Washington State Wetlands Conference

Early in 1985, three biologists and an environmental planner attended a meeting on the status of wetland mititgation policy in the State of Washington. They began discussing their concern over the apparent lack of scientific data on Northwest wetlands and over the fact that mititgation policy- especially with regard to the role of wetland creation- was being developed and implemented in the absence of such information. They developed an idea for a conference which would gather regional experts in wetlands biology, econogy, hydrology, and related disciplines to determind the curent body of knowledge; identify information gaps; learn about ongoing research; and set priorities for future research. Working in small groups, these experts would discuss, debate, and document their onsensus on how Northwest wetlands function and whether creation and restoration efforts have been successful. A primary goal of the conference would be to produce a document which would provide other wetland scientists, managers, planners, and  policy-makers with sound scientific data on which to base decisions.