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How Wetlands Manage Water Video
- Details
- Written by charlie
- Category: Wetlands
A captivating, sub 4 minute whiteboard video by the Wisconsin Wetland Association about the importance of wetlands and how they contribute to the health of surrounding watersheds by reducing storm surge, flood damage and filtering drinking water. Below is a sample illustration of how simple, yet effective the whiteboard video is. Watch and forward!
Tupelo Honey
- Details
- Written by charlie
- Category: Wetlands
Considered one of the finest honey in the world, Tupelo honey is harvested from bees collecting nectar through the swamps of Florida and Georgia, along the Appalachicola, Chipola, and Choctahatchie River basins, home to the highest concentrations of Tupelo trees (Nyssa sylvatica) in the world. Equally likely to thrive in wetlands and non-wetlands, they are classified as a Facultative (FAC) wetland plant by the NCRS.
Tupelo trees typically start blooming the last week of April every year for about 3 weeks. Some years the blossoms don't even last this long, they are delicate, and a strong wind or hard rain can rip them from the trees.
Immortalized in the 1971 Van Morrison song and album titled, "Tupelo Honey", for no discernible reason, it is a light colored honey, bright and buttery in taste. Its scarcity is due to the short, but intense Tupelo blooming season. In comparison to others honeys from around the world - Tupelo honey has a high fructose content, making it one of the few honeys that never crystallize.
Further Reading:
USDA, NRCS. 2019. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 15 November 2019). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
Sweetgrass Baskets
- Details
- Written by charlie
- Category: Wetlands
The often cited "functions and values" wetlands provide are long and broad. Wetlands act as a nursery for fish and wildlife, improve water quality, reduce storm surge - the list goes on. These large scale ideas are abstract and not easily quantifiable, however, the craft of sewing sweet grass baskets in South Carolinas Low Country around Charleston from wetland grasses, is an example of a sustainable activity with a directly measurable economic benefit.
Woven sweetgrass baskets have a long history - beginning on the West Coast of Africa woven baskets were used for winnowing rice. When West Africans were enslaved and brought to the US in the 1600's, specifically for their rice harvesting knowledge, their basket making skills came with them.
Over time, influenced by the Gullah culture and the abundance of locally available materials, the baskets traditional reed, Bulrush (Scirpus atrovirens), was replaced by Sweetgrass (Mulengergia filipes or Muhlenbergia capillaris ) or Needlegrass Rush (Juncus roemerianus Scheele) aka Black Rush). Beginning in the 1920's, the long, thin needles of the Long Leaf Pine began to be woven into the baskets providing a earthy color contrast.
Population growth and land development have decreased sweetgrass habitat, primarily found beachside, behind the 1st set of dunes - - making the grasses more difficult to source. Once harvested, the grasses are dried in the sun before being gathered, twisted into fibrous cord, and sew into baskets.
Today, sweetgrass baskets are recognized as art, and are displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC, and other museums worldwide. Along Route 17 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina has been designated as the "Sweetgrass Basket Makers Highway" where you can purchase many types of baskets and trays.
The South Carolina legislature, made sweetgrass baskets the official state handcraft in 2006. The paper referenced below provides a interesting glimpse of the efforts the artisans and the town of Mount Pleasant to retain the art and history of the sweetgrass basket.
Sources and More Information:
USDA Plant Profile - Needlegrass Rush https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=JURO
USDA Plant Profile - Sweetgrass https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=muca2 or https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=MUFI3
USDA Plant Profile - Green Bulrush https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=SCAT2
Sweetgrass Basket Stands under Siege
Catherine F. Marshall
Chrestomathy: Annual Review of Undergraduate Research 12 (2013)
School of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs
College of Charleston, Charleston SC 29424, USA.
Wetlands in the News
01 June 2025
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Federal judge dismisses suit that threatened wetlands on farmland nationwide
A federal judge in Iowa dismissed a lawsuit on Thursday that threatened millions of acres of wetlands, ecosystems that mitigate flooding, reduce water pollution and support biodiversity.
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California turns on water to create new wetlands on the shore of the shrinking Salton Sea
California officials sent water flowing to create new wetlands along the shores of the shrinking Salton Sea. The project is intended to control dust and provide habitat for birds.
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Judge tosses challenge to wetlands conservation policy
The ruling upholds the “Swampbuster” program, which requires farmers to maintain wetlands in order to receive certain Department of Agriculture...
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Federal judge upholds a wetlands conservation law known as 'swampbuster'
A federal judge in Iowa has ruled against a landholding company that sought to dismantle a long-standing wetlands law called swampbuster.
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Wetlands founder 'wouldn't recognise' site today
A nature reserve's founder would not recognise it today as it has been "completely transformed" in the 50 years since it opened, its current manager has said. Washington Wetland Centre, near...