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Woods & Wetlands Alert
Isolated Wetlands
July 11th, 2001
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ALERT
Help support stronger protection for isolated wetlands. Attend the next
meeting on the Lake County Stormwater Management Commission and ask for
higher minimum mitigation ratios to compensate for the historical and ongoing
net loss of wetlands in our region.
Thursday, July 12, 7:30 p.m.
Stormwater Management Commission
333 Peterson Road, Libertyville
(across from IL Secretary of State)
As you know, wetlands are crucial for the survival of many of our wildlife
species, and provide many other benefits. The Supreme Court forfeited the
ability of federal agencies to protect isolated wetlands. This change has
imperiled 15% of our remaining wetlands. Our SMC is moving to restore protections,
and this juncture is a needed opportunity to achieve improved protection.
SMC is expected to adopt the recommendations
of their Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) at this meeting for the protection
of isolated wetlands. The recommendations would restore previous protections,
but fall short of needed improvements. We also expect there will be many
from the development industry at this meeting to weaken the protections
adopted by SMC. Your voice will be important for the protection of our
isolated wetlands.
In the
last alert on this topic, we asked you to contact members of the TAC
to urge "No Loss" and increased mitigation ratios for destruction of isolated
wetlands. The TAC recommendations reflect this input, and largely mimic
the protections that were in place before the Supreme Court ruling. This
moves beyond "No Net Loss" on a per site basis, and prescribes mitigation
ratios that compensate loss of quality at existing wetlands with increase
in size of constructed wetlands.
However, the TAC did not address our request for increasing the minimum
mitigation ratios beyond those previously in place. A recent report
by the National Academy of Sciences found that mitigation ratios have
not been proven effective in safeguarding our wetlands from even "No Net
Loss," so it's fair to consider previous mitigation ratios an insufficient
plan going forward. Therefore, we are convinced that our request for increasing
minimum mitigation ratios is needed. We suggest ratios of 4 to 1 for high
quality wetlands, and 2 to 1 for other wetlands.
W&W asked a few municipalities to adopt the following resolution.
At least one did, and forwarded it to the TAC. (I hope the formatting comes
through):
WHEREAS:
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Most wetlands across Lake County have already been drained or degraded,
and;
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Wetlands provide recognized values, including
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Critical habitat for many threatened and endangered species,
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Cleansing of surface runoff water to protect our lakes and streams,
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Groundwater recharge,
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Flood prevention, and;
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Wetlands that have been lost need to be recovered for these inherent values;
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Isolated wetlands that were protected by federal law until 2001
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account for 5,000 acres, and 15% of Lake County's remaining wetlands, and
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are now in jeopardy, and;
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A policy of "No Net Loss" alone is insufficient to protect high quality
wetlands and restore more lost wetlands, and;
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Inundation of high quality wetlands by surface water, and water drained
from other wetlands, damages to the inundated wetland, and;
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Less than one tenth of one percent of our native prairies remain, and;
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Lake County Stormwater Management Commission is presently considering how
to protect our isolated wetlands;
THEREFORE, we resolve this recommendation:
That Lake County Stormwater Management Commission adopt:
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more aggressive policies for protecting isloated wetlands and recovering
lost wetlands, including;
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for high quality isloated wetlands, a policy of "No Loss," or a minimum
mitigation ratio of 4-to-1, and;
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for other isloated wetlands, a policy of "No Loss," or a minimum mitigation
ratio of 2-to-1, and;
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a policy protecting existing wetland habitats from inundation that would
otherwise result from the draining of a nearby area, and;
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in addition to their proposal to protect existing wetlands and forests
from being sacrificed to mitigation banks, to also protect high quality
prairies, and allow mitigation banks to be created only in soils that evidence
prior wetland conditions.
also:
U.S. failing to track loss of wetlands,
report says
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The government fails to enforce laws requiring developers
who fill in wetlands to restore old ones or create new ones in return,
according to a report released Tuesday.
The National Academy of Sciences found that no federal agencies are
accurately tracking the nation’s marshes, swamps and bogs to see if the
losses to development each year are adequately compensated. Because of
that, a panel of academic and government experts found, there is no way
to assess whether the nation's goal of "no net loss" of wetlands - in terms
of both acreage and function - is being met.
Between 1993 and 2000, developers were required to replace every acre
of wetlands destroyed or damaged with an average of 1.78 acres of similar
habitat. Based on its own field trips and other research, the academy panel
said those environmental goals are not being met.
"Some required mitigation projects are never undertaken or are not
completed," the report said.
Wetland ecosystems have long been a subject of dispute between environmental
groups and builders who have battled over the extent of protections and
requirements mandated under the Clean Water Act.
The study found 24,000 acres of wetlands annually were allowed to be
filled in between 1993 and 2000 nationwide. More than 42,000 acres of wetlands
should have been added somewhere to comply with the goal of "no net loss"
of wetlands that former President Bush set in 1989.
But the report found that goal "is not being met" and the full impact
of the losses on wildlife habitat, water quality and flood control remain
unknown.
"Because of insufficient data, it was impossible for the committee
to determine whether there has been no net loss of wetland acreage," the
panel reported.
But the panel was more certain that the "no net loss" goal for maintaining
fish and wildlife habitats was not being met.
The Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency
are responsible for enforcing the section of the Clean Water Act that prohibits
the discharge of soil and sand into waters without a permit.
"It's clear from this report that we have a lot of work remaining to
offset the damages to important wetlands systems," said John Meagher, director
of the EPA's wetlands division.
For more on this, see:
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309074320/html/
http://www.usace.army.mil/inet/functions/cw/hot_topics/nrchottopic.htm
Thanks for helping to protect our environment!
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Send all comments concerning this action alert to the attention of Evan
Craig at auk@interaccess.com or
call 680-6437.
Every call counts.