Most wetlands lost recently were converted for agricultural production. President Bush proposed "no net loss" as a national goal, meaning that restoring wetlands must complement conserving wetlands to offset unavoidable losses. This symposium explored how "no net loss" might operate and the economist's role in developing this policy. Wetland policy evolution, costs of acquiring public rights to wetlands, valuing wetland benefits, and alternatives to existing institutional mechanisms for controlling wetland loss were discussed.