SAVE SOME SWAMPS

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 299, 17 December 1937, Page 6

SAVE SOME SWAMPS

"Wanted—more swamp," is the unusual theme and plea of an article in the "Farm Journal," U.S.A., quoted by the American Forestry Association, of Washington. "The realisation is growing," says the writer, "that many of our lowlands should never have been drained, and that many drainage enterprises have been misguided. The desire of owners to turn every posMble acre into crop land has in many instances over-reached itself. Aside from tlxjir importance in furnishing temporary or permanent storage fo(r water, swani|)s provide the habitat for many forms of valuable wild life. Our stock of waterfowl has been badly depleted, and some species threatened with extinction, partly ac% the result of too extensive drainage of swamps."

This point of view is particularly noteworthy because it comes from a farming publication. Thi' geographical and other conditions in the United states are very different from those in New Zealand, but even here there in a good deal to be said for the argument that the unwatering of swamps and lagoon* may be carried too far. In this country many of the shallow lakes have been emptied or reduced in area, without any visible advantage to the public interest*. There is an unfortunate c.\am.ple on a small scale close at hand here, the needless draining of St. John's which resulted in the spoiling of a pretty little sheet of water, an ornament to the landscape and a resort for wildfowl. The draining of so many lagoons and small lakes in various parts of the island has won land for farming, but the native wild life that had its home there has its rightful claims to food and sanctuary. A bit of swamp is a useful adjunct to many a farm, particularly if it be a flax sw<imp. It preserves also something of the primitive that is a refreshment and a solace in these times when the ruling passion is "improvement," which is often destruction. —TAN"(i IWAI,