The NYTimes reports that the record increase in national wetlands recently lauded by Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Mike Joahnns is based on a very liberal definition of wetlands that includes manmade ponds and lakes. “A net total of 523,500 acres of swamps and tidal marshes had been lost, but the Fish and Wildlife Service measured gains of 715,300 acres of shallow-water wetlands, or ponds.” While restoration projects have contributed to containing the loss of wetlands, manmade ponds and streams on gulf courses and housing communities have contributed to the supposed gains. For instance, the mining of sand and clay for the construction of two major highways in South Carolina, Routes 22 and 31, left the Myrtle Beach area dotted with large, deep ponds that qualify as wetlands in the Interior Department's survey but do not provide the wildlife habitat or perform the filtering functions of tidal marshes or cypress swamps. "For Route 22, there was nine million cubic yards of fill material needed," said Boyd Holt, a regional hydrogeologist for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. "There were probably 30 or 40 ponds as a result of that activity since 1998." While these lands might be wet in the technical sense, they certainly don’t contribute to the ecosystems that natural wetlands help sustain. Restoration of the nation’s wetlands was a largely touted goal of Bush. If landscaped gulf courses are what he means by wetland restoration, I can only imagine what he means by his other domestic agenda items.