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1.
Trends and patterns in section 404 permitting requiring compensatory mitigation in Oregon and Washington,USA 总被引:1,自引:4,他引:1
Mary E. Kentula Jean C. Sifneos James W. Good Michael Rylko Kathy Kunz 《Environmental management》1992,16(1):109-119
The effects of permitting decisions made under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for which compensatory mitigation was required
were examined. Information was compiled on permits issued in Oregon (January 1977–January 1987) and Washington (1980–1986).
Data on the type of project permitted, wetland impacted, and mitigation project were collected and analyzed. The records of
the Portland and Seattle District Offices of the US Army Corps of Engineers and of Environmental Protection Agency Region
X were the primary sources of information.
The 58 permits issued during the years of concern in Oregon document impacts to 82 wetlands and the creation of 80. The total
area of wetland impacted was 74 ha while 42 ha were created, resulting in a net loss of 32 ha or 43%. The 35 permits issued
in Washington document impacts to 72 wetlands and the creation of 52. The total area of wetland impacted was 61 ha while 45
ha were created, resulting in a net loss of 16 ha or 26%. In both states, the number of permits requiring compensation increased
with time. The area of the impacted and created wetlands tended to be ≤0.40 ha. Permitted activity occurred primarily west
of the Cascade Mountains and in the vicinity of urban centers. Estuarine and palustrine wetlands were impacted and created
most frequently. The wetland types created most often were not always the same as those impacted; therefore, local gains and
losses of certain types occurred. In both states the greatest net loss in area was in freshwater marshes.
This study illustrates how Section 404 permit data might be used in managing a regional wetland resource. However, because
the data readily available were either incomplete or of poor quality, the process of gathering information was very labor
intensive. Since similar analyses would be useful to resource managers and scientists from other areas, development of an
up-to-date standardized data base is recommended. 相似文献
2.
A review of wetland impacts authorized under the New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act (FWPA) was conducted based on permitting data compiled for the period 1 July 1988 to 31 December 1993. Data regarding the acreage of wetlands impacted, location of impacts by drainage basin and watershed, and mitigation were analyzed. Wetland impacts authorized and mitigation under New Jersey's program were evaluated and compared with Section 404 information available for New Jersey and other regions of the United States.Under the FWPA, 3003 permits were issued authorizing impacts to 234.76 ha (602.27 acres) of wetlands and waters. Compensatory mitigation requirements for impacts associated with individual permits required the creation of 69.20 ha. (171.00 acres), and restoration of 16.49 ha (40.75 acres) of wetlands. Cumulative impacts by watershed were directly related to levels of development and population growth.The FWPA has resulted in an estimated 67% reduction [44.32 ha (109.47 acres) vs 136.26 ha (336.56 acres)] in annual wetland and water impacts when compared with Section 404 data for New Jersey. For mitigation, the slight increase in wetland acreage over acreage impacted is largely consistent with Section 404 data.Based on this evaluation, the FWPA has succeeded in reducing the level of wetland impacts in New Jersey. However, despite stringent regulation of activities in and around wetlands, New Jersey continues to experience approximately 32 ha (79 acres) of unmitigated wetland impacts annually. Our results suggest that additional efforts focusing on minimizing wetland impacts and increasing wetlands creation are needed to attain a goal of no net loss of freshwater wetlands. 相似文献
3.
Wetland loss and substitution by the Section 404 permit program in southern California,USA 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
To test the effectiveness of the 404 permit program in preventing a net loss of wetland resources, 75 Section 404 projects permitted in the years 1987–1989 and located in a portion of southern California were evaluated. From this group of projects, 80.47 ha of wetlands were affected by Section 404 permits and the Army Corps of Engineers required 111.62 ha of wetland mitigation. To verify the successful completion of each mitigation project, all 75 project sites were visited and evaluated based on the amount of dead vegetation, growth and coverage, and the number of invasive species. Based on the field verification results, the actual amount of completed mitigation area was 77.33 ha, resulting in a net loss of 3.14 ha of wetland resources in the years 1987–1989. By comparing the types of wetlands lost to the types of wetlands mitigated, it is apparent that, in particular, freshwater wetlands are experiencing a disproportionately greater loss of area and that riparian woodland wetlands are most often used in mitigation efforts. The net result of these accumulated actions is an overall substitution of wetland types throughout the region. Results also indicate that, typically, large-scale mitigation projects are more successful compared to smaller projects and that successful compliance efforts are not evenly distributed throughout the region. We recommend that better monitoring, mitigation in-kind, mitigation banking, and planning on a regional or watershed scale could greatly improve the effectiveness of the Section 404 permitting program. 相似文献
4.
