Newsletter Article

A number of reports have recently been released that seek to summarize the effectiveness of current wetland legislation and highlight the importance of natural wetland systems.

A Rutgers University study found that a decline in loss of wetlands in New Jersey in the '90s was offset by increased destruction of forests. The pace of development quickened from 1995 to 2000 in forested areas such as the northern Highlands. The erosion of working farms and wetlands during that same period slowed.

The USDA announced that farmers and ranchers produced a net increase of 131,400 acres of wetlands from 1997-2002, according to a recent National Resources Inventory (NRI). The most increases occurred in the Corn Belt and Delta States where farmers and ranchers have created, maintained or enhanced numerous wetlands through conservation programs such as the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). Although agriculture was the source of a total of 182,600 acres of wetlands, wetland increases due to agriculture were partially offset by losses of 51,200 acres. The difference totals 131,400 acres. http://www.usda.gov/print/2004/0161.04.doc.

A Ducks Unlimited statement contends that the United States continues to lose more than 100,000 acres of its most productive wetland wildlife habitats every year. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) surveys show that, although the rate of loss has slowed in recent decades, our freshwater vegetated wetlands continue to disappear. These figures are based on loss rates for natural and restored wetlands that provide critical wildlife habitat, not storm water retention ponds, golf course ponds, or other artificial water bodies that have little value for wildlife. http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4PRN/is_2004_April_19/ai_115513846.

According to America's Wetlands: Nowhere Near No-Net-Loss, a white paper released by the National Wildlife Federation, America's wetlands are in more trouble today than they have been in decades because current federal policies increasingly expose them to pollution, dredging and filling. In addition, the white paper underscores that the nation still cannot reliably measure the health or extent of the country's wetlands. The white paper analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the no net loss studies that have been conducted over the years as well as the potential for the current Administration to achieve its net gain goal with current restoration programs. Download the white paper: http://www.nwf.org/nwfwebadmin/binaryVault/Nowhere_Near_No-Net-Loss.pdf.