Critical Issues in Wetland Mitigation: A Scientific Perspective

By the end of the 1970s, many of the values of wetlands to wildlife and to society has been well established in the United States, and a formal public commitment had been made, in the form of state and federal legislation, to protect these values. Because of the resultant conflict between te public interest and private property rights, certain technical issues have received a great deal of attention during the first half of the 1980s. Among these are the definition and limits of wetland, wetland value assessment, and wetland mitigation. The latter two would appear to be the preeminent wetland issues of this decade.