This report presents a research protocol for wetlands functions and value studies. An assessment technique developed for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will serve as the framework for these activities. The study plan describes a multiyear research effort that will lead to the refinement, regionalization, and computerization of the FHWA Technique. The study plan also identifies research to strengthen the FHWA Technique by improving the technical literature upon which the technique is based. The study plan balances Corps wetlands values assessment needs with weaknesses in the technical literature to produce a list of national research priorities. Priority research identified in the study plan includes hydrology, water quality, and fish and wildlife studies (primary and secondary productivity) in: Bottomland hardwoods, including swamps, of the Gulf and South Atlantic Coast and Interior: Midcentral Regions; Freshwater marshes adjacent to rivers and lakes in the Interior: North Central-Great Lakes Region; Estuarine marshes in the Pacific Coast Region; Swamps in the North Atlantic Region; and Tundra in the Alaska Region, Priority function-specific studies and some special studies are also identified.

"Wetlands" has become a hot word in the current environmental debate. But what does it signify? In 1991, proposed changes in the legal definities of wetlands stirred controversy and focused attention on the scientific and economic aspects of their management. This volume explores how to define wetlands. The committee--whose members were drawn from academia, government, business, and the environmental community--builds a rational, scientific basis for delineating wetlands in the landscape and offers recommendations for further action. Wetlands also discusses the diverse hydrological and ecological functions of wetlands, and makes recommendations concerning so-called controversial areas such as permafrost wetlands, riparian ecosystems, irregularly flooded sites, and agricultural wetlands. It presents criteria for identifying wetlands and explores the problems of applying those criteria when there are seasonal changes in water levels. This comprehensive and practical volume will be of interest to environmental scientists and advocates, hydrologists, policymakers, regulators, faculty, researchers, and students of environmental studies.