Here you see a saltwater marsh pond in Blue Hill and, below that, a freshwater marsh pond in Brooklin. Both are different parts of Maine’s important wetlands.
Over five million acres of Maine’s wetlands are freshwater wetlands (wooded swamps, shrub swamps, bogs, freshwater meadows, freshwater marshes, floodplains, etc.), according to State data. Only 157,500 acres in Maine are tidal or coastal wetlands (tidal flats, salt marsh, brackish marsh, aquatic beds, beaches, large reefs, etc.), according to those data.
As I hope you know, wetlands in the U.S. need protection; they are under constant threat from humans and are decreasing in size each year. Since colonial times, over half of the wetlands in the lower 48 states have been lost due to such things as development, agriculture, and timber harvesting, including 20 percent of Maine's wetlands, according to Maine reports.
There are increasingly serious consequences suffered by these natural resource losses. Wetlands help prevent floods by slowing down and absorbing water, while they gradually release stored water to rivers and streams to maintain flow throughout the summer. They also recharge groundwater aquifers so that wells do not go dry, protect our shorelines from erosion by absorbing the shock of wave action, and preserve water quality by retaining sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants.
Moreover, wetlands are critical habitats for a wide range of life, including humans who sometimes need to escape enclosed lifestyles. They can be quiet and beautiful places that have a calming effect, not only on nature’s increasingly manic antics, but on humankind’s increasing anxieties. (Images taken in Blue Hill and Brooklin, Maine, on April 21 and 23, 2023.)