As life has evolved
around water and its unique properties, these elaborate ecosystems developed
to ensure continuing recycling and purification of water. While other
biological environments have a special and significant place in the record
of the world, so too do wetlands hold an identity for this region of the
United States. Historically, biologically, economically, and culturally
the wetlands of not only Alabama but the entire Southeast are a story
all their own. A necessary part of life itself, wetlands and water ecosystems
have long served us in ways we might not even realize.
Rivers,
lakes, waterways, and other wetlands were essential to Native Americans
and early European settlers. Alabama’s two oldest cities –
Mobile and Montgomery – are situated in close proximity to a body
of water. Early inhabitants of the region needed to be near water –
for fishing, industry, agriculture, and of course transportation before
the invention of the car. Of course, before this the Native American tribes
ruled the land of Alabama, using the waterways as means of transportation
and survival. The “Creek” tribe was so named by settlers because
of the fact that the Indians made their homes near creeks and rivers.
The
Spanish explorers, most notably Hernando De Soto, traversed the state
by means of the present-day Tennessee and Coosa Rivers. Later on, the
English settlers made their homes down the Tallapoosa and Chattahoochee
Rivers. As settlers continued to invade Indian territories, this angered
the Creeks, eventually leading to the Creek Indian War in 1813-1814. One
of the final battles of this war took place along the Tallapoosa River,
and is referred to the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Once the Creeks and other
Indian tribes were subsequently forced out, many white settlers moved
into the Coosa and Tallapoosa river valleys. Cities grew as they made
use of the wide water habitats throughout Alabama, from the ports of Mobile
to the mussel-rich waters running through Muscle Shoals. Throughout the
years, these waterways and wetlands lent their attributes to the growth
and development of our land – economically and environmentally.
Yet with this settlement and industrial development began the drainage
and destruction of wetlands, notably obvious in the mid-1700s. The government
and settlers alike concluded that wetlands were an obstacle to development
and would be better put to use by draining and converting them to farmland.
Nowhere was this practice more prevalent than in the South, where large
farming plantations of cotton and tobacco often required the draining
or dredging of wetland areas. In 1849, Congress passed the Swamp Land
Acts which basically stated that the government supported and promoted
the drainage of swamplands in order to continue colonization of the areas.
Over the next century wetlands would continue to be destroyed –
attempts were made at draining Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp and the
Everglades of Florida, plus dams and flood control programs would also
lead to wetland loss.
As time went on and people began realizing the valuable aspects of wetlands,
Federal policies began to reflect this sentiment. With the 1966 Farm Bill
and later 1996 revision of the Farm Bill, laws are beginning to have a
positive effect on wetlands. The “Swampbuster” provision,
originally in the 1985 Farm Security Act, removes a farmer's eligibility
from all government price and income support programs for violations of
the Act; i.e. draining, dredging, filling, leveling or otherwise altering
a wetland. While small steps have been taken to return these areas to
their former capabilities, greater strides are needed in the future to
ensure that our region’s wetlands are protected.
Statistically, during the pre-settlement era, the U.S. contained approximately
390 million acres of wetlands.
 It is estimated
that since the mid-1700s a little over 53% of these wetlands have been
lost due to draining, dredging, or pollution.
In the most
recent trend study, between 1986 and 1997, a net of 644,000 acres of wetlands
was lost.
This same
study estimated that wetland loss rate is now 58,500 acres annually. This
represents an 80% reduction from the previous decade.
In the last
200 years, Alabama has lost 50% of its wetlands.
Astonishingly,
in the last 200 years, approximately 89% of the wetland losses in the
United States occurred in the Southeast.
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