“Wetland” is a generic term used to describe a variety of wet habitats. In general, wetlands are characterized by the frequent or prolonged presence of water at or near the soil surface, soils that form under flooded or saturated conditions (hydric soils), and plants that are adapted to life in these types of soils (hydrophytes). The United States contains many different types of wetlands, from swamps in Florida to peatlands in northern Minnesota to tidal salt marshes in Louisiana. Figures 1 and 2, respectively, show two types of wetlands found in the United States—coastal salt marsh wetlands commonly found along the East and Gulf coasts and prairie pothole wetlands commonly found in the plains of the North Central United States. Wetlands were once regarded as unimportant areas to be filled or drained for agricultural or development activities. However, wetlands are now recognized for a variety of important functions that they perform, including providing vital habitat for wildlife and waterfowl, including about half of the threatened and endangered species; providing spawning grounds for commercially and recreationally valuable providing flood control by slowing down and absorbing excess water during storms; maintaining water quality by filtering out pollutants before they enter streams, lakes, and oceans; and protecting coastal and upland areas from erosion. Over 25 federal statutes have been enacted relating to wetlands. These laws have resulted in the (1) regulation of activities undertaken in areas designated as wetlands; (2) acquisition of wetlands through purchase or protective easements that prevent certain activities, such as draining and filling; (3) restoration of damaged wetlands or the creation of new wetlands; and (4) disincentives to altering wetlands or incentives to protect them in their natural states. (App. I contains a brief discussion of the principal wetlands-related statutes.) Despite the passage of numerous laws and the issuance of two presidential executive orders protecting wetlands, no specific or consistent goal for the nation’s wetlands-related efforts existed until 1989. On February 9, 1989, President Bush, in response to recommendations made by the National Wetlands Policy Forum, established the national goal of no net loss of wetlands. The current administration has also supported wetlands protection. In its wetlands plan, issued in August 1993, the administration included an interim goal of no overall net loss of the nation’s remaining wetlands and a long-term goal of increasing the quality and quantity of the nation’s wetlands. In its Clean Water Action Plan, issued on February 19, 1998, the administration included a strategy to achieve a net gain of up to 100,000 acres of wetlands each year, beginning in the year 2005. At least thirty-six federal agencies, to varying degrees, conducted wetlands-related activities during fiscal years 1990 through 1997. The activities conducted by these agencies included acquiring, regulating, restoring, enhancing, mapping, inventorying, delineating, and conducting research relating to wetlands. Six agencies—the Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Environmental Protection Agency—are the primary agencies involved in and responsible for implementing wetlands-related programs. The involvement of the 30 other agencies was generally limited to (1) general monitoring or stewardship roles or (2) the avoidance and mitigation of potential impacts to wetlands from their own projects and activities. As figures 3 and 4 show, the six primary agencies accounted for most of the funding and full-time-equivalent staff-years associated each year with the wetlands-related activities of federal agencies. Fiscal year Appendix II provides a brief description of some of the principal wetlands-related activities of each agency, and appendix III contains detailed information on the funding and full-time-equivalent staff-years associated with the agencies’ activities during fiscal years 1990 through 1997. The consistency and reliability of wetlands acreage data reported by federal agencies are questionable. Although both the Department of the Interior’s FWS and the Department of Agriculture’s NRCS maintain inventories that produce estimates of the nation’s remaining wetlands acreage and rates of wetlands gains and losses, the two inventories’ estimates are not completely consistent. In addition, the current reporting practices of the agencies do not allow the wetlands-related accomplishments of the agencies to be determined. These reporting practices include a lack of consistency in the use of terms, the inclusion of nonwetlands acreage in wetlands project totals, and the double counting of accomplishments. Despite the efforts of several interagency groups to address problems with wetlands data, the problems persist. In its Clean Water Action Plan, the administration recently announced new plans to improve wetlands data. As called for by the administration, the Interagency Wetlands Working Group has developed an action plan to guide its efforts to produce a single wetlands status and trends report. However, as