Wetland Activity Tracking

How many acres of wetlands are lost and gained each year? Tom Bernthal, Wetland Ecologist, answers this question.

• Tracking Wetland Activities [VIDEO Length 4:17]

To get a general picture of what is taking place in Wisconsin's wetlands we’ve taken the basic step of tracking and mapping activities that affect wetlands, both positively and negatively. These activities include losses, gains and "acre-neutral" projects - that is, projects that affect wetland quality but do not result in a loss or gain of acres.

Annual Reports

This series of annual reports is compiled from existing databases that track regulatory permits, compensatory mitigation projects, Department of Transportation mitigation projects and restoration activities carried out by a partnership of federal and state agencies and conservation organizations. While it focuses more on quantity than quality of wetlands, it does categorize trackable activities by whether they have generally positive or negative impacts.

Not all actions can be tracked. Some losses, such as illegal filling, are unknown, and others are not regulated, so there is no record of them to track. There are other activities with negative impacts that we are not yet able to track by acre and therefore could not include in the report. Likewise, some positive impacts are not yet tracked, such as control of invasive plants, maintenance of water control structures, and best management practices for improving plant and animal habitat on existing wetlands.

• Wetland Activities in Wisconsin
  • Status Report for 2007 Gains, Losses and Acre-Neutral Projects [July 2008, PDF 1.16MB]
  • Status Report for 2006 Gains, Losses and Acre-Neutral Projects [October 2007, PDF 954KB]

Contact Information

For more information on wetland activity tracking, please contact:

Tom Bernthal
(608) 266-3033