preview

Comprehensive Assessment Of Wetlands

Decent Essays

Society views about wetlands have changed considerably since the continent was settled by the colonists, and especially since the mid-20th century when interest in wetland preservation and protection for the functions and values they serve emerged (Dahl & Allord, 1996). In the 1700’s, there were approximately 90 million hectares of wetlands in what is now the conterminous forty-eight states, with a significant proportion of those associated with the nation’s river systems (Dahl, Johnson, & Frayer, 1991). Two hundred years later, over half of this area has been lost or significantly modified by some form of conversion or by alteration of the hydrologic regime (Dahl & Allord, 1996; Hauer & Smith, 1998).
Interest in wetland protection and efforts …show more content…

There is a need for comprehensive assessment approaches that evaluate a range of wetland functions (Kusler, 1986). The need is critical as resource agencies begin managing the environment at watershed and basin scales (Hruby, 1999). Only 4% of the wetlands in the U.S. have been monitored for condition and only 10 states provided information on the support of designated uses for 1.8 million acres of wetlands assessed in their 2004 reports (USEPA, 2009b). The small percentage of wetlands being assessed did not go unnoticed by EPA. In 2011, attention was directed to monitor and assess the ecological condition of the nation’s wetlands (USEPA, 2011). The wetland component of the national aquatic resource survey is the national wetland conditional assessment (NWCA). EPA states three goals of the NWCA, 1) Produce a national report of the quality of the nation’s wetlands; 2) Help States and Tribes implement wetland monitoring and assessment programs to guide policy development and project decision making; and 3) advance the science of wetlands monitoring and assessment (USEPA, …show more content…

In 2006, EPA issued “The Elements of a State Wetlands Monitoring and Assessment Program”, and since that time EPA regional divisions have actively worked with states and tribes to advance wetland monitoring and the use of assessment data to better manage wetland resources (USEPA, 2013).
In 2008, EPA developed the core element framework (CEF) approach to guide states and tribes with wetland program development. The CEF was designed so states and tribes could focus wetland management and program goals into one or all of four common objectives. These four common objectives are: 1) Monitoring and assessment; 2) Regulatory activities, including 401 certification; 3) Voluntary restoration and protection; and 4) Water quality standards for wetlands (USEPA,

Get Access