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U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantics)

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U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantics)

Unread postby emersonbiggins » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 10:57:50

...That's what outgoing Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton says. No, really.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')ne of Norton's last acts in office (she recently announced her resignation) was to brag that for the first time in more than 50 years, the nation had an overall gain of wetlands. Although a half-million acres of natural wetlands have been destroyed, 700,000 acres of artificial wetlands have been added.


Apparently, we've redefined "wetlands." Oh goodie. "Wetlands" now also refers to golf-course water hazards, artificial ponds & wastewater treatment lagoons. Ludicrous. :x

[web]http://www.sptimes.com/2006/04/01/Opinion/Wet__yes_Wetland_No.shtml[/web]
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby mekrob » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 14:48:58

What is the size of our national wetlands?
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby emersonbiggins » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 15:22:29

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'W')hat is the size of our national wetlands?


108,000,000 acres, or about 169,000 square miles.
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby leal » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 16:08:06

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'W')hat is the size of our national wetlands?


108,000,000 acres, or about 169,000 square miles.

Including golf courses? :lol:
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby emersonbiggins » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 16:48:02

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('leal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'W')hat is the size of our national wetlands?


108,000,000 acres, or about 169,000 square miles.

Including golf courses? :lol:


Well, just the water hazards. :razz:

Maybe we can count the greens as 'high-value farmland'. :roll:
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby mekrob » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 18:30:36

So we basically lost half a percent of wetlands? It doesn't seem too bad, unless this has been happening for quite a while. Have the losses been accelerating, constant, or decelerating?
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby emersonbiggins » Mon 03 Apr 2006, 20:05:00

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'S')o we basically lost half a percent of wetlands? It doesn't seem too bad, unless this has been happening for quite a while. Have the losses been accelerating, constant, or decelerating?


Well, the U.S. has lost half its wetlands since it's inception - from 220m acres down to the current 110m. Currently, it's been losing an average of 70,000 acres a year, which is a smaller decline historically speaking, but still alarming when considering what's lost will never be regained in its entirety (at least not in our lifetimes).
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Re: U.S. GAINS wetlands for first time in 50 years (semantic

Unread postby Chuckmak » Wed 05 Apr 2006, 09:41:17

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('leal', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', 'W')hat is the size of our national wetlands?


108,000,000 acres, or about 169,000 square miles.

Including golf courses? :lol:


my sentiments exactly LOL
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