A new era dawns for America’s disappearing wetlands as feds retreat from oversight

A new era dawns for America’s disappearing wetlands as feds retreat from oversight

Reading Time: 8 minutes(Graphic by Michael Crowe / Ag & Water Desk with images by Jeff Wheeler and Anthony Soufflé / Minnesota Star Tribune)On a sunny spring day on a farm outside St. Louis, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin celebrated a new era for America’s wetlands. Flanked by farm equipment and a large American flag, Zeldin said federal rules about wetlands, long a source of frustration for people who want to drai…

A new era dawns for America’s wetlands as feds retreat from oversight • Louisiana Illuminator

A snowy egret fishes on a log in Bayou Bienvenue in Louisiana in February 2025. (James Eli Shiffer, Star Tribune ) CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — On a sunny spring day on a farm outside St. Louis, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin celebrated a new era for America’s wetlands. Flanked by farm equipment and a large American flag, Zeldin said federal rules about wetlands, long a source of frustration for people who want to drain th…

The restoration of wetlands is key if we want to curb the loss of biodiversity and the negative effects of climate change. There are many types of wetlands according to the Ramsar Convention: marine, estuarine, lake, coastal, palustres and even artificial. Each type of wetland has its peculiarities, but, in general terms, we could say that a wetland is an ecosystem: halfway between the aquatic and the terrestrial, where there is a sheet of water…

Why the nation’s altered wetland landscape faces new threats

Take an interactive tour through the Mississippi River Basin, from bog to bayou, that explores the changing wetland landscape.

Environmental policy team releases new wetlands storymap and panther dashboard | Conservancy of Southwest Florida

We are pleased to announce that our new Wetland Loss Storymap is available on our website. Wetlands are among the most valuable ecosystems in the world, and Florida has the most wetlands of any state in the continental United States of America. These wetlands are at risk from land use intensification, drainage and development. Using