According to the Clean Water Act, wetlands are "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas."

Section 404 of Clean Water Act – Regulates the discharge of fill material or dredge spoils into waters of the U.S., including wetlands. This includes fill for development, mining, dam and levee construction, highway construction, and other such activities. A permit must be obtained from the Army Corps of Engineers before any fill material is discharged to waters of the U.S. Most farming and forestry practices are exempt from Section 404.

Highly Erodible Land Conservation and Wetland Conservation Compliance provisions (“Swampbuster”) – Provisions were included in the 1985 Farm Bill that stated that individuals who drain, fill, or otherwise convert wetlands on their agricultural property are not be eligible for federal farm program benefits, unless the wetland is restored.

“No net loss” policy – The federal government’s goal to maintain wetlands throughout the United States through wetland protection, creation, restoration and management. To mitigate wetland losses due to development, new wetlands must be created or reclaimed. The policy was first adopted in 1988 under George H.W. Bush’s presidency and has been endorsed by each subsequent administration.

There is no comprehensive wetland law at the national level and no specific federal agency that oversees protection of wetlands. Many of the laws that regulate the alteration of wetlands exist at the state and local levels.

[See the Wetlands-At-Risk Protection Tool for ways to protect wetlands that fall between the cracks of regulatory protection: www.wetlandprotection.org.]