Oil is a commodity which is needed for many purposes in our lives. The uses of the oil are sometimes off set by the hazards that occur. These hazards can occur on the ocean waters and also on the land. The land pollution which is the result of this spilled oil is just as damaging as those of the ocean variety.

As with the ocean variety the land pollution is difficult to remove but every effort must be made. Like the animals that live and visit the ocean the land animals are at risk from this pollution. There is also a risk of the oil spill leaking into the underground water table. When this occurs the rivers and lakes will also get caught to the flow of the oil that is polluting the surface.

This land pollution can happen when the pipes that carry the oil to the refining plants will corrode and break. These breaks are what causes the oil to spill onto the land and then flow everywhere that is in the path of the oil. In some dire cases the oil spill will occur due to malicious acts.

These acts are in some cases sabotage or terrorist activities. While these are very serious accidents they are hard to investigate and prove. The most that oil companies can do is to repair the breaks and posts guards to protect the pipe lines. This operation is very costly and not very feasible as there are many miles of pipe lines to protect.

While the cases of land pollution from oil rigs or oil pipe lines is not that known there have been instances where these oil spills have caused the environment massive damage. The cost to the oil company is also very high. For this reason the different oil companies are now looking into various other methods of transporting the oil to the refineries. They are also developing new methods of cleaning up the land pollution that is caused by the oil spills.

A few of these methods involve the use of naturally biodegradable substances. These substances are designed to soak up the oil that is lodged in the surface and under the soil. As a result of using products like the land pollution effects from land oil spills can be reversed. The land is then free to begin re-growing. The vegetation and the water table will become clear of any oil.

The work of the groups should continue as oil is a commodity that is still in heavy use. This makes the possibility of an oil spill a major problem in land pollution. By using substances like this people can find ways of clearing the long term effects to nature that are caused by oil spills.

American swamps cover approximately 100,000 square miles, develop in moist climates, and contain a natural filtration system that cleans water better than any man made product. There are two types, forested and inundated shrub swamps.

Inundated shrub swamps are shrub-dominated and distinguished by poor drainage, continuous water inundation or saturation. The region typically exhibits a scattered shrubby, over story, sparse cover, and occupies kettle holes in ice-contact topography and moats around bogs.  Found in wetland depressions and sandy lake plains.

Shrub swamp soil is typically shallow muck over clay with pH ranging from strongly acidic to moderately alkaline, with organic portions of the soil more acidic than mineral portions. Although soil typically remains inundated throughout the year due to the underlying impermeable clay, the upper soil layers may become dry in mid to late summer and during periods of persistent drought.

Frequent disturbances such as prolonged flooding allow inundated shrub swamp to persist rather than succeed to forest swamps. Major floods and beaver flooding kill trees, contributing to the persistence of inundated shrub swamp, extended periods of drought that lower the water table promoting tree growth changing the topography.

Buttonbush typically represents more than fifty present of the shrub cover in an inundated shrub swamp. The buttonbush survives because it adapts to fluctuating water tables, constant inundation, and a broad range of pH levels. Buttonbush is normally restricted to emergent or flooded zones and responds favorably to sunlight, but it is not critical for its establishment. A minimum water depth of twenty inches is needed for successful maintenance of buttonbush populations.

Other common species in the shrub layer of inundated shrub swamps include willows, red-osier dogwood, silky dogwood, winterberry, black chokeberry, swamp dewberry and swamp rose. Shrub cover can range from forty to ninety percent, with an average of seventy percent. Often a scattered tree canopy is also present and may include maples, yellow birch, ashes, black walnut, oaks, black willow and American elm

Although ground cover varies in an inundated shrub swamps, the plant layers are typically sparse. The ground flora may contain species such as short-awned foxtail, swamp milkweed, common beggar ticks, false nettle, sedges, water hemlock, goldthread, southern blue, rattlesnake grass, small duckweed, common water horehound, northern bugle weed, tufted loosestrife, Canada mayflower, sensitive fern, cinnamon fern, Virginia chain-fern, reed canary grass, clearweed, mad-dog skullcap, water parsnip, bur-reeds,  skunk cabbage and starflower.

Keeping our swamps healthy is vital to the survival of all species on the Earth, even humans. Shrub and forested swamps are vital to human life.