Because of belated recognition of the importance of biotic indicators, water resource decision-makers ack the comprehensive information necessary to establish bioassessment criteria for stream systems.
Data are even more scarce for other aquatic systems, including wetlands.
The focus of wetland planning through Section 404 of the Clean Water Act has traditionally been to maximize functions. These functions are broadly considered to include stormwater retention, water quality improvement, and fisheries and wildlife production, among others. There has been little attention paid to the fact that in many intensively used landscapes, maximizing one of these functions likely diminishes the others of a system. Making decisions on how to avoid, minimize, or mitigate degradation to wetlands requires an understanding of how biological integrity relates to maximizing these functions. Since this information is lacking, wetlands and their associated watersheds are often reconfigured and altered so they bear limited resemblance to intact, natural systems.