Polluted waters, rampant flooding, and lost wildlife habitat are more than just “environmental” problems—they are issues central to the quality of life for all human beings and their wildlife neighbors. These are the issues that restored wetlands address.
The Wetlands Initiative’s specific purpose is returning these powerful ecosystems to the landscape, reversing the two-century trend of steady and deliberate wetland destruction.

Across the Upper Mississippi River Basin, settlers, farmers, industrialists, and urban dwellers drained the wet, soggy low places, backwater lakes, and floodplains. In Illinois alone, more than 4 million acres—nearly 90 percent of the wetlands—have been lost in the past two centuries. Rivers and streams can no longer absorb floodwaters, offer adequate habitat for fish, waterfowl, and other animals, nor naturally purge the water of pollutants and sediments. Thirty years after the implementation of the federal Clean Water Act, 40 percent of our nation’s waters still fail to meet federal clean water standards, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Fortunately, the positive effects of wetland restoration are at least as far-reaching as the negative effects of wetland destruction. A large-scale and strategically-located restored wetland provides clean water and wildlife habitat in the local watershed, while also benefiting distant receiving waters. For example, restored wetlands can effectively and efficiently remove nitrogen and phosphorus washed from Corn Belt agricultural fields that create the 8,000 square miles of “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.