World Wetlands Day: Wetland Restoration

chase.bergeson • February 16, 2023

Greetings Wetland Supporters! 


February brings so much for us to celebrate: Black History Month, World Wetlands Day (February 2), Valentine’s Day (February 14) and President's Day (February 21). 


Black History Month is a great time to learn more about many of the important events that have led to our present-day reality. We know that Black History has a played a big role in our current societal structure, but it has also been deeply integrated with our landscape. North Carolina wetlands played a role in helping escaped slaves travel on the Underground Railroad. Read this article about the role of The Great Dismal Swamp to learn more.  The Carolinas are also home to the Gullah/Geechee Nation, descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the Sea Islands, and have retained their own rich culture strongly tied to place. Read this article to learn more about this community and its traditions tied to coastal salt marshes.   The Carolina Wetlands Association is working with members of this community on salt marsh restoration projects and potential flood reduction projects in South Carolina. I hope that you can take some time this month to learn about the ways in which Black History and the wetlands in your community are interconnected. 


The theme for this year’s World Wetlands Day was wetland restoration. Here at the Carolina Wetlands Association, we take many approaches to our wetlands work. We advocate for wetland protection, we educate about wetlands issues, we collect data on wetland characteristics, and we help communities restore their wetlands. So what is wetland restoration? The Ramsar Convention defines restoration as activities that promote a return to previous conditions as well as those that improve the functioning of a wetland without necessarily seeking to return it to its pre-disturbance condition (Ramsar HB191).


As described in our State of the Wetlands report, North and South Carolina have lost 50% and 27% of their wetland coverage since the 1780s. This wetland loss has put stress on our remaining wetlands to provide important ecosystem services, such as nutrient retention, flood mitigation, and wildlife habitat. Due to the diminishing area of wetlands and the increasing pressure from human influences (i.e., urban and agricultural pollutant inputs, increased volume of runoff from paved surfaces, and the introduction of invasive species), our existing wetlands can become heavily degraded and no longer able to perform services optimally. Our wetlands can become ineffective at nutrient retention if they are overwhelmed with nutrient inputs or not able to support wildlife if they are overrun with invasive plants. Restoration is an opportunity to increase the ecosystem services that we get from existing wetlands. 


The Carolina Wetlands Association is working to help communities voluntarily restore or create wetlands to reduce flooding, provide recreation, and improve downstream water quality. In contrast, the majority of wetland restoration is performed to offset the filling, degradation, or destruction of wetlands elsewhere. This type of restoration is called compensatory mitigation. In this case, whomever is permitted to impact an existing wetland will have to restore or pay someone else to restore another wetland someplace else in the watershed. Compensatory mitigation is required by the Clean Water Act to achieve “no net loss” of wetland acreage. However, the newly restored or created wetland will not be able to immediately perform the same wetland functions as the destroyed wetland. Therefore, those who wish to impact wetlands must frequently restore a greater area of wetland than they destroyed. Both voluntary and compensatory restoration are important tools in the maintenance of our wetland resources. 

 

As for celebrations of Valentine’s Day, I hope that we can all agree that there is a special place in our hearts for wetlands. We can show our appreciation as we do with all of those that we love by spending quality time together and showing them kindness and support. You can get started with these goals by taking the Ramsar pledge for wetland restoration, visiting a wetland near you, or joining the Carolina Wetlands Association at a future event! 

 

I hope to work together soon! 


Chase Bergeson

Volunteer Wetland Monitoring Program Coordinator


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Federal Rollbacks Threaten Wetland Protections: What You Need to Know About Senate Bill 5653

