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88 CHAPTER 5 WETLAND ECOSYST~~S Introduction Historically, wetlands were regarded as .raste areas and their natural values and functions were largely unrecognized. No one questioned the European immigrant wisdom of converting as much as possible of one's "wasted" wetland acreage into useful cropland" Even Geo:rge Washington in 1763 was among a survey group draining wetlands for conv,ersioll to agr icultural purposes. Extremely ambi tious drainage projects followed in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Georgia. Drainage ditches and clay tile pipe became st..ndard engineering mech..nisms for draining wetlands as early as 1835. By 1880 there ~,re 1,140 tile factories in the United States, most of which were located in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Commonly, the federal government encouraged and off"red large financial inducements for projects involving wetland de,;truction. A number of la1Js and subsidies further encouraged development of wetlands for agriculture in tge 19th century. The Swamp Land Acts of 1849, 1859, and 1860 gave 2.6xl0 ha (65 million acres) of wetlands owned by the federal governmen: to 15 states for conversion to agricultural dry land. During the 1930's the federal government's role in land drainage was accelerated through the emergency public works program. As late as 1953 the DepartfJent of Agri,cul ture through the Soil Conservation Service announced that 2.0xlJ/ha (50 Clillion acres) of wet swamp lands which were subject to overflowing. . . "would be physically suitable for crop or pasture use" if draina~e measures were employed (Wooten 1953). Although the environmental destruction of wetlands has contiuued up to the presen t, it has significan tly decreased as a resul t of a maj or governmental policy shift in the use of wetlands. The 5(.il Conservation Service ,issued, a 1975 Conservation Planning Memorandum almost revers:lng its earlier position.. The Memorandum indicated that in regard to 18 of the 20 type~ of wetlands described in the 1954 Fish and Wildlif,~ Service Survey, the Soil Conservation Service "was not to provide technic:al and financial assistance for draining or otherwise altering wetland. " . in order to convert them to other land uses." It was further indicated that millions of acres of the nation's original wetlands were impaired or converted to other uses and that extraordinary care and effort would be required to protect the remaining wetland ecosystems (Grant 1975). "~' ,,-_..,~ , _~,:n-,tot~.~'~ natural wetlands in thE! United Stsltes has b;en estimated at S;14xtb ita (127,000,000) acres, ,)f which about l.8xl0 h.. (45,000,000 acres) or 35 percent was drained by 1950 (ShCiW and Fredine 1956). Al though it is dif ficul t to evalua te the accuraclr of these drainage figures, some authors have estimated that at least 50 percent of the