; & U.S. Fish Wildlife Service HR.2 '.W53j2s/zeos~ tatusanci irenaso ClemsonUniversitj 3 1604 017 435 233 Wetlands in the Conterminous United States 1998 to 2004 ^ "5S ^*^ te^ i^^A *^W^' jr — -•, 1 ••mIbI 'fN'atLuapj^.'. "X <- v*y *NH , iJ"UHl—WI PI o - « •• «•» - • - «r ft .25&L * «#. Digitized by the Internet Archive 2013 in http://archive.org/details/statustrendsofweOOdahl Status and Trends of Wetlands the Conterminous in United States 1998 to 2004 r r~ Acknowledgments Manyagencies, organizations, Mr. Marvin Hubbell, U.S.Army and individuals contributed their Corps ofEngineers, Rock Island, IL; time, energy, and expertisetothe Mr. William Knapp, Deputy Science completion ofthis report. The author Advisor, U.S. Fish andWildlife would like to specificallyrecognize Service,Arlington,VA; Ms. Janet the followingindividuals fortheir Morlan, Oregon Dept. ofState Lands, contributions. From tho Fish and Salem, OR; Dr. N. Scott Urquhart Wildlife Service: Research Scientist, Departmentof Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, John Cooper, Statistics, Colorado State University, Herb Bergquist, Jim Dick, Jonathan FortCollins, CO; Mr. JoelWagner, Hall1 Bill Pearson, BeckyStanley2 Hydrologist, National Park Service, , , Dr. Mamie Parker, EverettWilson, Denver, CO; Dr. DennisWhigham, Jill Parker, Robin Nims Elliott. Senior Scientist, Smithsonian From the U.S. Geological Survey: Environmental Research Center, GregAllord, Dave McCulloch, Mitch Edgewater, MD; Dr. JoyZedler, Bergeson, Jane Harner, ProfessorofBotany andAldo Liz Ciganovich, MartaAnderson, Leopold Chairin Restoration DickVraga, Tim Saultz, Mike Ecology, UniversityofWisconsin, Duncan, Ron Keelerand the Madison,WI. staffoftheAdvanced Systems Center. From the National Park This reportisthe culmination Service-Cumberland Island oftechnical collaboration and National Seashore: GingerCox, partnerships. Amore complete listing Ron Crawford and George Lewis. ofsome ofthe cooperators appears at Fromthe Interagency Field Team: the end ofthis report. SallyBenjamin, USDA-Farm ServicesAgency; Patricia Delgado, Publication design and layoutofthe NOAA, National Marine Fisheries reportwere done bythe Cartography Service; Dr. JeffGoebel and Daryl and PublishingProgram, U.S. Lund, USDA-Natural Resources Geological Survey, Madison, Conservation Service; David Olsen, Wisconsin. U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers; and Myra Price, U.S. Environmental Photographs are byThomas Dahl ProtectionAgency. unless otherwise noted. Peerreviewofthe manuscriptwas Thisreportshouldbe cited as follows: provided bythe followingtechnical Dahl, T.E. 2006. Status andtrends experts: Ms. PegBostwick, Michigan ofwetlands in the conterminous Dept. ofEnvironmental Quality, United States 1998 to 2004. Lansing, MI; Dr. Ken Burham, U.S. Department ofthe Interior; Statistician, DepartmentofFishery Fish and Wildlife Service, andWildlife Biology, Colorado State Washington, D.C. 112 pp. University, Fort Collins, CO; 1 Retired. 2Currentaffiliation:NOAA,NationalMarine FisheriesService. Oppositepage:Louisiana, 2005. Previous, titlepage:Freshwaterwetland inthesoutheast U.S., 2005. ndotherwaterfowlcongregatein thefresh theupperMississippiRiver. PhotocourtesyofFWS. . Funding for this study was provided by the following agencies: Environmental Protection Agency Department of Agriculture Farm ServicesAdministration NaturalResources Conservation Sen/ice Department of Commerce NationalMarine FisheriesService Department of the Army ArmyCorps ofEngineers Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service The Council of Environmental Quality has coordinated these interagency efforts. m&, ikifc- A Afres/iuutii< rnerfieiil wetlandin Xehruskn. 200.'). ' Preface On Earth Day2004, PresidentBush on progress made toward our unveiled anewpolicyforournation's nationalwetlands acreage goals. wetlands. Movingbeyond "no net I am pleasedto reportthatthe loss" ofwetlands, the President nation is makingexcellentprogress challenged the nation to increase the in meetingthesewetland goals. For quantity aswell as qualityofthese the firsttime netwetlandgains, importantresources, and retagoal achieved throughthe contributions ofrestoring, improvingand ofrestoration andcreation activities, protectingmorethan 3 million surpassed netwetlandlosses. acres infiveyears. This is the resultofamultitude of governmental, corporate and private The Presidentrecognized thata partnershipsworkingtogetherto continuous effortto trackprogress secure and conserve ourwetland toward achievingthevarious aspects resourcesforfuture generations. ofthe Administration's newpolicies wouldbe important. The Fish and Thisreportdoes notdraw Wildlife Servicewas in aunique conclusions regardingtrends in position to provide the nationwith the qualityofthe nation'swetlands. sound scientific information The StatusandTrends Studycollects assessingtrends in the quantityof dataonwetland acreage gains and wetland gains and losses. As partof losses, as ithas forthe past50years. thatsame2004 Earth Daymessage, However, itistimelyto examine the Presidentdirected the Service the quality, function, and condition to accelerate the completion ofthis ofsuchwetland acreage. Such an study and reportthe results. examinationwill beundertaken byagencies participatinginthe This is theAdministration's report President'sWeilands Initiative. to Congress thatprovides the nation with scientific and statistical results <<*»^_ Secretary, Departmentofthe Interior Conversion Table U.S.CustomarytoMetric inches(in.) X 25.40 millimeters(mm) inches(in.) X 2.54 centimeters(cm) feet(ft) X 0.30 meters(m) miles(mi) X 1.61 kilometers(km) auticalmiles(nmi) X 1.85 kilometers(km) squarefeet(ft2) X 0.09 squaremeters(m2) squaremiles(mi2) X 2.59 squarekilometers(km2) acres(A) X 0.40 hectares(ha) Fahrenheitdegrees(F) _> 0.556(F-32) = Celsiusdegrees(C) MetrictoU.S.Customary millimeters(mm) x 0.04 inches(in.) centimeters(cm) x 0.39 feet(ft) meters(m) x 3.28 feet(ft) kilometers(km) x 0.62 miles(mi) squaremeters(m2) x 10.76 squarefeet(ft2) squarekilometers(km2) x 0.39 squaremiles(mi2) hectares(ha) x 2.47 acres(A) Celsiusdegrees(C) _> 1.8(C)+32) Fahrenheitdegrees(F) General Disclaimer The use oftrade, product, industry orfirm names orproducts in this reportis forinformative purposes onlyand does notconstitute an endorsementbythe U.S. Governmentorthe Fish and Wildlife Service.