Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Conterminous United States

Information Quality Peer Review Plan		

Subject and Purpose of the Report:		

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency that provides information to the public

on the extent and status of the Nation’s wetlands.  The Wetland Status and Trends project has had a

history of success in providing scientific information to resource managers and decision makers about

wetlands resource trends in the conterminous United States.   

The goal of Wetlands Status and Trends is to produce comprehensive, statistically valid acreage

estimates of wetland resources and monitor wetland habitat trends in the U.S.  The Service’s Wetlands

Status and Trends study design and operations are configured specifically to monitor the nation’s

wetlands.  The Service has specialized knowledge of wetland habitats, classification, and ecological

change detection.  

The Service has produced five national reports on wetland trends.  All are referenced in scientific

literature and are used by Federal and State agencies, the scientific community and conservation groups

for planning, decision making and wetland policy formulation and assessment.  An assessment recently

conducted for the Service indicated that wetlands status and trends information was widely distributed

and used extensively by industry, all levels of government, university researchers, educators and the

general public. Three hundred and seventy private businesses, 94 state government agencies, 29 Federal

agencies and the Congress are actively using the wetlands information contained in recent status and

trends reports or data summaries.

Peer review is one of the important procedures used to ensure that the quality of published information

meets the standards of the agency, scientific and technical community. Peer review involves the review

of the draft report for accuracy, completeness and quality by specialists in the field who were not

involved in producing the draft.  The purpose of this plan is to outline the peer review process used to

generate the wetlands status and trends report.

Mandates and Directives:

The Emergency Wetlands Resources Act (Public Law 99‐645) was enacted to promote the conservation

of our Nation’s wetlands.  Congress recognized that wetlands are nationally significant resources and

that these resources have been affected by human activity.  The Act requires the Service to conduct

wetland status and trends studies of the Nation’s wetlands at 10 year intervals. In 2004, the President

announced that the Service would complete an updated wetlands status and trends study five years

ahead of schedule and more frequently thereafter.  The next report on the status and trends of

wetlands for the nation is scheduled to be completed by December 2010.
Agency Programmatic Contacts:		

Bryan Arroyo

Assistant Director, Fisheries and Habitat Conservation

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Telephone:  202 208‐6394

David Stout

Chief, Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  

Telephone: 703 358‐2161

Robin NimsElliott

Deputy Chief, Division of Habitat and Resource Conservation

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  

Telephone: 703 358‐2161

Martin Kodis

Chief, Branch of Habitat Assessment

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Telephone:  703 358‐2161

Thomas Dahl

Wetlands Status and Trends Biologist

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Telephone:  608 783‐8425

Dissemination of the Report:			

Because the national wetlands status and trends report contains scientific information with findings or

conclusions representing the official position of one or more agencies of the federal government, the

information contained in the report is considered to be a “highly influential scientific assessment”.  

These assessments include state‐of‐science reports and technology assessments.   

Technical Panels:		

The use of a transparent process, coupled with the selection of qualified and independent peer

reviewers, improves the quality of government science while promoting public confidence in the

integrity of the government’s scientific products.   

Due to the technical complexities and of the Wetlands Status and Trends project and the ramifications

of the resultant report, the Service has instigated a series of technical oversight panels to review
scientific configuration, data collection and protocol issues1 and an individual peer review process for

the report findings and conclusions.

Peer review typically evaluates the study design, the quality of data collection procedures, the

robustness of the methods employed, the appropriateness of data presentation and discussion, the

extent to which the conclusions follow the analysis, and the strengths and limitations of the overall

product.

All reviewers have been selected by the Fish and Wildlife Service.  

 Agency Expert Panel ‐  Internal technical experts form an “Technical Review and Inspection

Team” for the purpose of reviewing the technical validity of standard operating procedures,

technological advances and adaptations, source materials, project documentation and quality

assurance plans.

The Service convened this Panel to finalize operational documentation for the Wetlands Status

and Trends project in 2004. The panel is currently composed of the following seven individuals:

Jerry Tande, Regional Wetland Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska

Region, Anchorage, AK.

Jim Dick, Regional Wetland Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Albuquerque,

NM.

Bill Kirchner, Regional Wetland Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, OR.

Mitch Bergeson, Geographic Information Systems Specialist, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, NSST, Madison, WI.

Michelle Greenwood, Technical Editor, Publications Program, U.S. Geological Survey,

Madison, WI.

Thomas Dahl, Wetlands Status and Trends Project Manager, U.S. Fish and Wildlife

Service, Onalaska, WI.

Marty Kodis2 , Chief, Branch of Resource and Mapping Support, Division of Habitat and

Resource Conservation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arlington, VA.

 Statistical Oversight Panel ‐ This panel is composed of internal and external experts specifically

to review and provide oversight of the statistical design, protocols and output(s) of the study.

