Development, Storms, Sea Level Rise Erase 360K Acres Of US Wetlands In 4 Years

[hatrack]

Over a four-year span, the United States lost more than 360,000 acres of freshwater and saltwater wetlands to fierce storms, sea-level rise and booming development along the coasts, according to a newly released federal study.

The disappearance of so much grass and forest marsh on the edge of waterways is a disturbing sign that government projects to restore wetlands are failing to keep pace, environmentalists said, as storms intensify, the sea level creeps up and development paves the way for rising coastal populations.

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In the Chesapeake Bay region, Maryland has lost 60,000 acres of wetlands since the 1940s because of population growth and farming, and in 1997 it launched a bid to restore them, according to the state’s Department of the Environment.

Virginia estimates that half of the wetlands that existed in the colonial period have been lost over time to farming and development. There is an ongoing effort in the state to restore and add to the 1 million acres that remain, according to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

EDIT

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/study-says-us-cant-keep-up-with-loss-of-wetlands/2013/12/08/c4801be8-5d2e-11e3-95c2-13623eb2b0e1_story.html

[OnlinePoker]

1. The actual report can be downloaded here

It's a big one, though...almost 15MB.

http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Documents/Status-and-Trends-of-Wetlands-In-the-Coastal-Watersheds-of-the-Conterminous-US-2004-to-2009.pdf

The previous survey (1998-2004) can be found at:

http://www.habitat.noaa.gov/pdf/pub_wetlands_status_trends.pdf

[90-percent]

2. Converting 360,000 acres to square miles

212.5 square miles, or about 14.5 miles by 14.5 miles.

by googling acres to square miles. got a neat little conversion chart. key in your number and get the conversion.

I'm not smart enough to figure out how much of Long Island would be left if it lost this much area?

-90% Jimmy