Q. What are wetlands?

A. “Wetlands” is the collective term for marshes, swamps, bogs, and similar areas found in generally flat, vegetated areas or between dry land and water along the edges of streams, rivers, and lakes.

Q. Where are wetlands most commonly found?

A. Wetlands can be found in nearly every county and climatic zone in the United States. Most likely, a wetland exists in your neighborhood or very close to it. Indeed, wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica.

Q. Why protect wetlands?

A. Wetlands help regulate water levels, improve drinking water quality, reduce flood and storm damages, provide important fish and wildlife habitat, and support hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.

Q. Why save wetlands when there are real problems like global warming?

A. Scientists are beginning to realize that atmospheric maintenance may be an additional wetlands function. Wetlands store carbon within their plant communities and soil instead of releasing it to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Wetlands help to moderate global climate conditions.

Q. How are wetlands connected to wildlife?

A. Wetlands can be thought of as “biological supermarkets.” They provide great volumes of food that attract many animal species. Almost half of all animals in North America use wetlands for part of or all of their life cycle.

Q. What good are wetlands to humans?

A. Wetlands filter your drinking water, protect your property from floods, and provide habitat for fishing and hunting. If you like having other animals on the planet, you should be in favor of protecting wetlands.

Q. Why would anyone destroy wetlands?

A. People often incorrectly view wetlands as unproductive swamps, so more than half of America’s original wetlands have now been destroyed. They have been drained, filled for housing developments and industrial facilities, or used to dispose of household and industrial waste.

Q. Why is saving wetlands such an important issue right now?

A. On January 9, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court released a decision (the SWANCC decision) where they held that the federal government can no longer require a permit when somebody wants to fill in an isolated wetland. They essentially changed the way the law worked for many years.

Q. What happened in SWANCC?

A. The Solid Waste Agencies of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) wanted to construct a landfill in Northern Illinois. They needed to fill over 17 acres of ponds and small lakes that were being used as nesting grounds by migratory birds. After the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit, SWANCC filed suit challenging that the waters could not be regulated under either the federal Clean Water Act or the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Q. What does the Supreme Court have against wetlands?

A. Nothing. The Supreme Court did not rule on the value of wetlands, they simply decided on the procedural issue of federal jurisdiction. Unfortunately, this created a legal loophole, and developers are now filling in isolated wetlands to take advantage of this new, unprotected status.

Q. What can I do to help plug this legal loophole?

A. Encourage your state legislator to pass a state law to protect wetlands. You can find model legislation on this site. Tell your legislator you only want the same protection for isolated wetlands that existed before the SWANCC decision.

Q. Is this an unpopular political issue?

A. Quite the opposite. Wetlands protection legislation passed the Wisconsin Republican Assembly and Democratic State Senate unanimously in May of 2001. The Republican governor called a special session to pass the wetlands bill and sign it into law. Ohio has also passed wetlands legislation, and several other states are currently considering ways to plug this legal loophole.

Q. Do we really need more government regulations?

A. This legislation simply ensures the same protection that existed before January of 2001. If we don’t protect wetlands, we jeopardize our drinking water and property values. Without regulations, developers will fill in these wetlands as soon as possible.

Q. Aren’t isolated wetlands just mud puddles or wasted land?

A. Isolated wetlands, although not directly connected to a river or lake, still play a vital role in filtering drinking water and controlling floods. If these “mud puddles” are filled in, the displaced water still needs a place to settle, whether it is your basement, driveway, or backyard.