U.S. Wetland Protection and Restoration: Have We Made a Difference?

摘要

Wetlands alteration is not unique to the United States. Humans all over the world have filled them for agriculture, industry, and housing and dredged them for marinas, ports, and harbors (Mitsch and Gosselink 2007). We have restricted the flow of water (and the sediment it carries) and piped the water elsewhere. We continue to alter wetlands, but the pace in the United States has slowed in large part due to state and federal wetlands protection regulations. Having destroyed up to 80% of wetlands in some states such as Ohio, where wetlands were drained for agriculture, we are now moving to enhance those with compromised function and restore those that were lost (Kusler and Kentula 1990, USEPA 2001). Most of our enhancement and restoration has occurred since 1980. The question is this: Have we made a difference in the amount of wetlands or in the rates of loss or restoration.