Then it's up to the states, private corporations, nonprofit groups and federal agencies to find the best ways to use that data. The National Biological Survey gathers, analyzes and disseminates biological information helpful for good stewardship of natural resources. The Survey is designed to serve as an information clearing house for use by local communities, development interests, wildlife managers, land owners and private and nonprofit groups. More than 85 percent of U.S. wetland loss since 1970 has occurred in the South, much of it in forested wetlands. Forested wetlands support a large number of species, including game and fish species such as largemouth bass, mallards, and whitetail deer, and numerous wetland-dependent plant and animal species that are listed either as threatened, endangered, or candidates for listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Wetlands also provide important flood control and water quality benefits.
The continued loss of this habitat, coupled with the lack of successful large-scale restoration, poses a difficult problem for resource management agencies and landowners. Several recent scientific reports have described southern forested wetlands as the most endangered wetland ecosystems in the United States. Forested wetlands include such species as the nuttall oak, willow oak, tupelo, water oak, and green ash. They also include baldcypress swamps. Other funding will be provided by the USDA Forest Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the timber industry's National Council on Air and Stream Improvement.