<P> Swamps are characterized by slow - moving to stagnant waters . They are usually associated with adjacent rivers or lakes . Swamps are features of areas with very low topographic relief . Swamps generate coal as rock . </P> <P> Historically, humans have drained swamps to provide additional land for agriculture and to reduce the threat of diseases borne by swamp insects and similar animals . Many swamps have also undergone intensive logging, requiring the construction of drainage ditches and canals . These ditches and canals contributed to drainage and, along the coast, allowed salt water to intrude, converting swamps to marsh or even to open water . Large areas of swamp were therefore lost or degraded . Louisiana provides a classic example of wetland loss from these combined factors . Europe has probably lost nearly half its wetlands . New Zealand lost 90 percent of its wetlands over a period of 150 years . Ecologists recognise that swamps provide valuable ecological services including flood control, fish production, water purification, carbon storage, and wildlife habitat . In many parts of the world authorities protect swamps . In parts of Europe and North America, swamp restoration projects are becoming widespread . Often the simplest steps to restoring swamps involve plugging drainage ditches and removing levees . </P> <P> Swamps and other wetlands have traditionally held a very low property value compared to fields, prairies, or woodlands . They have a reputation for being unproductive land that cannot easily be utilized for human activities, other than perhaps hunting and trapping . Farmers, for example, typically drained swamps next to their fields so as to gain more land usable for planting crops . </P> <P> Many societies now realize that swamps are critically important to providing fresh water and oxygen to all life, and that they are often breeding grounds for a wide variety of life . Indeed, floodplain swamps are extremely important in fish production . Government environmental agencies (such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency) are taking steps to protect and preserve swamps and other wetlands . In Europe, major effort is being invested in the restoration of swamp forests along rivers . Conservationists work to preserve swamps such as those in northwest Indiana in the United States Midwest that were preserved as part of the Indiana Dunes . </P>

Tree often found in swamp areas in georgia