33 



3.0 



2.5-- 

 2.0 -- 



lOWAS NATURAL MARSHES 



50.000 



S 1 -- 

 26.500 5 



CALIFORNIA S WETLANDS 



Early 

 1800 s 



+ Estimates prror to 1900 range from 4 1 to 5 million acres 



Fig. 30. Historical losses of wetlands in Iowa (a) and California (b) (from Bishop 1981 and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1977). 



In many areas, wetland destnjction was greatest from 

 the mid-1800's to the early 1900's due to passage of the 

 Swamp Land Acts of 1849, 1850. and 1860. These acts 

 granted all swamp and overflow lands to 15 states: Ala- 

 bama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois. Indiana, 

 Iowa, Louisiana. Michigan. Minnesota, Mississippi, 

 Missouri, Ohio, Oregon and Wisconsin (Shaw and Fre- 

 dine 1956). These states were to drain these wetlands for 

 agriculture by constructing levees and drainage ditches. 

 About 65 million acres had been transferred from the 

 Federal government to the states by 1954. Historical 

 losses of Iowa's and California's wetlands illustrate ac- 

 celerated wetland destruction in the late 1800's and early 

 1900's (Figure 30). 



The original 1 3 states had retained all lands within their 

 borders when the Federal government was established 

 and Texas also kept all its land at the time of annexation. 

 Interestingly, the extensive coastal wetlands of these 14 

 states were never owned by the Federal government and, 

 by contrast, coastal wetland losses have been more re- 

 cent. Between 1954 and 1978, the loss rate of coastal 

 wetland doubled due primarily to post-war urban and 

 industrial development in the U.S. coastal zone and to 

 accelerated erosion and subsidence of Louisiana's vast 

 coastal marshes (Gosselink and Baumann 1980). 



While wetland losses in some states or regions may 

 have been heaviest at the turn of the century, loss rates 

 remain high in many areas. Between 1955 and 1978, 

 Kansas lost 40% of its wetlands (Elliott, U.S.F.W.S., 

 pers. comm.). In Illinois, an estimated 20% of its wet- 

 lands are destroyed every decade (Great Lakes River Ba- 

 sin Commission 1981). About 6.7 million acres of Ohio's 



original wetlands have been drained, while overhalf of its 

 wetlands along Lake Erie have been destroyed since 1954 

 (Weeks 1974). Kentucky's wetlands along the 

 Mississippi and Ohio Rivers have been reduced by 37% 

 in the past twenty years (Kentucky Department of Fish 

 and Wildlife Resources 1983). Heavy annual losses are 

 continuing in the bottomland hardwood forested wetlands 

 of the Lower Mississippi Delta and accelerating in poco- 

 sin wetlands along the North Carolina coast ( MacDonald. 

 et al. 1979; Richardson, et al. 1981). Some examples of 

 recent wetland loss rates are shown in Table 4. 



Recent trends in Delaware. Maryland, and New Jersey 

 illustrate the effect of state wetland protection. Before 

 passage of the Wetlands Act in 1973, Delaware was los- 

 ing almost 450 acres of estuarine wetland each year. After 

 the law, losses dropped to just 20 acres annually (Har- 

 disky and Klemas 1983). Coastal wetland losses in Mary- 

 land and New Jersey were also drastically reduced 

 through wetland regulations. In addition to state laws, the 

 Clean Water Act added a level of Federal protection to 

 these wetlands nationwide in the early 1970's. Effective 

 implementation of similar laws in other states has prob- 

 ably reduced wetland losses substantially. 



Current Regional Development 

 Pressures 



In the Northeast, coastal wetlands are now well pro- 

 tected by state laws. Inland wetlands, however, continue 

 to be vulnerable to development pressures in many areas. 



