Marshes, Playa Wetlands, Wet Meadows, and Fens - Mountains and Plains: The Ecology of Wyoming Landscapes - page 80

wetlands to dry up for longer periods and, for example,
converting marshes to playa wetlands. 48 Sediments in
Great Plains wetlands indicate that such changes have
occurred in response to climate changes throughout pre-
history. During long dry periods, obligate hydrophytes
became less abundant and facultative hydrophytes
more abundant. in fens, increased decomposition rates
resulting from warming and less flooding could cause
peat deposits to thin. 49 Many kinds of wildlife and other
organisms will be affected adversely as the area in wet-
lands is reduced (see chapter 4). 50 ecologist Holly cope-
land and her associates conducted a recent assessment
of Wyoming wetlands, concluding that climate change
is most likely to affect wetlands at low elevations—the
same wetlands that are vulnerable to rural subdivisions
and oil and gas developments. 51
Agriculture is usually considered a cause of degrada-
tion in wetlands. However, as noted previously, many
wetlands at lower elevations have been created or aug-
mented by irrigation projects. in Star Valley; Goshen
Hole; and the Bighorn, Laramie, and Wind River basins,
more than 50 percent of the wetlands receive irrigation
waters. 52 in the Laramie Basin of southeastern Wyo-
ming, 30 percent of the inflows to wetlands were from
irrigation ditches, and 35 percent were waters percolat-

ing through the soil from ditches and irrigated fields.53 53
Surface inflows tend to be less saline, enabling different
wetland communities than where subsurface flows are
the primary source.

in sum, recognition of wetland values, their vulnerabil-
ity to degradation, and their poorly protected status has
led state and federal agencies—along with motivated
private organizations and landowners—to promote
wetland conservation. one federal initiative is the Wet-
land Reserve Program, administered by the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture's natural Resources conservation
Service. Landowners are paid to protect wetlands. Simi-
larly, the Wyoming Wetlands conservation Strategy
identifies wetlands where collaborative conservation
management is needed and will work. 54 Un for t u nately,
wetlands often occur in places considered desirable for
new construction. When this happens, the prevailing
attitude is to construct new wetlands, to compensate
for those that are lost. Although commendable, this no-
net-loss policy sanctions the destruction of wetlands in
one place if a new wetland of comparable area is created
elsewhere. Many wetland scientists doubt that newly
created wetlands provide the same benefits as those that
have been lost. 55