Traffic Sign Changes: Be Informed and Prepared
Wisconsin Waterfront Initiative
Wetlands: More Than Just Cattails
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Wetlands go by many names – swamps, bogs, marshes, prairie potholes, mud flats. They might be wet constantly or only seasonally.
Although landowners sometimes consider them wasted property, wetlands are quite valuable. They act as filters for surface waters and future drinking water. They act as sponges during floods, soaking up and storing floodwater. Fisheries and other aquatic enterprises depend on wetlands. Plants, insects, and the water itself support wildlife, and wetlands provide recreational opportunities for bird watchers, boaters, hunters, and others.
Beginning in the 1970s, amendments to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) have required greater efforts to protect existing wetlands. Given the ecological value of wetlands and the regulations affecting their use, the best course for property owners is to avoid developing them.
Recognizing that sometimes development will occur, the CWA includes a mitigation sequence to lessen the modification or even destruction of wetlands. This sequence requires the developer to:
- Avoid wetlands to the maximum extent possible.
- Minimize unavoidable impacts.
- Compensate for unavoidable impacts.
- Purchase of credits from a Mitigation Bank. Banks are wetlands that have been restored, enhanced, and protected, and are approved as a source of mitigation credits that may be sold to offset impacts of development of other wetlands.
- Payment to an In-Lieu Fee Program. A non-profit or government agency uses the payment to restore, create, enhance, and protect wetlands and other aquatic resources.
- Permittee-responsible restoration, establishment, enhancement, and/or preservation of wetlands, taking place on the site or at another location in the affected watershed.
