Overview

• Up to 563,000 acres now fall outside any county, state or federal safeguards, representing about 80% of wetlands that lost Clean Water Act coverage.
• The analysis flags flood‑risk hotspots in the Moline–Rock Island–Burlington area, Peoria, Grafton–Alton–East St. Louis, and the Cape Girardeau–Cairo region.
• State and local safeguards are uneven, with eight Chicago‑area counties regulating wetlands via stormwater ordinances and a state compensation law covering some state‑funded projects.
• The team modeled multiple scenarios by varying distance, flood frequency and flow‑permanence thresholds to reflect uncertainty in how the Sackett standard will be applied.
• The peer‑reviewed study, published in the Journal of Environmental Management and funded by the U.S. EPA, links lost protections to reduced flood control, water supply and habitat benefits.