EPA’s National Wetland Condition Assessment (North Carolina)
Project Summary
Every 5 years since 2011, the North Carolina Division of Water Resources has participated in the EPA’s National Wetland Condition Assessment, a national intensive survey of wetlands. At each wetland site randomly chosen by the EPA, a team of North Carolina scientists surveys each wetland in an intensive one-day process which involves data collection related to vegetation, soils, hydrology, water quality, and buffer characteristics. Multiple rapid assessments are also conducted. Analysis of wetland data from the whole nation is later performed by the EPA and results published in a comprehensive report describing the health of the nation’s wetlands. The very first of these surveys was conducted in 2011.
From 2011 through 2021, North Carolina DWR wetland staff have intensively surveyed 90 wetland sites as part of this national assessment.
Links to the EPA’s Final Reports from the National Wetland Condition Assessment
2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment Fact Sheet
The National Wetland Condition Assessment is a statistical survey to address some gaps in our understanding of wetland health by providing information on ecological condition of the nation’s wetlands and stressors most commonly associated with poor condition.
This work was funded by the EPA under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act, Water Pollution Control