OUTDOOR CORNER: LIKE THE T REX, WETLANDS' REAL STRENGTH IS DECEPTIVE

A wise man will change his mind but a fool never does.

Anyone who makes decisions based on available information must reconsider opinions when new information arises. A great example of this is the meat eating dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex. For years scientists looked at the tiny arms this gigantic reptile had and called them useless. It was obvious! A six ton lizard that had arms the size of a 180 lb. human were obviously useless!

Another illustration of this is our concepts of wetlands. Damp, muddy, boggy, soggy places were unfit for building in, traveling through, or working on. Anyone who tried to do so got stuck in he mud and very frustrated. Tons of mosquitoes, plenty of snakes, some odd smells and an unfamiliar look to them did not help their case any. Wetlands equal wastelands in most people's mind.

Just like the forearms of Tyrannosaurus rex, wetlands were seen as useless. Science teaches us that new information can sometimes change our outlook on things. It can even help change our minds.

A few years back, a paleontologist interested in Tyrannosaurus rex began to examine the forearms. He was looking for muscle attachment scars on the bones. Most muscles attach to the skeleton and leave distinctive marks on the bones. A strong arm has a lot of muscle tissue which makes for a lot of attachment marks.

That researcher was surprised to find a supply of muscle scarring on the bones of T. rex's forearms indicating it could lift at least 600 lbs. with those dinky arms!

Logic predicts that if the arms were useless they would have very little muscle mass which would leave little scarring on the bones. But they found the opposite! Thus it would seem the arms of T. rex do serve an important purpose even if we are still puzzled as to what it is.

Unlike T. rex we still have wetlands and have been able to see what value they hold! To the plants and animals that call them home, wetlands provide food, water, and shelter. They are used as nurseries for raising young and rest stops in long migrations.

Wetlands are important to hundreds of thousands of organisms. But wildlife are not the only life benefited by wetlands.

We benefit from wetlands, too. Wetlands reduce the effects of flooding by giving water a place to go when it gets out of its banks. Wetlands filter out plant debris and silt. Harmful substances such as pesticides, fertilizer runoff, and heavy metals are also neutralized in wetlands by the plants. Standing water of a wetland also recharges aquifers that we drink and irrigate from.

It does not stop there; wetlands provide foods to us such as cranberries and rice. A wetland is even a future pharmaceutical research ground. Future cures for many diseases may lie in a wetland plant or animal yet to be discovered.

Often under-appreciated is the beauty and recreation value of a wetland. Peter Custis traveled through swamplands in 1806 and despite their hardship had this to say about swamps: "One who has not passed through them cannot form an idea of the great difficulty attending it, but when effected you are more than compensated by the beauty of the country."

Wetlands are wonderful places to hunt, fish, hike, photograph and just plain enjoy!

Future findings may show even more benefits from wetland. Just like the arms of T. Rex we are having to rethink former ideas due to new evidence. Most of us make decisions based on available information. New information challenges old ideas and we may find that we want to change our minds.

I encourage you to consider wetlands as a benefit to us, not a useless item waiting for us to make useful.

A.J. Hendershott is an education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation.