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Estimating Wetland Losses and Gains in Coastal North Carolina: 1994–2001

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Abstract

Wetland resources have continued to decline in coastal regions of the United States despite passage of the 1972 Clean Water Act, creation of federal and state wetland permitting programs, and declaration of the goal of “no net loss” of wetland resources. Wetland loss rates were assessed across 20 counties in coastal North Carolina from 1994 to 2001 using 1994 wetland inventory data from the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (NCDCM) and the 2001 National Land Cover Dataset. Accuracy assessment results were used to generate adjusted estimates of wetland loss, and the results were compared to restoration data from the NCDCM. Total wetland loss from 1994 to 2001 was 25,303 ha, or 1.95% of the 1994 wetland area. Of the total, 17,858 ha converted to upland and 7,445 ha converted to open water. These results are somewhat higher than published loss rates for Atlantic coastal watersheds and for the United States as a whole. By contrast, agency records suggest that a maximum of 4,591 ha of wetland restoration and 68 ha of wetland creation were begun in the 20 North Carolina coastal counties from 1994 to 2001.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this project was provided by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration under CZM Strategic Planning Grant # NA17OZ2345 to the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management. I thank staff at the NC Ecosystem Enhancement Program, NC Department of Transportation, and NC Division of Water Quality for assistance in calibrating the NCDCM mitigation site database with other statewide databases. I am also grateful to Dr. Kenneth Rose (LSU), the associate editor, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript.

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  1. Melissa Vernon Carle

    Present address: Energy, Coast, and Environment Building, Room 3179, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Melissa Vernon Carle

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  1. Melissa Vernon Carle
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Correspondence to Melissa Vernon Carle.

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Figure S1

Overlay of wetland conversion data and 2006 NAIP aerial photography (PDF 272 kb)

Figure S2

Wetland losses between 1994 and 2001 (PDF 223 kb)

Figure S3

Wetland loss in New Hanover County, NC between 1994 and 2001 (PDF 187 kb)

Figure S4

Wetland conversion to open water near Wrightsville Beach, NC (PDF 197 kb)

Table S1

Decision rules used to assign wetland change classes (PDF 20 kb)

Table S2

Comparison to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Status and Trends Reports (PDF 20 kb)

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Carle, M.V. Estimating Wetland Losses and Gains in Coastal North Carolina: 1994–2001. Wetlands 31, 1275–1285 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-011-0242-z

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