by Denise Riebman

Mounds of manure. Piles of it. We shoveled and carted around this manure. We spread and raked it. We filled two huge pits with this not so sweet smelling stuff. A friend of mine even managed to do a face plant in it. The manure was flying along with some pretty horrible jokes. However, this project, run by Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado was no laughing matter. We were trying to restore life to the water running into Peru Creek. The weekend was spent filling in two huge pits with manure, sand and gravel in the hopes of creating a wetland that would filter and purify the water. Around the country millions of dollars have been spent trying to clean up our messes using the newest technology and cutting edge research and there wer were, using an age old idea from nature and sheer musclepower. Wetlands have been one of the most underappreciated and misunderstood ecosystems known to man. We complain of their smell. We detest all the bugs. We usually don't hike through them, let alone plan a picnic in them. And if we can't avoid them, then we often try to fill them in and cement them over.