A civil engineer in Boston, Massachusetts, is puzzled by part of an assignment to design a driveway that traverses a stream to access a proposed development. The wetlands scientist he’s working with informed him that he’d need to design the thalweg...
flipping n.— «Those wetlands that remained were often tracts of infertile, troublesome land such as the West Coast pakihi swamps. Yet today even these are under pressure. Mechanical diggers are now used to smash the buried, impervious mineral pan...
scrub-shrub habitat n.— «Nest boxes should be made available near wetlands with a mix of open water and emergent plants (commonly called scrub-shrub habitats). This type of habitat provides food and cover needed for brood rearing.» —“Numbers...
biological supermarket n.— «According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, wetlands are “among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs.” The EPA’s website refers to them as “biological...
swampbuster n.— « Title XII—Prohibits USDA program benefits to farmers who convert highly erodible land (“sodbusters”) or wetlands (“swampbusters”) to cropland. Authorizes a conservation reserve of 40 to 45 million acres by 1990. » —“Provisions of...
