Drain the swamp?

“I will make our government honest again, believe me.                             
But first I’m going to have to drain the swamp in D.C.”

Donald J. Trump, Oct. 18, 2016

To drain a swamp means to remove water from marshy areas to make that land more amenable to human use and also to remove mosquitos, alligators and other scary creatures that depend on the water. 

Politicians employ the phrase as a metaphor for rooting out corruption. An early reference to “drain the swamp” occurs in a 1903 letter to the Daily Northwestern by Winfield R. Garland, a leader of the Social Democratic Party who wrote, “Socialists are not satisfied with killing a few of the mosquitos which come from the capitalist swamp; they want to drain the swamp.”

This expression has been popular with politicians of various stripes for more than a century. Benito Mussolini used the phrase repeatedly, both literally and figuratively, but as often as not, he was referring to actually draining the swamps outside of Rome to prevent the spread of malaria. Ronald Reagan and Nancy Pelosi both often spoke of “draining the swamp.” And in the last few years it has become one of the favorite sayings of President Donald J. Trump.

A swamp is a wetland often partially or intermittently covered with water. Swamps are distinguished from marshes by the preponderance of trees rather than grasses and smaller plants. Swamps tend to form along rivers and coastlines. The often brown color of their water is a result of the water’s low proportion of oxygen.

My brother-in-law, an amateur ornithologist, recently spent a vacation hiking through the Florida Everglades in search of views of the exotic birds that thrive there. While this sounds like a wonderful treat for some, most people think of swamps as nasty places where one can neither walk nor paddle, giant traps best avoided or destroyed. In addition, they are often home to panthers, alligators, poisonous snakes and other dangerous animals (the reputation of swamps, at least in Florida, has suffered additionally from the unfortunate invasion over the last few decades of giant Burmese pythons, discarded former pets, now numbering more than 50,000.)

 For centuries, wetlands were looked upon as wastelands and as homes for insect pests such as mosquitoes. In the United States, filling or draining swamps became an accepted practice by the 19th century. Almost half of U.S. wetlands were destroyed before environmental protections were enacted during the 1970s. Although its swampy peat soils when drained are poorly suited for agriculture, most of the Everglades were destroyed and reclaimed as agricultural land, mostly sugar plantations. But draining swamp land also created commercially valuable real estate throughout the country, a powerful incentive.

However, according to the National Geographic Society swamps are among the most valuable ecosystems on earth and are a significant defense against climate change.  They act like giant sponges or reservoirs recharging groundwater supplies, absorbing excessive water during heavy rains and moderating the effects of flooding. Coastal swamps protect inland areas from storm surges. Saltwater swamps and tidal salt marshes help anchor coastal soil and sand. Swamps capture and store carbon with about 15% of soil carbon worldwide stored in wetland peat deposits. About the only benefit they can’t offer is to desalinate salt water. 

Swamps and other wetlands clean the water. The swamp ecosystem also acts as a water treatment plant, filtering wastes and purifying water naturally. When excess nitrogen and other chemicals wash into swamps, plants there absorb and use the chemicals. Many of these chemicals come from human activities such as agriculture, where fertilizers use nitrogen and phosphorus. Factories, water treatment plants and homes also contribute to runoff. Many chemicals are absorbed by plants while others sink to the bottom and are buried in sand and sediment. 

Swamps and other wetlands are home to an unusually rich assortment of wildlife seldom seen in more accessible areas, including black bears, panthers, minks, otters, and a wide array of reptiles, amphibians, fish and birds. And as for mosquitoes, they tend to stay in their swamp and visitors know to come prepared with plenty of insect repellent.

In the early 1970s, governments began enacting laws recognizing the enormous value of wetlands. In some parts of the United States, it is now against the law to destroy or alter swamps and other wetlands. Through management plans and stricter laws, people are trying to protect remaining swamps and to re-create them in areas where they have been destroyed.

Swamps are desirable natural features and deserve our respect. It’s time for politicians to retire their unseemly metaphor. Instead of draining swamps, we should be creating new ones.

Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.