to be a wetland, or not to be a wetland

(i am interrupting my daycamp week to bring you this whiney rant) so let's see.... i have been a part of the effort to save los cerritos wetlands for about 3 years now, getting pretty much as "in to it" as anyone could get. i have done my own research, i have attended meetings and vigils, rallies and protests. i organized the rummage sale to benefit the cause, i have spoken to lots of people about it, i started the facebook group page to spread the word. so i am thinking, after all this, why is it so HARD to get people on board? i know everyone is busy, i know people have things that are important to them and that they will donate time, money and energy to. but seriously, there is 400 acres of open space,one of the last chunks of wetlands along our entire west coast in need of being saved and i can hardly get residents who LIVE DOWN THE STREET FROM IT to want to save it. i would think people up and down the entire coast would deem it worth saving, let alone the people next door to it. i have heard people say they live in the next county so aren't SURE if they CAN support saving it. what??? i would think if you live in America you can help us save this wetlands. i would be interested in saving any wild open space in the whole WORLD if it needed to be saved. so after an article like this, i get emails and facebook messages asking me if we should still fight the fight if a small chuck has been "proven" not a wetlands? well this is a perfect example of how the "system" works. the developer gets property that cannot be developed, he illegally scrapes off the top 6 inches of soil, he removes all vegetation, kills all the animals living there, disrupts the nesting wildlife in PRIME nesting season, he then brings in soil from somewhere else and puts 6 inches back on the land, THEN he PAYS a biologist to come out and "test" the soil.... which comes back with no wetlands vegetation or wetlands soil....what a surprise! the paper writes an article and all the environmentalists look like jack asses? oh really? it would be a lot easier for some people to be able to say, "well i would have got on board if it HAD been a wetlands, but look at this article, there is your proof so i don't need to feel guilty or worry about it now do i?" 

ok, so there is my rant for now. i will keep chipping away at this, hoping for more passionate people to join me, people who won't let the city "machine" run us all over and develop every square inch of our town. people who think that wildlife needs a place to call their own so they aren't in our chlorinated "ponds" trying to survive or getting hit by cars or forced to live in our flowerbeds. heck, I need a wild place for MY OWN survival!