The many problems wetlands face

An aerial view of wetlands in the fall — A wetland area in Prentice Park, just south of Lake Superior in Ashland, Wisconsin. Credit: Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As you may have seen by now, this week we launched our latest collaborative reporting project, "Down the Drain: A watershed moment for America's greatest wetlands."

It's an exciting series featuring eight pieces of reporting in the Basin. We've broken the series into two parts, the problems and the solutions, to share with you here. This week, we'll explore the problems wetlands face: namely, staggering losses from natural and human-caused threats and what they mean for the many species (including us) that rely on them.

Desk reporter Madeline Heim of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has been one of the leaders on this project for us, and she wrote several stories. I asked her to reflect on the problems wetlands face, and she shared one that is age-old: What's in a name?

Here's Maddy:

Desk reporter Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"When I started reporting on wetlands, I realized quickly that they’ve got a marketing problem. Although they’re vital for flood prevention, wildlife habitat and water quality, these landscapes lack the grandeur of mountains, the sparse beauty of deserts or the sparkle of the ocean coast.

Throughout history, they’ve been misunderstood and maligned, even once thought to harbor monsters and ghosts. Even today, we use phrases like “bogged down” or “swamped” to mean something negative.

The way we talk and think about wetlands has impacted how we’ve treated them. Early American settlers declared these lands bad for farming or development and drained millions of acres of them, leaving the country with about half of what once existed. The battle over how much to save now is ongoing.

"Down the Drain" explores the challenges these imperiled ecosystems face along the Mississippi River, featuring on-the-ground reporting from Minnesota to the Gulf South and lots of places in between. Here are some of the pieces that outline the issues:

A group of people walk through a farm field — EPA administrator Lee Zeldin visits a farm outside St. Louis, Mo., to discuss wetland regulation changes under the Trump administration. Credit: Nick Zervos, KMOV First Alert 4

First, the series opener gives a broad accounting of the checkered political history of wetland protections, starting with the recent news that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to take a big step back from regulating them at the federal level.

A new era dawns for America’s disappearing wetlands as feds retreat from oversight by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Then, reporters from the farm-rich states of Iowa, Illinois and Mississippi explain the long-running fight between wetland preservation and agriculture.

One Iowa landowner fights to farm a designated wetland. Others could face consequences downstream by Jared Strong, The Gazette; Jess Savage, WNIJ and Illan Ireland, Mississippi Free Press

Next we visit Arkansas, where a time-honored tradition of duck hunting is at risk as waterfowl habitat faces growing threats:

Delta duck hunting offers conservation solutions, but the ducks are disappearing by Lucas Dufalla, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Phillip Powell, Arkansas Times

And on to Mississippi, where a controversial project meant to offer flood relief could damage wetlands.

A Mississippi flood relief project could harm 90,000 acres of valuable wetlands. Is it worth the tradeoff? by Illan Ireland, Mississippi Free Press

And finally, we explore the multibillion-dollar industry of wetland mitigation banking, which could take a big hit if developers are no longer required to offset the damage they do to wetlands.

Wetlands protections built an industry for mitigation banking. Rollbacks could erode it. by Cassandra Stephenson, Tennessee Lookout, and Delaney Dryfoos, The Lens NOLA

A man closes a fence where a sign says PROTECTED WETLANDS — Paul Stoddard of environmental consulting firm EnSafe unlocks the gate to the West Tennessee Wetlands Mitigation Bank. EnSafe planted more than 50,000 trees to restore portions of this 250-acre wetland, creating credits for developers to purchase to offset destruction of wetlands elsewhere. Credit: Karen Pulfer Focht for Tennessee Lookout

I hope you find these pieces as illuminating as I did. As I wrote the first one, I was struck by the uncertain future of the country’s wetlands and how the problems of the past still linger, despite what we’ve learned about what wetlands can do for us. In the end, I find myself wondering whether these places might just benefit from a rebrand."

Explore the entire "Down the Drain" project here.

Michael here again. A huge thanks to Maddy and the entire Ag & Water Desk team for their work on this project. In a time of turmoil, it's exciting to see collaborative journalism thriving and producing impactful stories that are meaningful to the communities we serve. I hope you'll take some time to check out the work above, and we'll be back next week with more "solutions" content from the project.

Meanwhile, we have one more announcement. The Desk is hosting a photo contest!

Read more about it below:

The Desk launches its first-ever photo contest!

The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is launching its first-ever photo contest today. The theme of the contest is wetlands.

As our team reported on wetlands for the "Down the Drain" series, we learned about their utility, resilience, recreational import, and, yes, beauty. In fact, we liked looking at wetlands so much that we decided to launch a photo contest to see wetlands through our readers' eyes, too.

We'll have three categories to which you can submit: wildlife, landscape and people/recreation. Winners could receive up to $200. The deadline is May 5, 2025. Find more details in the contest rules. We can't wait to see your best wetlands photos!