Long-Term Monitoring of Manmade Wetlands in Comparison to Natural Wetlands: A 26-Year Track Record

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), partnering agencies, and regulatory permit applicants have restored, created, acquired, managed, and/or protected over one million acres of wetlands, including approximately 100,000 acres using dredged material, over the past three decades. These manmade wetlands may be on islands, on confined disposal facilities, along shorelines, in rivers and streams, in lakes and reservoirs, and a number of them provide habitats for rare and endangered species, as well as a myriad of other fish and wildlife. Prior to the early 1970's, the Corps "built" many wetlands incidentally to navigation and flood control projects, through the placement of dredged material adjacent to shorelines or during island creation when the Intercoastal Waterway System was constructed, while river, lake, and estuarine navigation channels were maintained, and when navigation channels were deepened and widened for various U. S. major rivers and ports. The Corps is also aware that it changed many wetlands during that same time period due to civil works projects in an era when there was little understanding of the occurring or cumulative impacts.