Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators: Wetlands Programs
Ralph Heimlich, Dwight Gadsby, Roger Claassen, and Keith Wiebe
No. (AH722) ,
August 2000
Wetlands are important to the Nation's environment. Wetlands can store floodwater, trap nutrients and sediment, help recharge ground water, provide habitat for fish and wildlife, and buffer shorelines from wave damage. Wetlands also provide outdoor recreation, produce timber, provide grazing for livestock, and support educational and scientific activities. Despite these public values, conserving land as wetland forecloses more intensive economic uses for landowners. The current 124 million acres of wetlands in the continental United States is 55 percent of the original extent, but the rate of wetland loss has greatly diminished. A variety of policy instruments have been used in wetland programs to make progress toward the national goal of eventual net gains in wetlands.
Keywords: wetlands, no net loss, swampbuster, wetland conservation, wetland restoration, Wetland Reserve Program, Conservation Reserve Program, ERS, USDA
In this series ... Reports are
in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Chapter 6.5: Wetlands Programs, 437 kb.
Contents
- Wetland Status and Trends
- Long-Term Trends
- Recent Trends
- Agriculture's Contribution to "No Net Loss"
- Costs and Benefits of "No Net Loss"
- Wetland Programs
- Protection Programs
- Restoration Programs
- References
See other chapters in the Agricultural Resources and Environmental Indicators series.
Updated date: August 21, 2000
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