Fast Facts: An Overview of Wetlands

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources estimates that 97.5 percent of Iowa's pre-settlement wetlands have been lost and only 36,500 acres of prairie pothole marshes remain.

Private landowners control 78 million acres of wetlands in the United States.

"We have no buffers anymore between farm fields and lakes and rivers," explains ISU botany professor Arnold van der Valk. "Historically, wetlands provided such a buffer."

"The preservation of existing wetlands and the restoration of wetlands, which are both needed, is going to require a partnership between farmers and environmentalists. And it will need to be done on private land if it is to be effective."

Source

Miller, Laura. Leopold Center Newsletter. "The Mystery of Restored Wetlands." Online. February 2002. http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/leopold/newsletter/2001-4leoletter/wetlands.html