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FOREWORD

“When I would recreate myself, I seek the darkest wood, the thickest and most impenetrable and to the citizen, most dismal, swamp. I enter a swamp as a sacred place, a sanctum sanctorum… I seemed to have reached a new world, so wild a place…far away from human society.”

– Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other Writings

Thoreau’s “swamp” conjures up dark images of mystery, jungle vines and wild animals, hidden far from human occupation. Today, modern society’s view of wetlands is not incongruent with Thoreau’s; however, we have gained an appreciation for the ecological and societal values of swamps and wetlands. These ecosystems serve as nature’s water filters, storm surge buffers, and provide many other services that weren’t understood in Thoreau’s time.

Much has been written about the ecological function of wetlands, but to date, a comprehensive overview of wetland management incorporating carbon values has been lacking. As an ecologist and geologist that have worked extensively with both resource managers and research scientists, we have seen first‐hand the need for foundational research on the processes that affect wetland functioning and focused experiments to determine how various management practices affect wetland capabilities for carbon sequestration. This is why we are delighted to write the foreword for Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management. This volume synthesizes work from around the globe by experienced researchers and managers in wetland‐carbon management. Wetland managers, students, and academics will benefit from the authors’ experiences and knowledge.

Understanding the nexus between healthy landscapes and carbon storage is the crux of this book, which provides readers an overview of management techniques with direct links to impacts on carbon sequestration. Readers will understand the complex chemical interactions that bind carbon to soil and how a healthy wetland breathes more efficiently. The culmination of the book explains how sequestering carbon, by using various management techniques, benefits wetlands by improving overall wetland function. This translates into increased ability to maximize societal and ecological benefits, such as filtering water, capturing sediment, and improving important wetland habitat.

These themes run throughout this book: reviews of the latest science on wetland carbon cycles; processes involved in wetland carbon sequestration and practices that maximize it; comparisons of the quantitative value of sequestering carbon in restored wetlands; descriptions of natural wetlands in contrast with managed or converted wetlands; and the current state of knowledge on the efficacy of restoration strategies among different wetland systems.

Using a combination of experimental and geologic studies, several chapters examine how modification of environmental factors, such as degree of flooding, changing sea level, and sediment supply, affects wetland sequestration of carbon and emission of greenhouse gases. Over long time periods, sediment and carbon accumulation rates in coastal wetlands are closely tied to natural coastal processes. For example, in the Everglades, more water equals more sequestration, but in the Sacramento delta, active flooding experiments did not mitigate soil loss. As scientists are fond of saying, “it’s complicated.”

Authors address tropical, coastal, inland, and northern wetland environments from around the world and include specific management recommendations for these systems. For example, subtropical mariculture ponds, converted from estuarine marsh to shrimp ponds, significantly increase carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions; however, by applying simple management strategies, operators can reduce excessive greenhouse gas release. Globally, mangrove forests continue to decline. Studies in Guangxi, China, and Can Gio, Vietnam, provide new and sustained approaches to restoring mangroves with economic benefits that compensate local economies and encourage reforestation of this important ecosystem.

This book also investigates which systems store carbon most efficiently per unit basis. In other words, where do you get the biggest bang for the carbon buck? Comparisons between prairies, peatlands, marshes, and mangroves reveal interesting carbon sequestration trends with even more fascinating carbon responses, and many of the answers raise more questions for future research. Why does a prairie pothole wetland store carbon differently in a restored setting than an undisturbed site, even when all conditions appear to be similar? What makes a mangrove forest so carbon‐rich compared to a freshwater marsh?

Through extensive and real‐world application, Wetland Carbon and Environmental Management clearly identifies management responses that improve carbon sequestration while enhancing wetland health and function. The compelling evidence presented by Ken, Camille, Zhiliang, and their co‐authors will strengthen the quality of wetland management and highlight areas of future research that will improve our current knowledge and understanding. We believe this book will become a primary source of information that will lead to improved techniques and practices – and help preserve Thoreau’s sacred swamps around the world for the benefit and fascination of future generations.

James Scott Covington United States Fish and Wildlife Service

Debra A. Willard United States Geological Survey