natural wetlands derives from tidal flows, lakes, flooding rivers, or connections to groundwater. The water table in wetlands is at or near the surface, and the land is often covered with shallow water.
Functions
Wetlands serve many functions:
1. Water filtration and purification
Wetlands have often been described as the kidneys of the landscape because of the role they play in water and chemical cycles. Wetlands filter out sediment and decomposing plant matter from the surrounding environment, as well as other pollutants, so that the water they discharge is cleaner than that which entered the wetland. In this manner, wetlands act as both a sink and source, storing and passing on vital resources to their local environment.
2. Groundwater supply
Wetlands store excess water and replenish local groundwater supplies.
3. Erosion control
Grasses, sedges and cattails stabilize the shorelines in wetlands by reducing the energy of waves, currents, and other erosive forces. Their roots trap sediments preventing the loss of valuable agricultural and residential land.
4. Flood control
Many wetlands are associated with the floodplains surrounding rivers. When these rivers swell in times of heavy rainfall or spring runoff, the wetlands store excess water that is gradually transferred to groundwater reserves rather than flowing overland
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5. Nutrient retention and export
Wetlands retain nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorous, through accumulation in subsoil or storage in vegetation. Wetlands remove nutrients from water, preventing eutrophication (nutrient overloading), thus improving water quality, and act as a nutrient source returning them to their surroundings.
6. Wildlife habitat for plants and animals, most notably waterfowl, fish and shellfish
7. Recreation
Ramsar
The Convention on Wetlands, also known as Ramsar Convention, after the city in Iran where it was adopted in 1971, is an inter-governmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
The definition of wetlands included in the Convention is deliberately broad, encompassing “areas of marshes, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is flowing or static, fresh, brackish or salty, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres”. It may also include riparian (the interface between land and streams) and coastal zones adjacent to the wetlands, and islands or bodies of marine water deeper than six meters at low tide lying within the wetlands. These characteristics form the basis for classifying wetland types contained in the ‘Ramsar Classification of Wetland Type’, into 20 types of inland wetlands, 12 types of marine & coastal wetlands, and 10 types of human & man-made wetlands.
New Mexico Wetlands
Wetlands cover approximately 482,000 acres (0.6%) of New Mexico; most are in the eastern and northern areas of the state. New Mexico’s wetlands include forested wetlands, bottom-land shrub lands, marshes, fens, alpine snow glades, wet and salt meadows, shallow ponds, and playa lakes. Riparian wetlands and playa lakes are especially valuable to migratory waterfowl and wading birds. New Mexico has lost about one-third of its wetlands, mostly due to agricultural conversion, diversion of water to irrigations, overgrazing, and urbanization. Other causes of loss or degradation have been mining, clear-cutting, road construction, stream-flow regulation, and invasion by nonnative plants.
The Fred Baca Park Wetlands comprise 5 acres along the Rio Fernando de Taos, accessible by an 800 m (0.5 mile) closed-loop path and boardwalk.
CAUTION
During cold spells, the trail and boardwalk are closed. Do not attempt this Earthcache when the trail is closed or covered with snow or ice as the boardwalk, covered in synthetic materials, is very slippery.
To claim this Earthcache:
1. Take and post a picture of your GPSr at the posted coordinates (optional) and e-mail me the answers to the following questions which can be found on the information panels nearby:
2. State one predominant plant found in this wetland.
3. What type or classification is this wetland?
4. What formed this wetland?
Do NOT post your answers on your log, encrypted or otherwise.
DO NOT LOG AS A FIND UNTIL YOU HAVE FORWARDED THE ANSWERS FOR THIS EC. Logs failing to answer required questions through e-mail will result in a log deletion without notice. Exceptions will be considered if you contact me first.
***NOTE***
The Wetland's Trail & EC is accessible daily between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Trail is closed to the public during the winter months, re-opening in March, weather permitting. If in doubt about accessibility, the Taos Parks & Recreation Department can be contacted at (575) 758-8234.
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