They are bug-infested wastelands. Wet and soggy places unfit for agricultural crops. Areas that should be made “useful” by drainage. Or at least those were the prevailing attitudes before the value of wetlands became widely recognized. In fact, government policies actively promoted the drainage of wetlands in the 1800s and much of the 1900s, with various incentive-based programs aimed at “reclaiming” swamps and other “overflowed” lands. Public funding was also provided for drainage activities. However, wetlands are now universally recognized as valuable providers of ecosystem services, playing critical roles in water purification, flood control, storm protection, nutrient removal from agricultural runoff, carbon storage, fishery support, and providing habitat for rare plants and animals. Thus, today many conservation agencies are actively working to identify, manage, protect, and restore wetlands. Many of these efforts are focused on the protection of systems that have been little impacted by human activities, or…