Our analysis of wetland loss was constrained to losses from development and did not include losses to subsidence or coastline erosion. The NWI polygons were not sufficiently consistent as to be able to map these losses.

Interpreting development from an aerial photo (see Figure 4 above) is fairly straightforward. The original NWI boundary lines in shoreline areas were not always consistent with the photography available to us, and trying to differentiate a potential loss of wetlands from a slightly inaccurate boundary was beyond the scope of this project. The losses reported herein are therefore confined to natural palustrine wetlands, and excluded development that destroyed artificial wetlands (e.g., ponds and tanks).