How are Minnesota's wetlands doing?

Two new reports from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) jprovide a comprehensive look at the current status of wetlands in Minnesota.

Status and Trends of Wetlands in Minnesota: Wetland Quantity Baseline

Findings

• Minnesota has 10.6 million acres of wetlands—nearly 20% of the state’s land cover, not counting deep lakes and rivers.
• Plant communities in nearly half of Minnesota’s depressional wetlands (such as marshes and ponds) are in poor condition (46%), 29% are in good condition, and 25% are in fair condition.
• Macroinvertebrate communities (aquatic invertebrates such as insects, leeches and snails) fared much better—47% good, 33% fair, and 20% poor.
• Forested wetlands make up 4.4 million acres and are the most common wetland type in Minnesota, followed by emergent wetlands (shallow marshes, wet meadows), shrub swamps, and deep marshes/ponds.
• Regional differences. In northeastern Minnesota where the majority of wetlands that were present before European settlement still remain today, a large percentage of depressional wetlands are in good ecological condition. In the western and southern parts of the state where many of Minnesota’s original wetlands have lost, and those that remain are generally in poor condition.

Why are wetlands important?

Wetlands provide valuable habitat for wildlife, filter out pollutants and sediment for the protection of downstream water quality in lakes and streams, and lessen the impacts of floods by storing water during intense rain storms and snow melt. In addition to benefits downstream, wetlands are important resources in and of themselves. “Even urban wetlands that look like they have nothing but cattails in them can harbor dozens of species of plants,“ said Glenn Skuta, MPCA Water Monitoring Manager.

In 1991, Minnesota passed the Wetlands Conservation Act. The goal is no net loss in the quantity, quality, and biological diversity of Minnesota’s existing wetlands. Minnesota now has monitoring programs that are able to more accurately evaluate whether the conservation goal is being met.

In 2006, the state started the wetland monitoring program to assess status and trends of both wetland quantity and quality. Sampling is done on a repeating, multi-year cycle. The results from the initial reports serve as a baseline that will allow the agencies to compare future data to reveal trends for wetland quality and quantity. The information will allow the state to begin to understand whether policies, regulations, and incentives are achieving their goals to protect wetlands.

More about wetlands.