Wetlands Defense Fund is a new project which has been established to protect and restore wetlands in the North American Pacific coast bioregion and to form coalitions and networking associations to further this purpose.

More than 91% of California's historical wetlands have been destroyed due to diking, filling, paving and draining for industrial agriculture; oil, gas and mineral extraction; marina development and other human development.

Many endangered and threatened species depend on wetlands for at least a part of their life cycle.

Wetlands defend shorelines against storm surges and erosion.  They also, due to their unique soil and plant make-up, soak up flood waters like a giant sponge.  Wetlands also clean the waters moving down the watershed and serve as habitat for fish nurseries, amazing numbers of pollinating insects and migrating birds.

Recently, federal wetland protection laws have been severely weakened.   In addition, wetland laws are insufficient to protect the entire ecological area needed for protection and genuine restoration of a wetland.   Transition wetlands and adjacent uplands are just important to protect as the wet areas which are currently the only areas that wetland laws even protect in a minimal fashion.

We work to find solutions to complex wetland protection challenges, in order to preserve and restore these important natural ecosystems.

Wetlands Defense Fund also supports various wetland activists whose courageous stands in defense of wetlands are noteworthy and targeted by corporations working to destroy wetlands.  As corporate and powerful interests converge to attempt to silence these activists who are getting in the way of destroying more wetlands, Wetlands Defense Fund will be on the side of those working to protect these cradles of life.