The shallow depressions that dot the farm fields of North Dakota would hardly + fit most peoples' definition of wetlands. The smallest of these glacier-carved features, known as prairie potholes, are under water for only a few weeks in the spring. During periods of low rainfall, they are almost indistinguishable from any other acreage. But when the frozen ground warms in early spring, the depressions swarm with crustaceans and insects that provide migrating waterfowl with essential protein. The smaller potholes also enable breeding pairs of birds to find the privacy they covet.
Yet seasonal wetlands like the prairie potholes and seemingly...
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