Land Value and Productivity
Swamps and other wetlands have traditionally held a very low property value compared to fields, prairies, or woodlands. They have a reputation as being unproductive land that can't be easily utilized for human activities, other than perhaps hunting and trapping. Farmers for example typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to gain more land usable for planting crops.
Societies now generally understand that swamps are critically important in the processes of providing fresh water and oxygen to all life, and are often breeding grounds for a wide variety of life. Indeed, floodplain swamps are extremely important in fish production. Government environmental agencies (such as the Department of Natural Resources in the United States) are taking steps to protect and preserve swamps and other wetlands. In Europe, major effort is being invested in the restoration of swamp forests along rivers
Read more about this topic: Swamp
Famous quotes containing the words land and/or productivity:
“The prairies were dust. Day after day, summer after summer, the scorching winds blew the dust and the sun was brassy in a yellow sky. Crop after crop failed. Again and again the barren land must be mortgaged for taxes and food and next year’s seed. The agony of hope ended when there was not harvest and no more credit, no money to pay interest and taxes; the banker took the land. Then the bank failed.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)
“It is ultimately in employers’ best interests to have their employees’ families functioning smoothly. In the long run, children who misbehave because they are inadequately supervised or marital partners who disapprove of their spouse’s work situation are productivity problems. Just as work affects parents and children, parents and children affect the workplace by influencing the employed parents’ morale, absenteeism, and productivity.”
—Ann C. Crouter (20th century)