Wetlands provide a variety of important functions in the environment. Numerous species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and crustaceans, some of them rare or endangered, depend upon wetlands habitats. These ecosystems may also contain unique plant species that cannot survive outside such areas. Wetlands may serve as a source of flood control by attenuating or storing storm and flood waters. They also can function as a source of water reclamation, accumulation of sediment discharge, and groundwater recharge.
Wetlands have many diverse economic and recreational functions.
There are numerous types of wetlands, including, but not limited to, bogs, marshes, swamps, prairie potholes, riparian greenways, and tundra. Background and Objectives Because of these diverse and unique functions, wetlands are protected from development or destruction by a host of national, state, and local laws. The primary national law that regulates wetlands is Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The national government has taken a particularly active role on behalf of wetlands protection since the mid-1980s. In 1987, EPA initiated the National Wetlands Policy Forum to gain insight into wetlands protection issues.