OutdoorNebraska

Soil If you really look at soil, you will see that not all soil is the same. Some soils, like those in central Nebraska, have a lot of silt. Other soils, like those in Nebraska's Sandhills, consist mostly of sand. Wetlands have hydric soils. This means that the soil in these areas was formed while going through a cycle of being very wet and dry. When the soil is very wet, it develops differently because of a lack of oxygen. This unique development creates soil that has lots of organic material (leaves, moss, etc.), is gray or even black in color, and can have a distinctive rotten egg smell. Plants Just like cacti prefer hot, dry areas, wetland plants prefer wet conditions. And, although wetlands do not have to have water all year long, they do have water- loving plants growing in them. These plants are specially adapted to surviving while their roots are covered or inundated with water. The kinds of plants you will find in a wetland will depend on the type of wetland where you are. In Nebraska, wetlands near rivers will likely have cottonwood trees, while saline wetlands will have saltwort and salt- grass. Each wetland has a unique plant community! Hydrology Walk through a wetland and you may or may not see water. To be declared a wetland, an area must have soil saturated or full of water for at least some time during the plant growing season (in Nebraska, this is April through September). The water does not need to be there for very long, sometimes only a week or two. Water does not even have to be there every year, because we do experience droughts in Nebraska. And, don't forget the area also needs to have the right plants and soils to make it a wetland. An endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle An endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) (Cicindela nevadica lincolniana) roams a saline wetland along Little roams a saline wetland along Little Salt Creek in Lancaster County. Salt Creek in Lancaster County. Image by Brooke Talbott Image by Brooke Talbott What is a Wetland? A muskrat swimming to its wetland den. Justin Haag Drying wetland soil. Ethan Freese Saltwort Ethan Freese ou might think that any land that is wet would be a wetland, right? But if the occurrence of water was the only thing that made a wetland a wetland, then deeper parts of oceans and rivers would be considered wetlands. And we know that is not true! So, what actually makes a wetland a wetland? Wetlands are defined by three things: Y WETLANDOLOGY: A Kid's Book About Wetlands — 3

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