Assessing Wetland Changes in the Prairie Pothole Region of Minnesota From 1980 to 2007

Wetlands in the Minnesota Prairie Pothole Region are critical landscape elements because of their unmatched importance to breeding waterfowl, and other wildlife. They provide vast benefits to store runoff or act as nutrient sinks and offer other environmental and socio-economic returns. Data on location, extent and types of wetlands collected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory is used for developing conservation strategies and evaluating net landscape changes affecting fish and wildlife populations. Minnesota wetlands were mapped 27 y ago by the National Wetlands Inventory. We examined 176 10.2-km2 (4-mi2) sample plots in the Minnesota Prairie Pothole Region, using aerial photo interpretation techniques, to determine the current accuracy of the National Wetlands Inventory data used in the eastern Prairie Pothole Region for conservation planning and evaluation. We stratified our analysis by Bailey's (1995) Ecological Subsections. We estimated that across the entire Minnesota Prairie Pothole Region 4.3% of wetland area has been lost since 1980 with losses varying from 0 to 15% among Ecological Subsections. Implications of these findings suggest that National Wetlands Inventory data should be regularly updated in areas subject to rapid wetland change.