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Headwater Streams and Wetlands are Critical for Sustaining Fish, Fisheries, and Ecosystem Services

S. Colvin,S. M. P. Sulliván,Patrick D. Shirey,Randall W. Colvin,K. Winemiller,Robert M. Hughes,K. Fausch,Dana M. Infante,J. Olden,K. Bestgen,R. Danehy,L. Eby

Published 2019 in Fisheries

ABSTRACT

. —Headwater streams and wetlands are integral components of watersheds that are critical for biodiversity, fisheries, ecosystem functions, natural resource-based economies, and human society and culture. These and other ecosystem services provided by intact and clean headwater streams and wetlands are critical for a sustainable future. Headwater streams comprise 79% of U.S. stream networks; wetlands outside of floodplains comprise 6.59 million ha in the conterminous United States. Loss of legal protections for these vulnerable eco - systems would create a cascade of consequences, including reduced water quality, impaired ecosystem functioning, and loss of fish habitat for commercial and recreational fish species. Many fish species currently listed as threatened or endangered would face increased risks, and other taxa would become more vulnerable. In most regions of the USA, increased pollution and other impacts to headwaters would have negative economic consequences. Headwaters and the fishes they sustain have major cultural importance for many segments of American society. Native peoples, in particular, have intimate relationships with fish and the streams that support them. Headwaters ecosystems and the natural, socio-cultural, and economic services they provide would face severe threat under the Waters of the United States rule recently proposed by the Trump administration.

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