These losses make the remaining wetlands even more important for their wildlife values. Many species of migratory birds depend on prairie pothole wetlands to fuel up for their journeys along the continent's great flyways. Wetlands are often viewed as wasted ground by landowners who would like to see that land in production. Federal safeguards derived from the Clean Water Act and initiated in the 1985 Farm Bill protect wetlands because of their importance in the terrestrial water cycle. Wetlands recharge ground water, store flood waters and improve the quality of surface and groundwater by trapping sediments, poisons and nutrients.
Wetlands are critical wildlife habitat for a large number of species.
They are rich in nutrients and are used by so many species because a tremendous amount of photosynthesis occurs there. Seventy percent of the federally listed threatened or endangered species depend on wetlands. Wetlands are especially critical to duck hunters. They are where the ducks are hatched and reared and no place is more productive than the wetland types targeted for drainage in South Dakota. Conservative estimates of the likely impact of the NRCS decision in South Dakota alone forecast a reduction of some 500,000 waterfowl in the fall flight.