Wetland loss could cost Michiganders billions in flood damage, according to new report

Wetlands in DeWitt, Michigan | Susan J. Demas

After the loss of key federal wetlands protections in 2023, scientists are warning the damage this change could bring to wetlands would also bring billions of dollars of flood damage with it. 

According to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, there are 30 million acres of wetlands across the upper Midwestern United States providing crucial flood prevention benefits, whose loss could potentially cost the region more than $22 billion annually. 

Among the eight states in the study — Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin – Michigan holds 6.4 million acres of wetlands, meaning the state could lose $4.77 billion in annual flood mitigation benefits due to threats from pollution and industrial agriculture. 

While speaking with the Michigan Advance, Stacy Woods, the research director for the Union’s Food and Environment Program and author of the report, explained that Michigan holds almost 9.5 million acres used for agriculture, compared to the 6.4 million acres of wetlands. However, the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has drastically changed how the federal Clean Water Act can be used to protect wetlands from being drained or polluted by industrial farming and other industries, Woods said. 

Under the court’s 5-4 ruling, the Clean Water Act only applies to wetlands with a continuous connection to the waters of the United States, with the Court narrowing this definition to include “only those relatively permanent, standing, or continuously flowing bodies of water” such as streams, oceans, rivers and lakes.

“We’ve known for a long time that wetlands prevent flooding. Like the trees and the plants trap and slow down rushing water, and wetland soil also acts as like a sponge, it can soak up vast amounts of water. So communities really benefit greatly when wetlands are there because they serve as these natural flood barriers,” Woods said. 

However, industrial agriculture alongside other industries can threaten these bodies, draining them to convert into cropland, or damaging them with  excess fertilizer and pesticide runoff, Woods said. This runoff can lead to increased nitrogen levels and low oxygen in wetlands, creating “dead zones” where most aquatic life cannot survive. 

With communities set to see more flooding due to climate change, Woods sought to explore how the loss of federal protections over wetlands and the loss of these wetlands themselves would contribute to the impacts of flooding. 

The report also notes that the loss of wetlands in Michigan directly contributes to flooding in predominantly Black and under-resourced communities, and that historically marginalized people also face inequitable disaster recovery, with socially vulnerable people less likely to receive federal disaster relief, as shown in a 2016 study which examined recovery outcomes for Latino and older community members following the 2008 Iowa floods. 

Building on a study previously published in the American Economic Review, which found that one acre of wetlands helps avert roughly $745 in flood damage, the report found the Upper Midwest received almost $23 billion in flood mitigation benefits with estimated long-term benefits ranging between $323 billion and $754 billion.

Alongside $4.77 billion in mitigated damage annually, Michigan is projected to see between $68.1 billion and $159 billion in long-term flood protection benefits. 

In addition to providing protection from flooding, Woods also noted the importance of wetlands in trapping and holding carbon emissions. 

“Wetlands currently trap and store over 30% of soil-stored carbon on Earth despite only covering 6% of the planet’s surface. That’s a really high return on investment,” Woods said. 

However, as the planet warms and these wetlands are destroyed, they can also begin to release carbon, Woods said.

In 2023, the United States Geological Survey released a study which found warmer climate conditions would likely cause wetlands to emit more methane than they would on normal conditions, with moderate to severe warming doubling or tripling emissions from wetlands, regardless of their size.

With the vast majority of methane emissions coming from human activities including the oil and gas industry, the increased release of methane from wetlands serves as additional reason to work to stem the industrial release of methane and other heat-trapping gasses, Woods said. 

In addition to storing carbon, wetlands contain 40% of the world’s plant and animal life, Woods said, with these bodies also providing habitats for 75% of commercially harvested fish and shellfish, including trout, shrimp and oysters, fueling the commercial seafood industry. 

With the Sackett decision removing protections for 19% to 91% of wetlands, these sites have been left vulnerable, particularly in states without strong protections, the report notes. 

However, with industrial agriculture identified as a major source of damage to wetlands, the report says the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is uniquely positioned to help preserve them through a variety of programs in the five-year federal food and farm bill — typically referred to as the farm bill. 

In order to preserve wetlands across the U.S., the report calls on Congress to properly fund the and deploy the farm bill. Specifically, it calls on Congress to raise the cap on the conservation reserve program to 45 million acres opening up 20 million new acres for enrollment and allowing more farmers to participate in the program, which provides farmers with assistance in converting cropland to wetlands, grassland, tree land or other land to reduce erosion, promote soil quality and support wildlife. This includes the Farmable Wetlands Program which provides landowners with annual payments to restore wetlands on their land. 

The report also recommends establishing new incentives for farmers to implement sustainable farming methods, by linking crop insurance to conservation practices that improve soil quality and minimize runoff, arguing the current program incentivizes production at the cost of environmental stewardship. 

It also requests a minimum of $700 million in funding for the agricultural conservation easement program to assist farmers in restoring wetlands damaged by industrial agriculture. 

The report also advises Congress to increase funding for the USDA’s conservation stewardship program — which is aimed at promoting farming methods that improve soil and water quality — from $1 billion to $4 billion a year. 

“Healthy soil is so critically important because it acts like a sponge. It can soak up all that excess fertilizer, pesticides, so it doesn’t run off and get into our waterways and damage wetlands,” Woods said.

Similarly, the report requests a boost to environmental quality incentives program funding, to allow for $2 billion a year for new contracts and direct those funds toward agricultural practices to enhance soil, protect wetlands and other waters and provide other environmental benefits. 

Additionally, the report calls for a farm bill which expands equity initiatives, including prioritizing historically underserved farmers through the agricultural conservation easement program, environmental quality incentives program and conservation stewardship program; designating 30% of environmental quality incentives program and conservation stewardship program funding for historically disadvantaged and new farmers; increase advance payment options to reduce the financial burden to reduced initial capital investment and encourage greater program participation. 

It also recommends reestablishing payment limits for the conservation stewardship program and establishing payment limits for the environmental quality incentives program to ensure the largest farms don’t claim an unfair share of funding, as well as requiring the USDA to reach out to farmers of color to promote conservation programs. 

While the farm bill was last reauthorized in 2018, members of Congress failed to pass a new bill in 2023, with members opting to extend the 2018 bill through 2024. While Congress failed to pass a new version of the bill during regular session in 2024, members are weighing whether to pass another extension, or advance an updated piece of legislation during lame duck session.

While not all residents live near a drained wetland, everyone feels the impact from flood damage, Woods said.

“Even if it’s not your home that gets flooded after a nearby wetland was destroyed, as a taxpayer, you help fund the National Flood Insurance Program, which covers about five million people,” Woods said.

“In the Midwest, you know flooding in the spring of 2019 resulted in over 2,000 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program. So in that way, we all pay when wetlands are destroyed and homes get damaged by the resulting increase in flooding,” Woods said.

 

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