ing habitat and rest stops during 

 migration. 



America's most popular and 

 prevalent game duck, the mallard, has 

 halved in population since the mid- 

 1950s. Scientists attribute this decline 

 mainly to loss of wetlands. 



Temporary and seasonal wetlands 

 are as critical to these animals as 

 broad rivers and sloshy marshes. They 

 provide privacy and isolation for 

 breeding, shallow water for birds that 

 prefer it and brief but bountiful 

 productions of insects, amphibians 

 and other food supplies when wetter 

 wetlands do not. 



Biological Diversity 



Nearly 40 percent of rare and 

 endangered plants species in Tar Heel 

 mountain regions are harbored in 

 wetlands; coastal wetlands are home 

 to about 70 percent, according to the 

 state's Natural Heritage 

 Program. 



The black bear, south- 

 eastern fox squirrel, red- 

 cockaded woodpecker and 

 the Eastern diamondback 

 rattler — all species on the 

 decline — hang their hats in 

 coastal plain wetlands. 



"Eighty-five percent of 

 rare animal species in North 

 Carolina are either aquatic 

 or dependent on wetlands," 

 says Rader. 



Unusual species such as 

 the insectivorous pitcher 

 plants, sundews and flytraps 

 make their natural home in 

 the nutrient poor soils of 

 bogs, pocosins, savannas 

 and flatwoods. 



Drier wetlands feature 

 the highest diversity of 

 species, says a botanist at 

 the Natural Heritage 

 Program. In wet pine 

 savannas of North 

 Carolina's Green Swamp, 

 as many as 52 vascular 

 plant species have been 



Who's to say 



that some little 



insignificant plant 



we consider a weed 



today may not be a 



cure for AIDS 



tomorrow, i 



says Lynch. 



J. Merrill Lynch, 

 N.C. Nature Conservancy 



counted in a single square meter. 



"There is a common misconception 

 that wetter is better," says Rader. 



But there is perhaps an even greater 

 misconception that any one wetland 

 is "better" than another. 



"For biological diversity, drier is 

 better," says Rader. But to rate any 

 wetland as more important than 

 another is "nonsensical," he says. 



"All wetlands are not created equal 

 in terms of their function," he says. 



If you're going to say that a salt 

 marsh is more important than a 

 seasonally dry wetland, be prepared to 

 decide which you value more — water 

 quality, shoreline erosion protection 

 or habitat preservation, says Rader. 



"I don't believe it's possible to 

 make a linear scale of wetlands value," 

 he says. "Regulations should be made 

 according to functions and values, not 

 more or less protected, but 

 differently." 



With developers attribut- 

 ing billion-dollar economic 

 losses to the preservation of 

 wetlands, it's sometimes hard 

 for the public to swallow the 

 enshrinement of a dense, 

 scrubby thicket or an insect 

 it has never heard of. 



But if people can't 

 appreciate an animal or an 

 ecological community for its 

 singular beauty or "right to 



I exist," there's always the 

 more selfish approach — 

 recognizing its potential 

 value to mankind. 



J. Merrill Lynch cites the 

 yew of the Pacific Northwest 

 — once considered a junky 

 tree of little value — and its 

 recent contribution to the 

 treatment of ovarian cancer. 



"Who's to say that some 

 little insignificant plant we 

 consider a weed today may 

 not be a cure for AIDS 

 tomorrow," says Lynch. □ 



COASTWATCH 5 



