29 



MILLIONS OF ACRES 



5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 



ESTUARINE INTERTIDAL FLATS 



ESTUARINE EMERGENT WETLANDS 



ESTUARINE FORESTED AND 

 SCRUB— SHRUB WETLANDS 



PALUSTRINE EMERGENT WETLANDS 



PALUSTRINE SCRUB- 

 SHRUB WETLANDS 



PALUSTRINE FORESTED WETLANDS 



OTHER PALUSTRINE WETLANDS 



Fig. 26. Extent of wetlands in the conterminous U.S. in the mid-1970's (from Frayer, et al. 1983). 



Estimates of the original wetland acreage present at 

 this country's settlement vary, since the available infor- 

 mation is scattered and largely incomplete. However, a 

 very reliable account places this acreage at 215 million 

 acres for the conterminous United States (Roe and Ayres 

 1954). Thus, today's wetland resource in the lower 48 

 states probably represents less than 46% of our original 

 wetlands (Figure 27). 



215 MILLION ORIGINAL ACRES 



Fig. 27. Original and remaining acreages of wetlands in the conter- 

 minous U.S. (from Roe and Ayres 1954; Frayer, et al. 1983). 