By rick.savage • November 3, 2026
The U.S. Congress is poised to weaken federal protection of wetlands. To understand why these changes matter, it helps to know how wetland permitting actually works. How Wetland Permitting Is Supposed to Work Whether the permit goes through the State agency (e.g. NC DEQ or SC DES which reviews water quality impacts) and/or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) and EPA (which review the physical, chemical, and biological impacts), every application is supposed to follow a three-step mitigation sequence: avoid, minimize, and compensate. Avoid. The reviewer works with the applicant to determine whether the impact can be avoided altogether. Often, it can. Minimize. If the impact can’t be avoided, the reviewer and applicant look for ways to reduce it. Compensate. If the remaining impact is large enough, the applicant must compensate for the loss using a formula provided by the ACOE. Mitigation normally takes place in the same watershed and provides the same function as the wetland that was lost. This process takes time, but it is essential. It ensures that applicants don’t overlook options that could spare valuable wetlands. What Senate Bill 5653 Would Change Senate Bill 5653 , the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA),aims to speed up federal and state regulatory decisions on housing and other development projects. But the bill would increase environmental degradation and undermine the federal-state partnerships that protect clean water. Here is the core problem: when permitting is rushed, reviewers can’t carry out the avoid, minimize, and compensate process. More wetlands will be damaged, and there will be no way to make up for the lost wetlands and the benefits they provide. A Weak Answer to the Housing Shortage BAAJA does little to address the real causes of the national housing shortage and construction challenges. Instead, it increases pollution and works against the central goal of the Clean Water Act: to restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters, including wetlands. The bill is an assault on the nation’s rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and lakes. It also looks like a deflection from Congress’s inability to pass legislation that meaningfully tackles the lack of available housing. Undercutting State Authority Over Water Quality BAAJA also limits the authority states hold under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, making it harder for them to meet the water quality standards they have set for their own waterbodies. That would set back five decades of progress toward cleaner water, progress to which every sector of society has contributed, and it would affect generations to come. Fewer Wetlands Protected, and Weaker Review for the Rest This is yet another attack on wetland protection, and it affects all of us. Even those wetlands that remain regulated after recent jurisdictional retreats by EPA and the ACOE would not receive the normal permitting review. In practice, that means they aren’t truly protected either. What You Can Do Contact your representative. Ask your senators to oppose Senate Bill 5653 . You can find and contact your U.S. senators here , or look up your U.S. representative here to share your concerns with the House as well. Support Carolina Wetlands Association. We are your organization fighting to protect wetlands. The next time you explore a wetland or pour a clean glass of water, consider making a donation to help us keep up this work.

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By kim.matthews • October 7, 2026
On September 9, 2026, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) offering additional ways to define “waters of the United States” (WOTUS). Why this definition matters The WOTUS definition determines which water bodies the federal government can protect under the Clean Water Act. In November 2025, the agencies proposed revisions to bring the definition in line with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA. After taking public comments, they have now put forward further options. The new proposal narrows federal jurisdiction even more, potentially stripping protections from the vast majority of U.S. wetlands and seasonal streams. What our comment letter says The Carolina Wetlands Association is submitting comments opposing the proposal. Our main concerns: It would undermine the Clean Water Act’s purpose. The law’s goal is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters. This proposal would severely undercut that goal. The “days of water” test is a poor measure. The proposal decides jurisdiction by how many days a year water is present. That number correlates poorly with a waterway’s ability to carry pollution downstream to the rivers, lakes, and estuaries that would stay protected. Streams dry for as few as 30 days a year could lose protection, and polluters would have an incentive to discharge into them rather than into protected waters. Drinking water is at risk. About 56% of North Carolina’s stream miles feeding public drinking water systems are intermittent, ephemeral, or headwater streams. In South Carolina the figure is 51%. These systems serve 6.6 million people, who would bear higher health risks and treatment costs. Wetlands do critical work. They filter pollutants and nutrients that cause algal blooms, dead zones, and fish kills. Losing that function would also degrade groundwater, which many people drink untreated. The legal reasoning is flawed. We argue the agencies misread the Supreme Court’s language. “Relatively permanent” describes geographic features such as streams with defined beds and banks. The word “continuously” modifies “flowing” and doesn’t limit what counts as relatively permanent. It would be hard to implement. Many affected streams have no data showing how many days they lack surface water. That makes the rule difficult for agencies to administer and leaves landowners unable to tell whether the Clean Water Act applies to their property. The impacts haven’t been analyzed. The agencies should not finalize a rule before measuring the added pollution flowing from newly unprotected waters into those that supply drinking water, or projecting the resulting damage to downstream uses. What you can do Read the SNPRM Submit your comment by October 9, 2026, under Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW-2025-0322 . Personal stories about the streams, wetlands, and drinking water you depend on are especially effective. Learn more: read the comments we submitted on the November 2025 version of the rule, many of which still apply.