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When people complain about flooding problems in the Midwest, I wonder if they realize how much of our land has been tiled and drained for farming.

Wetlands act as a sponge to keep water where it fell and slow its movement to the main arterial rivers.

Habitat destruction is honestly something that concerns me much more than carbon emissions.



Definitely true.

People also seem to forget the Red River basin (e.g., North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba) that flows north to Hudson Bay was a massive lake about 10,000 years ago called Lake Agassiz. So its periodic flood pattern is expected. The topography today is a flat flood plain. Because of the lake bottom history, the soil is extremely fertile. But the cities Fargo, Grand Forks, and Winnipeg are not well placed to avoid flooding. Floods happened in the early 1800s before the arrival of settlements, wetland draining, plowing, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1826_Red_River_flood


For those not familiar with midwestern US agricultural parlance, "tile" refers to underground perforated pipe used to make soggy ground more amenable to farming. In other areas it is called a "french drain." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_drain

It is used on more than just wetlands, though in all cases it speeds the movement of waters to main arterial rivers.


Too few people recognize grazing land as destroyed. Very often it used to be bog, forest, grassland supporting many wild species (before the soil was pumped full of nitrates) etc. A big grassy field can be an ecological wasteland.


Grazing is one of the healthiest things for soil and grassland as long as it's not overgrazed.


True - the land around me has tons of fertilizer applied to maximize grass production and is grazed or cut for hay and silage. It supports very few wildflower species though. Take hay cuts for a few years and you can restore it though.

https://twitter.com/collbradan/status/1166416101997273089




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