The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just released a national monitoring study of the overall conditions of wetlands in the nation, and the results give great cause for concern.
- Less than half of wetland area (48%) is in good condition; 32% is in poor condition and the remaining 20% is in fair condition.
- Physical disturbances to wetlands and their surrounding habitat such as compacted soil, ditching, and removal or loss of vegetation, are the most widespread problems across the country. 27% of wetland area nationally has high stress levels for surface hardening and vegetation removal, and 23% of wetland area has high stress levels for ditching.
- Wetlands with high levels of compacted soil are about twice as likely to have poor plant communities.
- Nonnative plants are a problem across the country, particularly in the interior plains and west. 46% of wetland areas in the interior plains and 72% of wetland area in the west have high or very high levels of stress from nonnative plants.
Don’t forget, properties with pristine water resources are valued as much as five times higher than their upland counterparts. To learn how your wetlands can be restored to perform their healthy, natural functions, contact Trout Headwaters Today
Read more about the EPA study here https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-05/documents/2011_nwca_fact_sheet_final.pdf
