Throughout history the United States did not recognize the the numerous benefits wetlands provided us such as groundwater purification, flood protection, shoreline stabilization, groundwater aquifer recharge, source of sustainable biodiversity, education, and wildlife habitats. Therefore during the industrial revolution people began draining the wetlands for agricultural purposes, digging up the wetlands and making them into roads, commercial and residential developments, and that resulted in a major depletion and degradation of the wetlands. Wetlands are very valuable in both environmentally and economically. In the environment, some wetlands provide shelter from endangered species like the Bog Turtle, therefore the protection of wetlands …show more content…
Wetlands are economically beneficial because it promotes ecotourism, it’s an area where many recreational activities occur (hunting, fishing, boating, etc.), it holds many natural resources and raw materials. However around 50 percent of the world’s wetland have been depleted but, around 1993 many states started to realize the importance of having wetlands and the services they provide for us, so in response to that, many states possessed some type of law or act regarding wetlands in order to manage and protect them. The Clean Water Act, The Flood Control Act, The Wilderness Act, and The Endangered Species Act, were some of the acts that were passed. Many states adopted programs that involved the creation, management, and restoration of wetlands. Wetland restoration rehabilitates a degraded wetland or reestablishes a wetland that has been destroyed, restoration of a wetland takes place on land that has been, or still is, a wetland and the purpose of restoration is to bring back what the wetland used to provide for the ecosystem prior to human influence.