ABSTRACT
Wetlands perform functions that have environmental importance and social significance. This chapter begins with a brief discussion of past approaches to assessing the functions and values of wetlands. It discusses why it is necessary to classify wetlands before assessing their functions. The chapter examines how standards can be used to characterize a wetland class at the same time that the standards encompass the natural variation that occurs within the class. One of the main difficulties encountered in using many functional assessment approaches available today is that they fail to separate functions from values. Without this separation, low assessment scores may be assigned to fully functional wetlands when assessed functions are naturally subdued due to inherent properties of wetland type and its landscape position, hydrology, or nutrient status. The chapter discusses how functional assessment can be used in the decision-making process by relating assessments to both non-market and market-based economic assessments.
