This picture is from the Marshes article in a Vermont’s Natural Areas series that spanned a few issues around 1973. The article is on the side of celebration of the marshes and wetlands in Vermont and a growing appreciation for the ecosystem. This clashes however with the sentiment that “…the value of the marshes is ‘productivity’. Acre for acre, marshes produce more plant and animal life than any other comparable area of real estate. So while the article does ridicule the idea that marshes are wastelands who’s only value to humanity is through their drainage, it doesn’t commit fully to an idea that the marshes are valuable just for, as they put it, its ‘beauty’, or even its existence as a being or ecology in the world. 

One piece that’s interesting to note about this article is that it features these close up pictures. Often the Vermont beauty is seen in the vast scenic landscapes, but this article pushes against that narrative focusing at least for a few pictures on the beauty of the small scale. This puts emphasis on the more hidden parts of the ecosystem and all the complexity that lies within.