A new paper entitled “Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands” was published (online early) in the journal Marine and Freshwater Research. It is available and downloadable through open access. The manuscript was prepared as part of the Rights of Wetlands Initiative of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Dr. Jon Kusler passed away on October 8, 2020. Jon was a leader in helping guide national wetland and floodplain policy since the 1970s. He wrote hundreds of papers on a variety of topics ranging from wetland regulation, restoration, functional assessment to floodplain management. He was the founder of the Association of State Wetland Managers…
Scientists of the world, coming from across all disciplines and working across a wide range of subjects and themes, are very concerned with the extensive fires which have been taking place in the Amazon Rainforests and in the Pantanal Region (shared by Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay), the planet’s largest tropical wetland. In order to express…
Purpose: On the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the Society of Wetland Scientists the Executive Board would like to recognize high level and sustained contributions to wetland research, practice, education, or communication, or service to the Society. These awards are additional to the awards offered annually by the Society and covers the breadth of professional…
Bethesda, MD (September 14, 2020). In an unprecedented statement released today, 110 aquatic scientific societies, including SWS and representing more than 80,000 scientists across the world, joined forces to sound a climate change alarm. The societies call for drastically curtailed global greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of man-made climate change to fish and aquatic…
SWS is excited to have its first Wetland of Distinction designated outside of the United States, the Winton Wetlands in the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia. In addition to being a WoD-related story, this article details a success story about a community-based wetland restoration venture:
Colorado Some good news: the rule appears to be enjoined in Colorado (where judge did not permit amici briefs): https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/StateofColoradoThevUSEnvironmentalProtectionAgencyetalDocketNo120/4?1592664339 California The Court denied the motion for a preliminary injunction, and the Navigable Waters Protection Rule will go into effect on Monday. Here is the order: https://sws.org/images/pdfs/CA_v_Wheeler_PI_decision.pdf
Read the recent article on Politico. “EPA’s rewritten Waters of the U.S. rule gets its first big day in court today with a hearing before a federal judge in San Francisco on blue states’ request for a preliminary injunction – marking the first of several challenges working their way through the district courts. The 18-state coalition…
County of Maui v. Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund amici brief featured in PBS NOVA podcast
SWS’ Royal Gardner and his team of attorneys, as well as many of our members and members of our aquatic society partners, played a role in preparation of an amici brief cited earlier this year in the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion in County of Maui v. Hawai’i Wildlife Fund. On April 23, 2020, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 that the…