wetlands as flood reservoirs, recharge and discharge sites and transporters of 

 dissolved nutrients. 



For all wetland Junctions we need to move from generalizations to specific site 

 evaluations. Public agencies charged with administering wetland permit programs 

 have to act on individual sites. Thus, they require the ability to determine how a 

 particular wetland functions with regard to Hood control, water quality and the like. 

 Current procedures for evaluation of the flood control function are incomplete and 

 the storm damage prevention role of wetlands has really not been field tested. Our 

 understanding of the water quality function of wetlands needs to be refined for 

 application on specific sites. The relationship of wetlands to groundwater in the 

 south, central and western parts of the LInited States has not been studied to any 

 degree. More work is needed to integrate the general habitat and species specific 

 approaches to wetland wildlife habitat evaluation. 



Considerable effort is being made to develop economic measures of valuable 

 functions of wetlands. In this process economists and ecologists have come in 

 conflict. Perhaps the best example of conflict over the means by which dollar values 

 are placed on wetlands is seen in the exchange of v lews that followed the publication 

 of Gosselink. Odum and Pope's pamphlet on the value of the tidal marsh.'-" Resource 

 economists Shabman and Batie in Virginia challenged the validity of the Gosselink, 

 et al. paper."" This critique was followed by no less than a rebuttal,'" a replay to the 

 rebuttal, '-'' a short note by an invited critic'* and a note of explanation from the editor 

 of the Coa.sial Zone Mana^enwni Journal.''^ In short, economists say ecologists may 

 not recogni/e the nature of the process bv which economic values are determined. 

 Ecologists, on the other hand, say that traditional economic processes fail to put a 

 realistic value on functions of wetlands, such as their ability to transform solarenergy 

 into forms that support life on earth. 



If wetland functions are to receive full appreciation in the coming decade, 

 economists and ecologists must join research efforts and develop more widelv 

 accepted economic measures of wetland functions and values. If the conventional 

 system of market place economics does not recogni/e that conversion of solarenergy 

 in natural ecosystems is essential for man's survival, quite possibly traditional 

 economic evaluation techniques are not very helpful in making important decisions 

 on how we manage wetlands or other ecosystems. On the other hand, public 

 management is an expression of public desire. Dollar values are very effective in 

 determining what policies the public will support, often with little regard to the 

 findings of science. Clearly ecologists and economists, and the public, have much to 

 gain from new research that will better attach dollar values to the flow of energy, 

 water and nutrients in valuable wetland ecosystems. 



Viewing the Nation as a whole, our knowledge of coastal wetlands is best on the 

 south Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Our inland wetland information is best developed in 

 the glaciated Northeast and the Great Lakes states. Elsewhere we have much less 

 adequate information. Scientific assessment of wetland ecological functions and 

 values needs to be implemented on a regional basis to include all parts of the 

 continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. Some information can be transferred 

 between regions but it is highly likelv that wetlands that appear similar, function 

 differently in different ecoregions. Ecologist Eugene Odum has pointed out that the 

 importance of wetlands to man lies in the fact that they form the boundary between 

 his living place, the land, and that essential life-support element, water. A decade of 

 scientific research lends support to this observation and the coming decade must 

 develop the tools to apply knowledge on a site-by-site basis. 



REFERENCES 



1. Cowardin, L. M., V. Carter, F. C. Golet, and E. T. Laroe. 1979. Classification 

 of wetlands and deep water habitats of the United States. Office of Biological 

 Services, Fish and Wildlife Service, USDI. Washington, D.C. 103 pp. 



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