RE: NANFA-- tannic type stuff

Jay DeLong (thirdwind_at_att.net)
Wed, 31 Jul 2002 20:18:08 -0700

> But, as "educated" area naturalists (I say that with a grin), we
> realized that
> the Maumee was the singular drainage for a vast swamp (The Great
> Black Swamp)
> and it's recorded that the water was never clear in human history
> here. In
> fact it was nearly black with all the tannins leaching out of the
> swamp. So
> perhaps we should take a more dignant approach, take some time to do some
> research, make an educated decision and then see if we should
> still stand in the middle of that river and shake our fists or not.

You can't treat tannins and sediment runoff the same. The problems with
sedimentation from agriculture, development, etc, are only slightly from the
increased load and turbidity. The real problems are from the effects on the
stream bed-- these small particles fill in spaces in the substrate needed to
support invertebrate life, fish spawning, fry protection, etc. So shake
that fist and wave that finger if the person causing the problems knows
better but refuses to do anything differently.

--
Jay DeLong
Olympia, WA
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