ISGS Seminar | Illinois wetlands in the wake of Sackett

Chelsea Peterson is a Ph.D. candidate who studies wetland ecology in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Previously, she earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering at Cornell University and master’s degree in agricultural engineering at UIUC. Her current research leverages field, lab, and computational methods to evaluate carbon-diversity tradeoffs in restored wetlands and quantify impacts of shifting policies and climate extremes on Illinois wetlands.

After the 2023 Supreme Court decision in Sackett v. EPA, adjacent wetlands must have a “continuous surface connection” to “relatively permanent waters” to qualify for Clean Water Act regulation, which includes federal permit and mitigation requirements. In this seminar, I will review our collaborative 2025 analysis with ISGS scientists to assess Sackett implications for Illinois by mapping unprotected wetland area and evaluating its intersection with communities at elevated risk of climate-driven natural hazards. Then, I will discuss our ongoing research to map spatial relationships between wetland ecosystem services and more intense climate extremes, estimate the reduction in federal permit requirements, and compile a database of local wetland ordinances. At the end, I will highlight future research directions for better quantifying the benefits of protecting our state’s vulnerable aquatic resources and their dynamic connections.

To attend online, contact info@isgs.illinois.edu for a Teams link.