Other Wetland Laws and Programs

• Author: Margaret 'Peggy' Strand/Lowell Rothschild
• Pages: 151-152

Page 151

Part II

Other WetlandLaws and Programs

In addition to the §404 program, wetlands are

addressed through programs under other parts

of the CWA and under other federal laws.

EPA administers several other programs under

the CWA that regulate wetlands. For example,

EPA has provided guidance to states on utiliza-

tion of §401 water quality certication to protect

wetlands. Programs for water quality standards

and management of nonpoint source pollution

also involve wetlands. In conjunction with other

agencies, EPA administers programs to protect

and restore the nation’s estuaries. ese programs

often involve many wetland issues. As an overrid-

ing policy matter, EPA has been implementin g

the concept of watershed management and water-

shed protection into all of its CWA programs.

Because of the role that wetlands can play in

maintaining water shed health, the watershed

approach means that wetlands a re now regu-

lated under many EPA prog rams.

A number of federal laws other than the CWA

address wetlands and are administered by agencies

other than EPA and the Corps of Engineers.1 Nota-

bly, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in the U.S.

Department of the Interior (DOI), has responsibil-

ity for compiling certain wetland information, such

as wetland inventory maps. It has expertise in wet-

land habitat through its resource functions, includ-

ing management of national wildlife refuges, many

of which are wetlands. Its authority to provide com-

ments in many contexts with respect to sh and

wildlife issues frequently involves wetlands. Addi-

tionally, the U.S. Department of Commerce, pri-

marily through the National Oceanographic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), adminis-

1. is Part does not present a complete discussion of every federal

statute concerning wetlands. Rather, the major federal laws that

address wetlands in whole or in part are summarized.

ters programs related to coastal zones and marine

sheries that often involve wetland concerns.

e U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

also regulates wetlands in laws related to farming

and agricultural land. Historic wetland loss in the

United States has arisen, in large part, from conver-

sions of wetlands to agricultural use. Between the

mid-1950s and the mid-1970s, almost 14.7 million

acres of freshwater wetlands and 500,000 acres of

saltwater wetlands were lost, mostly to agriculture.2

Conversion to agricultural uses remained the pri-

mary cause of loss of wetlands from the mid-1970s

to the mid-1980s when an additional 2.61 million

acres of wetlands were converted, 54% to agricul-

tural uses.3 Since the mid-1980s, certain federal

agriculture laws have addressed wetland conver-

sion and conservation, establishing programs

to reverse loss of wetlands. e USDA, primar-

ily through the Natural Resource Conservation

Service4 and the Farm Service Agency, generally

administers the federal agricu ltural programs con-

cerned with wetlands.

Other federal agencies administer programs

that impact wetlands through property acquisition

and management. e federal government holds

2. H.R. R. N. 271, 99th Cong., pt. 1 (1985), reprinted in 1985

U.S.C.C.A.N., vol. 2, 1191.

3. e Impact of Federal Programs on Wetlands, A Report to

Congress by the Secretary of the Interior, Vol. II, Chap. 2 at 3

(March 1994), reprinted at http://www.doi.gov/oepc/wetlands2/

v2ch2.html. e U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reported

that between 1986 and 1997, a net of 644,000 acres of wetlands

was lost, and that agriculture accounted for 26% of these losses.

Summary Findings, Report to Congress on the Status and Trends

of Wetlands in the Coterminous United States 1986 to 1997,

Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. More

recently, the FWS reported that of forested wetlands lost from

1998 to 2004, 33% was due to agriculture, Status and Trends

of Wetlands in the Coterminous United States 1998-2004.

Both reports are available at http://wetlandsfws.er.usgs.gov/

status_trends/index.html.

4. This agenc y was previ ously known as the Soil Conser va-

tion Serv ice.