Monitoring and Assessing Wetlands: How Do We Take Advantage of Becoming Data Rich?

Monitoring and assessment (M&A) have long been considered critical components of any research or management program, where there is a need to evaluate progress and performance over time. There are several M&A programs involving wetlands operating at a federal level, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) status and trends reports, the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring Program using “vital signs,” the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ hydrogeomorphic (HGM) approach, and the Natural Resource Conservation Service’s reports on agricultural wetlands, to name but a few.