Indiana to Turn 43,000 Acres into Wetlands Area
By: Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL) Published: 6/10/10
Image
These are some of the birds that live in the Indiana wetlands area. They are waterfowl, and lots of time, money, and resources are being used to protect them.
Article
With help from Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana plans to preserve and restore 43,000 acres of local wetlands. The area will be split into two parts, and is expected to be a natural beauty and a tourist attraction. The project is expected to cost around 32 million dollars, with funding provided from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and the state conservation trust fund. The money will be well spent though, because the protection of the wetlands will lead to many benefits to the people and wildlife of Indiana. Many rare species, some remnants of the ice age, will be saved with this conservation effort. The preserved wetlands would also help the nearby people, because it would protect them from floods. As Mark Tercek, CEO of The Nature Conservancy says, "This restoration project will help ensure the landscapes and communities that make Indiana great will thrive for generations to come".
Reflection
This conservation project is a great idea. Me and the rest of my family have always loved nature, and I support all efforts to conserve it. For the family vacation, we decided to go to Florida, not to Disney Land, but to an area rich with nature preserves. I think projects like this are a good step forward for America, finally putting some money and effort into preserving wildlife. With more nature preserves in America, we would have a much richer biodiversity, resulting in more stable biomes and ecosystems. With more ideas and more funding for projects like this one, our county and planet would be a better place.
Questions
1) Do you think that the $32 million could have gone to better cause? If so, why is it better?
2) Which is more important, factories that could be built on the wetlands or the wetlands themselves? Why?
3) Is the U.S government putting sufficient effort into preserving wildlife?
4) What benefits come from preserving wetlands and other natural areas?
I think that this is a very good idea in general. Preserving wildlife is important and I believe that the money will be worth it in the long run. Personally projects like these give me hope for a better future. Just like the Jarret Nature Center in our own school district. It may be something simple, or something intricate, but either way it makes a difference. I have a couple questions though on the reasoning with the project. How is it supposed to be helpful in restoration if there are tourists going to it? Isn't the point of preserving the area to prevent humans and other limiting factors from harming it further? It just seems like taking two steps forward and one step beck. Also I have a general question, how do they even restore wet lands? Its not really something they can just make. You can't just throw water and plant some brush and call it a wetland. I am not sure, just a thought.
ReplyDeleteOpinion Reflective: I think that this will help us with the population of endangered animals that live in the wetlands. I honestly hope this works and if it doesn't then I think the only good thing it will come to is for tourist attractions. I think that 32 million dollars to put into this project is a little bit too much. But if it works then it is worth it since we will have less endangered species.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 1: I think that the 32 million dollars is in a good cause because less endangered species mean less animals to worry about and save from being endangered and after the animals are good with the population it could become a tourist attraction
Opinion: Bringing back and preserving the wetlands in Indiana is a fantastic plan from my point of view. This could influence other states that border Indiana to spend more to help restore their valueable ecosystems. By creating new wetlands, this restores the environment to its natural habitat. This will hopefully increace the biodiversity level of the environment. My family likes to bird watch, and each spring we set out bird feeders in the back yard and wait to see what birds show up. If we don't protect our surrounding environment, there will soon be no animals left. That is another reason why it is important to protect the wetlands in Indiana. It would be a home to many birds so people could bird watch.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: Personally I say the wetlands are more important than building factories over them. The wetlands are a major part of everyday life in Indiana, even if most people dont realize it. If companies need to build more factories, why not just build a small addition to mutiple already running factories. Besides todays economy, nobody is going to clear the shelves of just one item so many times that it requires companies to build more factories to keep up with the demand. That is why wetlands are more important than building factories.
I assume you went to the everglades,and I also love nature. Every summer I do rode trips to national parks. I enjoy the trips every year without the government paying to conserve wildlife summer wouldn't be the same. I think what Indiana is doing is great. I hope the money they use works because some government conservation plans don't work.
ReplyDeleteQuestion 2: This question reminds me of a Magic School bus episode. What I learned from that episode is that wetlands purify water, protects towns from floods, and is home to unique species. I think wetlands are more important than factories we could probably live without.