• Summer mornings are best for viewing water flowers.

    Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens

    District of Columbia

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  • Changes to Visitor Services due to Sequestration

    Due to mandatory, across-the-board budget cuts, some visitor services in this park have changed. Please check the Plan Your Visit section for more information.

Wetland Economics

Swamps often have treeless clearings like this with cattail and wild rice.

Swampy areas often border marshes like this wild rice and cattail marsh.

park photo

Wetland economics is challenging for upper school grades, but is open to anyone looking for a better understanding of wetlands. Use it as a course for a certificate, parts of it for references, or to fit into your lesson plans.

In the body of the course are links to definitions and discussions for multiple levels of exploration. Click on a highlighted word to get to the link. Use the back button or close a window to return to your starting point.

The information can be accessed in any order for the needs of each user, however the recommended sequence for someone new to the topic is wetland definitions, characteristics, where wetlands form, types of wetlands, how wetlands change over time, functions of wetlands, man-made wetlands, and the project.

definitions, characteristics, form, types, change, wetland functions, man-made wetlands, wetland project.

There is a list of sources used, and you can click on the glossary for a downloadable (60 kb) file if you don't want to use the links in the body of the course.

Did You Know?

water beading on a lotus leaf

The top of the lotus leaf is covered with wax pebbles, making it better at shedding water than a plain wax surface.  This  surface is being copied for rain ware. More...