CRS-66 



coastal marshes were lost between surveys in 1914 and 1959. 61 / Over 40 per- 

 cent of the potholes in western Minnesota were converted to other uses during 

 a 10 year period between 1964 and 1974, according to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service survey. 62 / By 1954, only 450,000 acres of wetlands remained of Cali- 

 fornia's estimated 3.5 million acres when the State was first settled. 63 / 

 In coastal areas of California, only 125,000 acres of an original 381,000 acres 

 remain, many of them greatly altered. 64 / The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

 has summarized national wetland loss data, noting that the loss rate between 

 1922 and 1954 was about 0.2 percent a year; between 1954 and the mid-1970s 

 it rose to 0.50 to 0.65 percent a year; and currently estimate it to be about 

 0.4 percent a year. 65 / 



Wetland loss is associated with other human and natural activities. For 

 example, the State of Louisiana is losing coastal wetlands to open water at 

 a rate of 47 square miles per year. Causes include levees that retain sedi- 

 ments upstream, canals for oil and gas that alter natural water channels, and 

 a rise in sea level. A 1980 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study noted that 



61 / Rankin, John S. Salt Marshes as a Source of Food. In Connecticut 

 College Bulletin, No. 12. New London, Connecticut Arboretum, University of 

 Connecticut. 1961. p. 4. 



62 / U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. Western 

 Minnesota Wetlands Inventory. Unpublished, 1974. Mixed pagination. 



63 / U.S. Department of the Interior, Wetlands of the United States, p. 7. 



64 / Anonymous. California's Coastal Wetlands. La Jolla, University of 

 California, Sea Grant College Program, no date. p. 7. 



65/ U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Impact Analysis, Draft, p. 104. 



