The land in California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is sinking rapidly. And in the process, it’s releasing a lot of climate-warming carbon dioxide. … Starting in the 1800s, levees were installed and much of the land was drained to create islands where farmers could grow crops such as corn. “When you take water off of peat soils, processes in the soil cause it to release carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, and makes the land subside or sink,” [says Sydney Chamberlin of the Nature Conservancy.] But she says rewetting the land can help slow that process. So the Nature Conservancy has purchased one of the islands in the Delta and turned thousands of acres of it into rice paddies, which are flooded part of the year. And they’re restoring other parts of the island back into wetlands.

Other wetlands news:

• KSL (Salt Lake City): Utah State University researchers bring in a secret weapon to mitigate drought impacts​