Here's another article passed on to me by Michael Barton.

Chet writes that places like ditches provide the opportunity for children who live in the suburbs to connect with nature. I think this is so important. I'm lucky enough to live near mountains rivers and wide open spaces, but not everyone is. I love that there is always some place to experience nature.

Follow up:

When we have paved over the woods and fields, when chemically-addicted suburban lawns stretch in unbroken continuity from sea to sea, when ATVs and snowmobiles have invaded the last vestiges of wildness, there will still be ditches. Down at the back of the subdivision, at the side of the road, behind the mall. Places where a curious, outdoorsy kid might discover her inner savage -- in the best messing-about, budding-naturalist sense of that word.

Check it out.