National Guidance Water Quality Standards for Wetlands U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water Regulations and Standards Office of Wetlands Protection Our understanding of the many benefits that wetlands provide has evolved rapidly over the last 20 to 30 years. Recently, programs have been developed to restore and protect wetland resources at the local, State and Federal levels of government. At the Federal level, the President of the United States established the goal of "no net loss" of wetlands, adapted from the National Wetlands Policy Forum recommendations (The Conservation Foundation 1988). Applying water quality standards to wetlands is part of an overall effort to protect the Nation's wetland resources and provides a regulatory basis for a variety of programs for managing wetlands to meet this goal.