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Managing Michigan's Wetlands
Wetlands – areas where land and water meet, sometimes called swamps, bogs or marshes – are a vital Michigan resource. They provide habitat for wildlife and recreation opportunities for hunters, birdwatchers and others. They also play an important role in the health of Michigan’s environment, improving water quality by filtering out pollutants and excess nutrients, replenishing surface and underground drinking water sources, and helping to control flooding by soaking up extra rain water.
Learn more about the importance of wetlands to Michigan’s wildlife, environment and citizens.
About half of Michigan’s wetlands have been drained and filled since the early 1800s. We, along with many other organizations, are working to conserve and restore our state’s wetlands – one way is through wetland mitigation banking.
Banking
The overall goal of wetland mitigation is to ensure that there is no net loss of wetlands. Wetland mitigation banks are established in an effort to restore wetlands as a way to replace the physical, chemical and biological wetland functions that are being lost.
We have partnered with the Michigan Municipal Wetland Alliance on a new wetland mitigation banking program that will preserve and restore wetland habitat on public lands to offset unavoidable impacts to existing wetlands. This public-private partnership will:
- encourage long-term sustainability by creating wetland mitigation banks with high water quality and high-functioning ecosystems;
- enhance outdoor recreation on state-managed land; and
- make compliance with wetland mitigation requirements less complicated, less expensive and less time-consuming for Michigan municipalities, agricultural producers and blueberry growers.
These efforts will start with wetland restoration projects at four state game areas:
- Allegan State Game Area (Allegan County)
- Grand River State Game Area (Ionia County)
- Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area (Gratiot County)
- Petersburg State Game Area (Monroe County)