The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency that provides information to the public on the extent and status of the Nation's wetlands. Through the National Wetlands Inventory, the agency has developed a series of topical maps to show wetlands and deepwater habitats. These maps have been used extensively to make resource management decisions at the federal, state and local government levels.

The goal of the National Wetlands Inventory is to provide the citizens of the United States and its Trust Territories with current geospatially referenced information on the status, extent, characteristics and functions of wetland, riparian, deepwater and related aquatic habitats in priority areas to promote the understanding and conservation of these resources.

By 2001, the Inventory had produced draft or final maps for more than 90 percent of the lower 48 states and about 35 percent of Alaska. In addition, the Inventory has provided the Service and the public with scientific wetlands maps for nearly 30 years. This has been accomplished by working with numerous public and private cooperators to produce maps, digital data, and publications. Currently, efforts are underway to create a seamless digital wetlands data set for the Nation.

Because the wetland map information has been collected and disseminated over the past several decades, the data exist in different formats:

Digital data can be viewed and customized downloads are available through the Wetlands Mapper. Larger amounts of wetlands data can be downloaded by quad.

Hard copy maps can be purchased through Cooperator-Run Distribution Centers. Each Center establishes its own pricing structure, product types and order procedures.

Hard copy maps can be purchased through Standard metadata and quad specific data such as source photography date and scale can be found at Wetlands Metadata and Map Search.