By Neva Knott

I walked the same area of the Thousand Acres dog park on the Sandy River Delta and took photos of the wetlands ponds once a month for a year to show how wetlands shift and cannot be seen as static elements of the landscape. Wetlands are considered the kidneys of the planet. They filter sediment and toxins out of water before it becomes part of a river. The provide nutrients to soil and serve as habitat for wildlife. Wetlands are an important part of the earth’s hydro cycle, climate, and heat regulatory systems.

Too often, wetlands are filled by developers. When this happens, the full range of the ecosystem services provided by wetlands is not considered, nor is the flux of the wetlands system on a landscape.

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