Wetlands: America's Lost Resource?

Authors

John Gutowski '98

Abstract

A trend toward draining wetlands emerged as the United States grew in population, expanded geographically, and developed economically. Farmers and developers found that it was profitable to drain wetlands for farming and development purposes. The draining of wetlands was economifly efficient to a point but, because of the characteristics of wetland benefits, far more wetlands were drained than would have been efficient. This article will discuss the main benefits of wetlands, why more wetlands were drained than would have been efficient, and what the government should do to try to correct this inefficiency.

Recommended Citation

Gutowski '98, John (1996) "Wetlands: America's Lost Resource?," The Park Place Economist: Vol. 4
Available at: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol4/iss1/11