Thanks, Jack.  I hope the National Academy of Sciences report will help force
a few policy-makers to acknowledge that the wetland-mitigation emperor has no
clothes.

I can't resist a personal observation.   When I attended a national
conference on natural areas and prairies in 1998, one of the highlights was a
slide show of so-called mitigation wetlands in the Chicago area.    Most were
small deep sterile ponds surrounded by mowed grass that extended right down
to the water.  Most were located in the middle of development, and several
had nearby parking lots and buildings that were obvious sources of polluted
runoff.   Except for a few unhappy clumps of cattails, they had no wetland
vegetation.

Even domestic ducks wouldn't have liked those "wetlands".   They were so
atrocious that each new slide was greeted with hoots of laughter.   But the
idea that someone was actually counting those pathetic ponds as part of the
no-net-loss wetland equation wasn't funny.

I should add, to be fair, that good wetland restorationists who know and care
about what they are doing can achieve very impressive results.   However,
they are also the first to point out (as did the Academy report) that most
groundwater-driven wetlands with uncommon plants, such as fens, bogs and wet
prairies, cannot be mitigated and should be left alone.

I saw a few good-quality restored wetlands during conference field trips, and
they were inspiring.   It's no coincidence that those wetlands had been
restored and were being managed by dedicated agencies, non-profits, and
volunteers, not reluctant developers.    Good wetland restoration requires
knowledge, time, money, hard work, and ongoing management.   Those elements
have been absent from many mitigation projects.


Cindy Hildebrand
[log in to unmask]
Ames, IA  50010

"The end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
(T.S. Eliot)

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