What is wetland destruction

Wetlands destruction has increased flood and drought damage, nutrient runoff and water pollution, and shoreline erosion, and triggered a decline in wildlife populations.

Wetlands restoration is a major component of the overall Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The good news is that despite the significant amount of wetland destruction since European settlement in Michigan, 6. The total decline of wetland since is estimated at 41, acres, with the rate of decline slowing between the periods to loss of approximately 1, acres per year and to approximately 1, acres per year.

Making sure the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality applies and enforces the law is a duty of every citizen. Local governments may also take action to protect wetlands from development by enacting ordinances that meet state guidelines. A higher sea level raises the flood level from a storm of a given severity. A 3-foot rise in sea level for example would enable a year storm to flood many areas that today are only flooded by a year storm.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has estimated that a rise in sea level of one foot would increase the size of the year floodplain in the United States from 19, square miles in to 23, square miles, and increase flood damages and hence flood insurance rates by percent. Coastal flooding is also exacerbated by increasing rainfall intensity. Along tidal rivers and in extremely flat areas, floods can be caused by storm surges from the sea or by river surges. Wetlands of Maryland , Tiner and Burke, , for U.

Skip to Main Content. Menu Menu. You must have Javascript enabled to see this menu. Notice: JavaScript is not available in your browser. Some enhanced features will not be available until JavaScript is enabled. Wetland Disturbance and Impact. Introduction Understanding the relationship between landscape and the dynamic nature of wetlands is essential to the assessment of wetland functions and values.

Common direct impacts to wetlands include filling, grading, removal of vegetation, building construction and changes in water levels and drainage patterns. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article of the Year Award: Outstanding research contributions of , as selected by our Chief Editors. Read the winning articles. Journal overview. Special Issues. Article Sections On this page Acknowledgments Copyright. Received 21 Oct Accepted 21 Oct Published 10 Dec Acknowledgments The guest editors of this special issue would like to express appreciation to the authors for their excellent contributions and patience in assisting us.

Wetlands loss did not happen all at once. Events in history, technological innovations, and society's values all contributed to the destruction or preservation of this habitat throughout time. Wetland destruction began with permanent settlement of Colonial America.

Though wetland drainage was widespread prior to , few complete records exist before the Land Ordinance Act established the Public Land Survey that year, requiring the surveying and partioning of land prior to settlement.

Wetlands were regarded as swampy lands that were unhealthy and stood in the way of agricultural uses of the land. This was a period of numerous large land acquisitions the Louisiana Purchase, annexation of Texas, lands ceded from Mexico, etc. With increases in land came increases in population from 7. Bureau of the Census, This, combined with technological advances, greatly facilitated loss of wetland habitat. Large-scale conversion of wetlands to farmlands began to have an impact on the distribution and abundance of wetlands around the country.

Congress aided and promoted wetland drainage, as well, with the Swamp Land Acts which granted all swamp and overflow lands to individual states for reclamation. The American Civil War focused attention on developing routes around, through, and over water bodies and wetlands that stood as logistical barriers to the movement of men and heavy equipment. Because accurate maps were critical to war efforts, an early glimpse of some of the Nation's wetlands was finally gained.

After the war, attention was focused on westward expansion and settlement. Railroads became an enemy of wetland habitat through both developing and draining these lands and as direct consumers of wetland forest products needed for railroad ties and fuel.

Agricultural demands for large tracts of land caused increasing drainage of the abundant wetlands in the mid-continent, including prairie potholes in the North Central U. The Central Valley of California was also targeted during this time. This period in American history was a time of ambitious engineering and drainage operation, with two of the most notable projects being the lock and dam system developed on the Mississippi River and the continued modification of wetlands in California's Central Valley.

Technology advanced rapidly, and by the s, large-scale flood control projects, diversion dams and the like were being built on major river tributaries. Though the government continued to encourage the drainage of wetlands during this period of history, it also initiated the process of acquiring and restoring America's wetlands through the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act.

During the mids to the mids, an average of , acres of wetlands were lost each year Office of Technology Assessment, Agriculture accounted for more than 80 percent of these losses Frayer and others, Since the s, though, there has been increasing scientific awareness that wetlands are valuable areas that provide important environmental functions.

We now know that wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs. Wetlands are critical to the ecology of watersheds because they help regulate water levels within the watersheds; improve water quality; reduce flood and storm damages; and provide important fish and wildlife habitat.

Lately scientists have also realized that they serve as global reservoirs for carbon, preventing the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and thus helping to moderate global climate conditions. The effects of Federal policy reversal on the rate of wetland loss are not clear. From to the present, Federal efforts to restore wetlands has increased. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that between and approximately 90, acres were added to the Nation's wetland inventory.

However, wetlands are still suffering losses, and more frequently, degradation. Manipulation of water levels in wetlands is the current trend. Partial drainage or lowering of water levels is becoming prevalent in some parts of the country. Effects of this type of management are uncertain. Current distribution of wetlands and deepwater habitats. Arizona Less than 1 percent of Arizona's landscape has wetlands.