Foreword

Since my boyhood, wetlands have held a fascination for me. They are like a wild metropolis filled with life, yet they remain almost unreachable and mysterious ... a kind of lowland Shangri-La. I have explored them by canoe, small inflatable, hip waders, mask and snorkel, and just getting soaked. On every occasion I felt like a true explorer, ready to discover, to be surprised.

Thank goodness they are so difficult to travel in or humans would have ruined them by now. In fact, humans have been ruining them with big machines for a long time. This must stop. We need them for practical and aesthetic reasons. Also, thank goodness that painters and photographers can bring the beauty and variety of the wetlands to us, so we can enjoy them and still keep dry.