Wetlands used to make up about 25% of Indiana’s land cover, once earning parts of our state the nickname of the “Everglades of the North.” After years of human development our wetlands have plummeted to less than 4% – a far cry from our former moniker.
Last month, Indiana’s Senate passed a bill that would strip protections for hundreds of thousands of acres of our state’s remaining wetlands, a move that would be devastating for Indiana’s birds, wildlife and people.
If you’ve ever peered down on Indiana’s landscape from a plane – you can see tiny green ribbons of water among our cornfields. Those are Indiana’s wetlands – the creeks, small rivers and swamps that are what’s left in this largely agricultural landscape we’ve created. These isolated areas of water are critical corridors that migrating birds need to rest and find food on their journeys.
Additional coverage from the Herald-Times Online.
