Swamps

You are never more than a few miles away from swamps or ponds in the Northeast. The history of European settlement on this continent is about draining swamps and redirecting water.  We have an ambivalent feelings about swamps. They are sources of abundant life, a primal origin of life. But they can also produce disease-bearing insects.  

So they are not necessarily benign places for us. But their health is a barometer of the well-being of the entire ecosystem.