Status and Trends Report Surprises and Disturbs

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Status and Trends report confirms that wetland protection programs have made a difference and slowed the rate of wetland loss from 250,000 acres per year in the decade before 1985 to 17,000 acres per year in the decade after. But even the new rate of loss, and the 80 percent of that loss attributed to agriculture, surprises and disturbs.