|
Wetlands Recovery Progress1
- Agriculture, once the major cause of wetlands conversion, achieved a net gain of nearly 263,000 acres between 1997 and 2003.
- These agricultural gains reflect years of accomplishments in wetland conservation by landowners, conservation groups, states and federal agencies.
- Between 1992 and 1997 nearly 50 percent of all wetland losses were due to development.
- Healthy wetland ecosystems function to modulate drought and floods, provide wildlife habitat, filter pollutants, retain sediment, store carbon and cycle nutrients.
- More than 43 percent of all species that are federally designated as endangered or threatened in the U.S. are wetland dependent for food, shelter or breeding at some point in their life cycle.
- The nation's wetlands goal now calls for restoring, enhancing and protecting wetland quantity and quality.
References:
|
