Wetlands Defined

Generally, wetlands are defined by various characteristics, such as soil type, level and duration of saturation throughout the year, and the types of resident plant and animal communities are dominant factors. Wetland types vary due to regional differences in soil, topography, climate, hydrology, water chemistry, vegetation, and level of human disturbance. Most wetlands fall into four main types: marshes, fens, bogs, and swamps.

For regulatory purposes under the Clean Water Act (CWA), wetlands are defined as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas."

In New York, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) describes wetland areas as "transitional areas between aquatic and upland plant and animal communities, and often have some of the qualities of both. Wetlands also occur where the groundwater occurs near or at the surface, saturating the soil and the root zone of the plants that grow there." More lengthy legal definitions of "tidal" and "freshwater" wetlands are contained in Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) sections 24-0107.1 and 25-0103.1. DEC has paraphrased the definition of freshwater wetlands as "those areas of land and water that support a preponderance of characteristic wetlands plants that out-compete upland plants because of the presence of wetlands hydrology (such as prolonged flooding) or hydric (wet) soils." Similarly, a typical tidal wetland "is the salt marsh which occurs in the near shore areas all around Long Island, the lower Hudson River, and along the entire Atlantic coast of the United States. These areas are dominated by grasses and other marsh plants which are adapted to the rise and fall of the tide and the salty water it brings."

The Importance of Wetlands

Wetlands are vital for protection of the environment and public health. Wetlands are transitional areas that act as buffers between open waters and uplands and provide functions that: filter pollution, purifying our drinking water, and protecting rivers, lakes, and coastal waters from pollution, such as sediment, nutrients, chemical contaminants, and bacteria; recharge groundwater aquifers; absorb floodwaters, protecting coasts and homes from floods; provide habitat for plant and animal species, including threatened or endangered species - New York is home to 72 rare wetland-dependent species (49 rare animal, and 23 rare plant species); and provide local tourism industries with opportunities to engage in activities associate with such wildlife.

In the New York City drinking water watershed, the pollution filtration and aquifer recharge provided by wetlands is extremely important for protecting the quality of water that serves over 9 million people. Wetland environments act as buffers for streams, rivers, lakes, and drinking reservoirs because they trap, uptake and transform harmful nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides, and organic pollutants before they can flow into downgradient waterbodies. Wetlands have unique features that improve water quality, including: physical configurations that increase water retention time and thus induce pollutions settling; hydric soils that bind pollutants and provide a substrate for microbial degradation and transformation; and, vegetation that slows water flow and enhances settling, provides nutrient uptake, and also provide a substrate for microbial activity.

In addition, it is important that all surface and groundwater, including wetlands, are inextricably linked by shared hydrological, physical, biological, and chemical properties. Wetlands are often the headwaters that contribute to baseflow of tributaries, streams, and rivers, and ultimately our reservoirs. Groundwater discharges are also cool and clean, compared to surface flows, and thus can combat the thermal stress that could otherwise harm certain biota in warm seasons, such as the native brook trout in New York.

Wetlands Destruction and Loss in New York

Because many wetland maps are old and outdated, and different maps employ different definitions of "wetlands," it is very hard to document the exact wetland losses that are occurring in New York. Estimates of wetland losses vary greatly, even according official government agency data. Research by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that since the 1800s, the conterminous U.S. has lost approximately 53 percent of its estimated original 221 million acres of wetlands, and continues to lose almost 60,000 acres each year. However, as recently as 1999, the U.S. General Accounting Office estimated that approximately 290,000 acres of wetlands are lost nationally per year. Similarly, in New York, the DEC states that as of the mid 1990s, there were approximately 2.4 million acres of wetlands in the State. But, detailed reports show quite a different situation. The National Research Council found that since the 1700s, New York has lost over 60 percent of its estimated original 2.562 million acres of wetlands, and by the 1980s, there were an estimated 1.025 million acres remaining.

More recent research clearly depicts the deplorable state of affairs for wetlands in New York.

A U.S. Congressional investigation was requested to assess U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) wetland permitting following rollbacks in federal wetland policy. Two recent reports by the U.S General Accounting Office document ACOE’s lack of uniform or publicly available criteria for determining wetland jurisdiction, and further criticize ACOE’s lack of documentation of rationales when non-jurisdictional determinations are made.

In September, 2005 the Environmental Integrity Project reported that New York is among the top 15 states for federal wetlands losses following federal rollbacks. In addition, the New York State Attorney General’s Office recently reviewed all wetland permit determinations available following federal rollbacks (New York District 2002-2004, Buffalo District 2001-2004). According to Lemuel Srolovic, Section Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau, in a lecture presented at a wetlands conference in Albuquerque, NM in October, 2005 fully 45 % (562) of the applications received were found to be non-jurisdictional by ACOE. Of those, only one application was found that qualified for regulation under State law.

Few wetlands remain in the NYC Watershed. According to a 1999 report by Watershed Inspector General Jim Tierney, in the 571 square mile Catskill Watershed, there are 3,872 acres of wetlands (which comprise about 1.06 percent of the watershed's land surface area). In the 1,013 square mile Delaware Watershed, there are 5,242 acres of wetlands (or about .81 percent of the watershed area). In the 387-square mile East-of-Hudson Watershed, there are 15,809 acres of wetlands (or about 6.4 percent of the watershed area). These figures are somewhat out of date, and undoubtedly wetland losses have continued in the subsequent years. It is critical that the few remaining wetland resources be protected and preserved.

Unchecked Development Provides the Largest Threat to Wetland Resources

Sprawl is a significant factor contributing to the rapid loss of critical wetland areas. Wetlands often are ditched and drained in order to accommodate new building, agricultural uses, or to provide mosquito control. Additional pollutants are introduced from vehicles, factories and power plants. Native wetland vegetation can be replaced by nonnative, invasive plant species that are aesthetically pleasing to people, but do not provide equivalent wetland functions for water quality and wildlife habitat. Construction activities significantly increase sedimentation in waterbodies. And, creation of increased impervious surfaces - such as parking lots, rooftops, and to some degree lawns - allow more pollutants to be more quickly carried into wetlands and other waterbodies because contaminants are more easily scoured from them and then flow in increased volumes and rates of speed. Such volume can rip important vegetation from, and thus destroy, protective wetlands that buffer our drinking water supplies. EPA estimates that a medium density residential development ranges from 25 percent to 60 percent impervious surface.

Loss of even small wetlands can have great environmental impacts. Sprawling development patterns place wildlife species, particularly amphibians, at risk of extinction. Study of a sample area in South Carolina has shown that eliminating natural wetlands of less than 10 acres would increase the nearest-wetland distance from 1,570 feet to 5,443 feet. This distance would take most amphibian species several generations to travel, and thus increases the probability of extinction of local populations.

Wetland degradation can be as devastating as complete wetland loss since degraded wetlands lose their ability to perform their valuable wetland functions. When development projects disturb wetland areas, they are often required to mitigate losses by creating artificial wetlands in another location. However, successful creation of equivalent wetland functions is rarely accomplished. Wetland vegetation is important to the function of water quality, and hydrology affects the way in which seeds disperse and germinate. Many seeds cannot germinate in standing water and therefore flow is essential. Vegetation, in turn, influences flow rates and thus reciprocally affects hydrology. And, wetland plantings require considerable monitoring for several years to insure they hold. A typical self-monitoring period for wetland plantings is three to five years, but some wetland vegetation may not mature for many years afterward. Other disturbances occurring after monitoring periods may require repairs to ensure successful functioning of wetlands.