Capt. John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay in 1607 and 1608, describing, among other bounties, vast plains of marshland.
A lot has changed in the nearly 400 years since the English explorer voyaged up the bay and its tributaries.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Virginia has lost 42 percent of its wetlands since the 1780s.
Virginia now has just over 1 million acres of wetlands, most of them in the fast-developing urban crescent from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads. About 180,000 acres are located in little pockets around the state. Some 77 percent of the overall total are nontidal wetlands. Forested wetlands (swamps) are the most common.
Wetlands are important to the environment in a number of ways, said David L. Davis, wetlands ecologist with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
"These are nature's water filtersnature's way of filtering pollutants and sediments from going downstream. And the plants you find in wetlands are very good at taking in excess nutrients," he said.
Pollution from nutrients such as nitrogen is considered the biggest threat to the health of the bay's marine creatures.
Wetlands also provide shelter for animals and nursery areas for fish and other creatures, and can help slow the velocity of floodwaters.
Wetlands are disappearing for a variety of causes, including pollution, runoff from urban areas, and conversion to agricultural, residential, commercial and industrial land uses, along with ditching and stream channelization.
Wetlands fall into two broad categories: estuarine and marine, and freshwater. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 95 percent of the estimated 105.5 million acres remaining nationwide were inland freshwater wetlands.
In Virginia, thousands of plants thrive in the various types of wetlands.
Some common ones include American lotus, marsh mallow (a type of hibiscus) and arrow arum, also known as duck corn.
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com