Less Draining Decade

A recent study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows that the tide is turning in favor of protecting wetland habitat, which is vital to waterfowl and other wild creatures. The loss of wetlands in the United States from 1986 to 1997 declined about 80 percent from the previous decade, according to the study. An average of 58,500 acres of wetlands were lost annually in the 1990s, significantly less than the 290,000 acres lost annually in the previous decade.