Major report findings follow. In 1997, there were an estimated 105.5 million acres of wetlands in the conterminous United States. Between 1986 and 1997, a net of 644,000 acres of wetlands was lost. The Service will report to the Congress that the estimated wetland loss rate is now 58,500 acres annually. For the first time in the Nation's history, there are fewer than 50 million acres of forested wetlands in the conterminous United States.
Trends indicate that the acreage of ponds is now about equal to that of all estuarine wetlands.
Estuarine emergent wetlands declined slightly by 14,450 acres. Most of these wetlands were lost to urban and other types of development in coastal areas. Although the Nation has not met the goal of no net loss of wetlands, substantial progress has been made in reducing the rate of loss.