The Wetlands Initiative

The Wetlands Initiative (TWI) envisions a world with plentiful healthy wetlands improving water quality, climate, biodiversity, and human well-being. Wetlands are more varied than most people know. There are marshes, wet meadows, wet prairies, swamps, bogs, fens, seeps, and more. And they don’t exist in isolation but as part of a mosaic of habitats that together comprise a healthy ecosystem. That’s why TWI—despite the name—restores wetlands and their associated habitats. Wetlands are also varied in the “services” they provide for society and the environment. Besides sustaining a huge number of plant and animal species, they can improve water quality; reduce erosion and flood damage; and even moderate the effects of climate change by sequestering carbon. Not to mention they’re often beautiful places for people to hike, paddle, birdwatch, and otherwise enjoy the outdoors. Looked at from the perspective of what they do, the value of wetlands is quite tangible and quantifiable—as is the high cost of having lost so many over the past 200 years. It’s because they’re so valuable that the Wetlands Initiative is dedicated to bringing them back in Illinois and beyond.