Freshwater Wetlands - Hydro-Environmental Analysis: Freshwater Environments - page 517

• Hawaii and Paciic Islands

• Midwest Region

• Northcentral and Northeast

• Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast

The methods described in the Corps manuals, while not the only wetland delineation meth-
ods, are of particular importance in determining whether the protection of a wetland is under the
jurisdiction of the Corps. While the Corps administers the 404 program, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) has the ultimate authority to determine the geographic scope of the
waters of the United States subject to jurisdiction under the CWA, including the 404 program.
Another important federal act impacting wetlands is the Food Security Act (FSA), the wetland
conservation (Swampbuster) provisions of which will be discussed later in this chapter. This act is
the regulatory responsibility of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), acting through the
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). For Swampbuster implementation, the NRCS has
the ultimate authority to determine the geographic extent of wetlands. Based on memorandums of
agreement, the NRCS is also responsible for making wetland delineations for implementing CWA
regulations (e.g., 404 permits) on agricultural lands. The NRCS delineations were originally based
on methods described in the National Food Security Act manual (NRCS 1987).
Note that the methods used by federal agencies for delineation, or wetland determination,
have been subject to the winds and vagaries of politics and policy. Methods for the delineation
of wetlands subject to federal jurisdiction under the CWA and FSA were described in both the
Corps 1997 manual (USACE 1987) and the National Food Security Act manual (NRCS 1987).
In addition, the U.S. EPA had its own delineation manual, the 1988 Environmental Protection
Agency Wetland Identiication and Delineation manual (Sipple 1988). Since the methods for
delineation (and the resulting delineations) differed, the agencies agreed to develop a joint
manual, resulting in the 1989 Interagency Wetland Delineation manual (Interagency 1989).
However, this manual was criticized by some in that it supposedly broadened the deinition of
a wetland, and therefore increased the acreage of wetlands subject to protection under these
two laws. The response by the agencies was a 1991 revision, the 1991 Interagency Wetland
Delineation manual. However, subsequently, the Corps was directed by law to go back to using
its original 1987 manual. In addition, the NRCS is required to use the Corps 1987 manual
when conducting wetland determinations for the purposes of the FSA on nonagricultural lands
and agricultural lands with undisturbed native vegetation, and it currently uses the hydrology
wetland indicators from the Corps 1987 manual for conducting wetland determinations on
agricultural land for the purposes of the FSA.

19.4 WETLAND TRENDS: HISTORICAL
While the importance of wetlands and their protection is now commonly recognized, this was not
always the case. In much of U.S. history, wetlands have been considered an impediment rather
than a valuable resource, and something to be removed rather than to be protected. An example of
attitudes toward wetlands is William Byrds description of the “Dismal Swamp,” an area that at that
time formed a disputed boundary between the colonies of Virginia and North Carolina, as a “hor-
rible desert [where] the foul damps ascend without ceasing, corrupt the air and render it unit for
respiration.” That area, still so named, now includes a protected state recreation area and the Dismal
Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. In 1900, the U.S. Supreme Court proclaimed that wetlands were
“the cause of malarial and malignant features” and that “the police power is never more legitimately
exercised than in removing such nuisances” [ Leovy v. United States , 177 U.S. 621, 636 (1900)]. In
their chapter in National Water Summary on Wetland Resources , Dahl and Allord (1996) discussed
the changing attitudes toward wetlands during U.S. history, and wetland losses (Figure 19.8), which
are briely summarized next.