Under The Wetlands Stewardship Act of 2026, Delaware has finally created its own protections for freshwater wetlands. The measure passed with nearly unanimous bipartisan support during the final hours of the 153rd General Assembly on July 1. It was signed by Governor Matt Meyer during a special ceremony on July 21 at Delaware Nature Society's DuPont Environmental Education Center.
Coalition Priority: North American Wetlands Conservation Act
In 1989, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to compare the estimated total number of wetland acres in the 1780s [Revolutionary Wartime] and in the 1980s in areas that now comprise each state. This request included an estimated percentage of wetlands loss to be calculated in each state during this 200-year period. To their dismay, a 53-percent loss of historical wetlands was estimated to have occurred over just two centuries.