Key word was: "wetlands".
Wetlands in many areas were drained to make room for development. Now, the big push is to protect all existing wetlands as habitat, and build as much new wetlands as possible. On most strip mine sites in the Appalachians, you can now find places where sediment retention ponds have been converted into wetlands. They provide habitat for a large variety of species, many of which are endangered.
With that said, I'd like to point out: while there was some limited wetlands within the Appalachians, like beaver pond fringe, stream floodplains, etc., there really wasn't a broad extent of wetlands present: most of the wetlands were coastal. However, even the Corps of Engineers can't convince people to tear out whole cities on the beach and put wetlands back. So, they're sticking these pocket wetlands all over the mountains, trying to recover the square footage of wetlands that there once was. Sounds like an environmental choice gone arwy to me.
To the north, in Minnesota, the topography is dominated by post-glacial kettle lakes. As crustal rebound continues after the contintental glaciation meltoff, these kettles are natually draining. People get a picture in their head that the way things 50 years ago is the way it is supposed to always be, and that's just not true. So, the environmentalists are attempting to prevent folks with 4x4s from driving through wetlands in order to protect something that is naturally doomed anyway.
I have to admit, I've seen an excavator bury itself trying to get a backhoe out of a wetland bog (the backhoe having buried itself trying to get out). It's one thing to have a snorkel on a vehicle if you have to make a deep stream crossing, or are avoiding dust ingestion in a desert, but anyone who thinks that they can get into a wetlands that is deep enough to require a snorkel and easily drive back out may be in for a surprise.
FWIW....
-L