                                                            

1 Information Quality Act, Section 515 of Public Law 106‐5554 (Pub. L. No. 106‐554, 515, 114 Stat.

2763A‐153‐154 (2000)) 2 Headquarters policy review.
This panel is currently composed of the following individuals:

Dr. Kenneth Burnham, Statistician, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division,

Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit,  Department of Statistics,

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.  Dr. Burnham is the Assistant Unit Leader for

the Colorado Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. His professional experience is

in statistical design of studies for sampling biological populations, especially for

estimation of population abundance and population dynamics parameters, statistical

inference methods for ecological studies, and data‐based modeling of biological

processes; recent emphasis on model selection, assessing model selection uncertainty,

and multi‐model inference.  Distinguished Statistical Ecologist INTECOL (International

Congress of Ecology); Twentieth Century Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding

Contribution to Environmental Statistics; Member of the American Statistical

Association; The International Biometric Society; Institute of Mathematical Statistics;

The Wildlife Society; Ecological Society of America; former member Editorial Board of

the Ecological Society of America; former Associate Editor of Biometrics.

Dr. N. Scott Urquhart, Research Scientist, Department of Statistics, Colorado State

University, Fort Collins, CO.  Dr. Urquhart currently serves as the Director of the

Department’s Space‐Time Aquatic Resource Modeling and Analysis Program.  His

professional experience is in design of ecological indicators and ecological surveys,

environmental statistics, linear models and allied nonparametric methods.  He

cooperates closely with EPA’s Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program

(EMAP).  Editor, Environmental and Ecological Statistics; former Associate Editor,

American Statistician; former President, Biometric Society; Elected Fellow, American

Statistical Association.

Mr. Thomas Dahl, Wetlands Status and Trends Project Manager, Branch of Habitat

Assessment, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Onalaska, WI.

Peer Review of the Report:		

In selecting peer reviewers the Service must ensure that the reviewers possess the necessary expertise

and independence from the agency and that they represent the primary disciplines needed to conduct

an authoritative, thorough and unbiased review.  Review individuals were selected to represent a

diversity of scientific perspectives relevant to wetlands ecology and management.  They include

representatives from other federal and state resource agencies as they possess unique or indispensable

wetlands expertise.  Individuals from academia were selected based on their overall experience with a

variety of wetland ecosystems and their ability to provide evaluation of biological plausibility.

The Service will solicit letter reviews from experts as this is more expeditious and practicable than

convening a panel of experts or contracting for peer review. Individual letter reviews are also more
appropriate since the draft document covers only one discipline3

.  General principles outlined by the

National Research Council4 and the National Academy of Sciences were used for the selection process.  

Individual Peer Review Experts ‐ Individuals determined based on geographic, topic area and

availability.

Expert Subject Matter Peer Reviewers – 2010 Status and Trends Report:

Josh Collins

Lead Scientist

San Francisco Estuary Institute

7770 Pardee Lane

Oakland CA 94621‐1424

Susan‐Marie Stedman (Subject matter expert not as agency reviewer)

National Fish Habitat Initiative

NOAA – Fisheries

Office of Habitat Conservation

Cherie L. Hagen

Wetland Team Leader & Policy Coordinator

Wisconsin Dept. Natural Resources

810 West Maple Street

Spooner, WI 54801

Daniel E. Hubbard, Ph.D.

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences  

P.O. Box 2140B  

South Dakota State University  

Brookings, SD  57007  

Mary E. Kentula, Ph.D. (Subject matter expert not as agency reviewer)

USEPA, NHEERL‐WED

200 S.W. 35th Street

Corvallis, OR  97333

Ralph O. Morgenweck, Ph.D

Senior Science Advisor

Principal Data Steward‐Biological Resources Data

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

                                                            

3 OMB “Final Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review”, Executive Office of the President, Office of

Management and Budget, M‐05‐03, December 16, 2004. 4 National Research Council, Peer Review in Environmental Technology Development Programs: The

Department of Energy’s Office of Science and Technology, National Academy Press, Washington,  D.C.,

1998: 3.
All reviewer comments will be given consideration and be incorporated where relevant and valid.  

Accordingly, the Service will prepare a written response to the Individual Expert Peer Reviewers

explaining the agency's agreement or disagreement and the actions the agency has undertaken or will

undertake in response to the peer review comments.  

Individual peer reviewers will be disclosed by name and affiliation only.  Due to technical nature of the

report no opportunities for public comment will be provided.   

Pertinent Document and Notification Web Links:

Web links to each document made public pursuant to OMB Bulletin M‐05‐03, including this plan and the

peer review agenda for the Wetlands Status and Trends report will be made to the U.S. government's

official web portal:  http://www.usa.gov/.

             

      Updated November, 2010