United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
Office of Wetlands,
Oceans and Watersheds (4502T)
EPA 843-F-01-002I
September 2001
&EPA
Bossier Parish
Wetland Reserve
Project
The USDA's Natural
Resources Conservation
Service and the Bodcau
Soil and Water
Conservation District in
Louisiana worked with
five landowners to help
them enroll four
contiguous tracts of land,
a total of about 2,500
acres, in the Wetlands
Reserve Program. The
land had been in cropland,
pasture, and woodland but
was not very productive
from an agricultural
standpoint because of
flooding problems. Once
this land was set aside
and protected, volunteers
from schools, community
organizations, and a local
Air Force base came
together to help protect
and restore the wetland
areas.
J. Larry Newton
School Wetland
Restoration
Project
EPA Supported
Five STAR Project
In Fairhope, Alabama, the
Mobile Bay National
Estuary Program, in
partnership with EPA,
local businesses, schools,
nonprofit groups,
conservation agencies, and
a youth conservation
corps, are restoring
wetlands adjacent to the
newly constructed J. Larry
Newton School. The
restored wetlands will be
a living laboratory for the
students and a demon-
stration project for
landowners interested in
wetland restoration.
Can Volunteers Protect Wetlands?
Government regulations and zoning restrictions are not
enough to protect wetlands. Citizens must also
become involved. Volunteers that demonstrate
concern and devote time to protecting wetlands can
make a big difference. In fact, volunteers have
already halted wetland degradation and reduced the
number of threatened wetlands in communities
around the country. We all have a responsibility to
protect and restore wetlands, and by working together
we can make a difference.
How Do Volunteers Make a
Difference?
Local citizens not only provide the extra
workforce necessary to assess the health of
and threats to our wetlands but also serve as
some of the most powerful advocates for
protecting wetland habitat. Volunteer efforts to
improve our environment have been gaining
momentum over the past 20 years. Volunteer
groups are growing in strength and number in
many states across the country. These groups
would certainly welcome your assistance, or
you could even start a group in your own
community. Whether you work on your own or
with a group, you can help wetlands by working
to preserve and protect them, monitoring and
assessing their health, and restoring them. There
are ways to help.
Wetland Preservation and Protection
When volunteers work to protect local
wetlands, they greatly improve the chances that
those wetlands will be valued by the
community. You can help local conservation and
restoration efforts by influencing local and
regional environmental policy. By educating
others about the functions and values of
wetlands, you can empower them to become
involved in wetland protection. For example,
many landowners have voluntarily enrolled
wetland areas on their property in the USDA's
Wetland Reserve Program, which provides
technical and financial support to landowners.
You could also join the Izaak Walton League of
America in its American Wetlands Month
celebration every May. The League offers
American Wetlands Month kits on the Internet
to help local groups initiate on-the-ground
projects. The kits include fact sheets on
wetlands, project ideas, contact information,
case studies of projects from across the country,
and links to many informative wetland sites. For
more information on American Wetlands Month,
visit the web site at www.iwla.org/SOS/awm.
Wetland Assessment and Monitoring
Volunteer monitors often make critical
observations and measurements that help assess
the health of a wetland. Monitoring wetland
characteristics such as plants, soils, hydrology,
and wildlife helps us better understand wetland
functions and track changes in wetland
ecosystems. To become involved in wetland
These volunteers are learning how to assess
wetland habitat.
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monitoring and assessment, contact your local
extension service or join a local citizens group
involved in wetland monitoring. Working with
these groups, you can address data gaps that
exist in the current monitoring system in your
area. If no local organizations are involved in
wetland monitoring, you can help to educate
local officials about the importance of wetlands
and encourage them to set aside funding to
support wetland monitoring.
Wetland Restoration
Through their dedication, volunteers increase
awareness of the importance of wetlands and
create a foundation for active restoration of
previously degraded wetlands. By staying
involved in local issues and serving as a source
of information for others, you can reinforce the
importance of wetland restoration and ensure
that restoration projects get local support. To
further your efforts, you can join citizen groups
that sponsor restoration projects and help with
hands-on restoration work like planting native
wetland plants. You can also make a difference
by raising funds or recruiting additional
volunteers from youth groups, church groups,
schools, and other sources.
Massachusetts North Shore Salt Marsh Assessment
In the summer of 1999, a volunteer-staffed pilot monitoring program began along the
Massachusetts coast, with the support of local organizations, the state, and EPA. Using a
curriculum written by the University of Massachusetts Cooperative Extension, the program
developed a series of citizen monitoring workshops that focused on using six wetland
parameters—birds, plants, water chemistry, land use, tidal influence, and benthic
macroinvertebrates—to assess a wetland's health. Their outreach and education efforts drew
50 new volunteers. The training program is being revised, using feedback from the
volunteers, and will eventually be used throughout New England to train other citizen groups
to monitor wetlands. For more information, visit the web site at www.mvpc.org/services_sec/
mass_bays/8T&B_volunteers.htm.
American Avocet
The Wetland Fact Sheet Series
Wetlands Overview
Types of Wetlands
Functions & Values of Wetlands
Threats to Wetlands
Wetland Restoration
Funding Wetland Projects
Wetland Monitoring & Assessment
Sustainable Communities
Volunteering for Wetlands
Teaching about Wetlands
For more information, visit www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands.
On the Internet:
Volunteer Monitor Newsletter Site www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/volunteer/vm_index.html
Izaak Walton League of America www.iwla.org
USDA's Backyard Conservation Guide www.nrcs.usda.gov/feature/backyard
National Audubon Society www.audubon.org
Frog Watch www.frogwatch.org
In Print:
Handbook for Wetlands Conservation and Sustainability, 1998. Available from the Izaak Walton League of America,
707 Conservation Lane, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Call (800) BUG-IWLA or e-mail sos@iwla.org.
Monitoring Wetlands: A Manual for Training Volunteers, T. Miller, C. Bertolotto, J. Martin, and L. Storm, 1996. Available
from Adopt-a-Beach, 4649 Sunnyside Ave., N, Rm 305, Seattle, WA 98103. Call (888) 57-BEACH.
National Directory of Volunteer Environmental Monitoring Programs (EPA 841-B-98-009), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1998. Available on-line at yosemite.epa.gov/water/volmon.nsf.
Volunteer Wetland Monitoring: An Introduction and Resource Guide (EPA 843-B-00-001), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 2000. Available on-line at www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands.
Wetland Walk Manual: A Guidebook for Citizen Participation (Manual and Worksheets), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1996. Available on-line at www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/wetwalk.pdf (Wetland Walk Manual) and
www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/wetwork.pdf (Wetland Walk Supplement: Worksheets).
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