A Comprehensive Wetland Assessment, Monitoring, and Mapping Strategy for Minnesota

Minnesota is fortunate to have a rich diversity of wetlands and, other than Florida, more wetland acreage than any other of the contiguous states. However, roughly half of Minnesota's original wetlands have been lost to drainage or filling. Beginning in the 1970s, public policy began to shift toward greater protection of wetland resources. This trend culminated with the passage in 1991 of the Minnesota Wetland Conservation Act (WCA), which called for no net loss in wetland quantity and quality and ultimately a net gain in wetland resources. Existing efforts to assess wetland status and trends in Minnesota are inadequate. Data collected on proposed wetland loss and compensatory mitigation by state and federal wetland regulatory programs lack coordination, may not reflect actual (versus permitted) activities, and do not adequately account for exempt and illegal wetland loss. Data collected by government agencies and nongovernmental conservation organizations on voluntary wetland restorations are inconsistent and incomplete. National wetland and land-use monitoring efforts by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) do not sample intensively enough in Minnesota to draw accurate conclusions on the state's wetland status and trends.