of June 10, 1998, strategies had not yet been developed to address the other actions planned by the administration to improve wetlands data. No single set of numbers representing the nation’s remaining wetlands acreage and annual gains and losses is available. Estimates made by two federal resource inventories, the National Wetlands Inventory and the National Resources Inventory, maintained by the FWS and NRCS, respectively, are not completely consistent. The National Wetlands Inventory, established to generate information on the characteristics, extent, and status of the nation’s wetlands and deepwater habitat, is to provide an update of the status and trends of the nation’s wetlands at 10-year intervals. The broader National Resources Inventory is an inventory of land cover and use, soil erosion, prime farmland, wetlands, and other natural resource characteristics on nonfederal lands in the United States. It provides a record of the nation’s conservation accomplishments and future program needs. The National Resources Inventory has been conducted at 5-year intervals to determine the conditions and trends in the use of soil, water, and related resources nationwide and statewide. However, it is now making the transition to an annualized inventory process. Each inventory uses the wetlands data it collects to produce estimates of the nation’s remaining wetlands acreage and the rate of wetlands gains and losses. The estimates made by each inventory are based on sampling. However, the two inventories use different sampling techniques and their estimates cover different time periods. The inventories also have used different land-cover/land-use classifications categories for the causes of wetlands losses. Although both reported that the rate of wetlands loss has declined, as shown in table 1, the estimates produced by FWS’ National Wetlands Inventory and NRCS’ National Resources Inventory are not completely consistent. As the table shows, the two inventories differ, sometimes substantially, in their estimates. Although the two inventories’ estimates of the nation’s total remaining wetlands acreage varied only about 10 percent, their estimates in other categories varied more significantly. For example, FWS reported that agricultural activities were responsible for the loss of over 1.4 million acres of wetlands—more than 4 times the loss attributed to agriculture by NRCS. NRCS, on the other hand, estimated that development was responsible for the loss of 886,000 acres—about 11 times the number of acres that FWS reported. Questions have been raised about the validity of the wetlands acreage estimates made by both inventories. Officials from each of the agencies responsible for the inventories have questioned the estimates made by the other, and officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have expressed concern about the estimates of both inventories. The issues raised by officials of the two inventories and EPA include the adequacy of quality control of the data and of quality assurance procedures, the dates of the aerial photography used, and the methods used to develop the estimates. The agencies use such terms as protection, restoration, rehabilitation, improvement, enhancement, and creation in describing and reporting their wetlands-related activities and the resulting accomplishments. However, federal agencies are not consistent in the use of these terms. Even when the same terms are used, the agencies do not define them in the same way. For example, depending upon the agency, the term “restoration” has different meanings and different results. At Interior’s FWS, restoration is considered the reestablishment of a degraded wetland to its former state and therefore generally would not result in a net gain of wetlands acres. At Agriculture’s NRCS, restoration is considered to be the reestablishment of a wetland where it previously existed and would result in a gain of wetlands acres. The agencies also often include nonwetlands acreage when reporting their accomplishments. Nonwetlands acreage, such as adjacent uplands, are often included in wetlands project totals but are not identified or listed separately. For example, the NRCS’ Wetlands Reserve Program, which acquires wetlands easements from landowners and shares in the cost of restoration, might report that a wetlands restoration project restored a total of 25 acres. However, the 25 acres reported might include not only 10 acres of former wetlands that were restored but also 10 acres of existing degraded wetlands whose functions were enhanced and 5 acres of adjacent uplands. The FWS’ North American Wetlands Conservation Program also includes nonwetlands acreage in its project totals. Program officials estimate that about 75 percent of the acreage reported by habitat restoration projects are uplands. Adding to these reporting problems is the double counting of accomplishments. Federal and state agencies and private conservation organizations are often involved in joint projects. When each reports the accomplishments resulting from these joint projects, the actual accomplishment is overstated.