On June 1, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced
that portions of the Upper Mississippi River have been approved as a Wetland of
International Importance.
The Wetlands of International
Importance program stems from the Convention on Wetlands, which was signed in
Ramsar, Iran, in 1971. More than 150 countries participate in the program, and
1,847 wetland sites are on the list. The US joined in 1987 and has several other
designated wetland areas, including Florida’s Everglades National Park.
Although the designation in itself
has no effect on how the land is used or managed, it is intended to promote
public awareness of wetlands’ role in the environment and their importance for
economic and recreational activities.
This latest area includes more than 300,000 acres in the Upper
Mississippi River floodplain, from Minnesota to Illinois. The federal and state
lands and waters support 200 nesting pairs of bald eagles and support many other
species of fish and wildlife. The area includes the 240,000-acre Upper
Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge and the 6,226-acre
Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin.
Now that the US has designated the area, it will undergo technical review
by the program’s secretariat in Switzerland for. Formal designation and addition
to the international list should occur early next year.
You can find more on the Wetlands of International Importance program at
www.ramsar.org.