How America’s immigration surge is linked to wetlands loss

February 2^nd was World Wetlands Day, which highlights the vital role of wetlands, and promotes their importance for current and future generations. These ecosystems play a crucial role in maintaining water quality, supporting biodiversity, and sequestering carbon.

Legal and illegal immigration now amount to the rough equivalent of a new Los Angeles every year. Send a customized message to your members of Congress to get them to think about immigration in a new way.

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Our expanding population encroaches into wetland areas as open land that is suitable for development becomes less available. Although current protections have slowed the rate of wetland loss, the U.S. continues to lose almost 60,000 acres per year. Our remaining wetlands continue to be threatened from filling, habitat fragmentation, polluted runoff, water level changes, and invasive species, especially in urbanizing areas.

• The discharge of pollutants, such as sediment, fertilizer, human sewage, animal waste, road salts, pesticides and heavy metals can damage wetland functions.
• Hydrologic alterations can result from deposition of fill material, draining, dredging and channelization, diking and damming, diversion of flow, and addition of pavement in the watershed, which increases water and pollutant runoff into wetlands.
• Wetland vegetation can be damaged by the introduction of invasive species, which can drive out native plants along with the wildlife species that depend on them.

Even America’s “No Net Loss” policy for wetlands has had limited success.  Ancient wetlands have proven difficult to simply move-and-replace as development marches across our nation’s natural landscapes.

This trend of incremental wetland loss will persist, as our population continues to soar to unprecedented levels.  The Census Bureau projects America’s population will grow by another 75 million in the next 40 years, with roughly 90% of that caused by immigration.  It’s significant that this projection was made before the immigration surge at the southern border.

Legal and illegal immigration combined now amount to the rough equivalent of a new Los Angeles every year.

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