The US Clean Water Act and habitat replacement: evaluation of mitigation sites in Orange County,California, USA 总被引:2,自引:2,他引:0
Both permit requirements and ecological assessments have been used to evaluate mitigation success. This analysis combines
these two approaches to evaluate mitigation required under Section 404 of the United States Clean Water Act (CWA) and Section
10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act, which allow developers to provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impacts to wetlands.
This study reviewed permit files and conducted field assessments of mitigation sites to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation
required by the US Army Corps of Engineers for all permits issued in Orange County, California from 1979 through 1993. The
535 permit actions approved during this period allowed 157 ha of impacts. Mitigation was required on 70 of these actions,
with 152 ha of enhanced, restored, and created habitat required for 136 ha of impacts. In 15 permit actions, no mitigation
project was constructed, but in only two cases was the originally permitted project built; the two cases resulted in an unmitigated
loss of 1.6 ha. Of the remaining 55 sites, 55% were successful at meeting the permit conditions while 11% failed to do so.
Based on a qualitative assessment of habitat quality, only 16% of the sites could be considered successful and 26% were considered
failures. Thus, of the 126 ha of habitat lost due to the 55 projects, only 26 ha of mitigation was considered successful.
The low success rate was not due to poor enforcement, although nearly half of the projects did not comply with all permit
conditions. Mitigation success could best be improved by requiring mitigation plans to have performance standards based on
habitat functions. 相似文献
5.
In the United States, the Clean Water Act requires mitigation for wetlands that are negatively impacted by dredging and filling
activities. During the mitigation process, there generally is little effort to assess function for mitigation sites and function
is usually inferred based on vegetative cover and acreage. In our study, hydrogeomorphic (HGM) functional assessment models
were used to compare predicted and potential levels of functional capacity in created and natural reference wetlands. HGM
models assess potential function by measurement of a suite of structural variables and these modeled functions can then be
compared to those in natural, reference wetlands. The created wetlands were built in a floodplain setting of a valley in central
Pennsylvania to replace natural ridge-side slope wetlands. Functional assessment models indicated that the created sites differed
significantly from natural wetlands that represented the impacted sites for seven of the ten functions assessed. This was
expected because the created wetlands were located in a different geomorphic setting than the impacted sites, which would
affect the type and degree of functions that occur. However, functional differences were still observed when the created sites
were compared with a second set of reference wetlands that were located in a similar geomorphic setting (floodplain). Most
of the differences observed in both comparisons were related to unnatural hydrologic regimes and to the characteristics of
the surrounding landscape. As a result, the created wetlands are not fulfilling the criteria for successful wetland mitigation. 相似文献
6.
Coastal wetlands are a valuable resource to North Carolina, USA, representing important habitat for marine organisms and providing flood control areas and buffer zones from marine storms. An analysis of wetland development trends in coastal North Carolina from 1970 to 1984 was conducted using over 3000 files containing 15 years of permitting records. The total amount of coastal wetland area altered due to authorized development under the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA), the Dredge and Fill Law, and Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is 1740 ha. This represents nearly 2% of the salt marsh wetlands along the coast of North Carolina. The number of permits issued steadily increased during the 1980s; however, the total amount of wetland loss decreased each year. A few large projects in the early 1970s accounted for nearly 70% of all wetland area developed during the 15-year period. Nearly two-thirds of all projects involving wetland destruction involved impacts on high marsh ecosystems. Bulkheads, canals, and filling activities made up 80% of the projects requiring permits; 62% of the permits were issued to private landowners, but this group accounted for only 16% of the losses of wetland area. Utility companies, which accounted for less than 1% of the permits issued, were responsible for 46% of the permitted wetland loss during the 15-year study period. Future studies should address agriculture and forestry practices which are exempt under CAMA laws and therefore their effects on wetland alteration have not been quantified. 相似文献
7.
The impact of surface mining for coal on the nature and extent of freshwater wetlands was assessed on 73,200 ha in western Pennsylvania. The influence of mining on wetlands was not uniform across physiographic regions, varying with regional differences in hydrology and soils. Overall, mined lands supported 18% more palustrine wetlands than unmined lands, primarily because of a 270% gain in permanent, open-water wetlands on mined lands in the glaciated region. Open-water wetlands declined on mined lands in unglaciated regions owing to unfavorable hydrologic conditions. The number and size of emergent wetlands declined as a result of mining. Mined lands supported 81% fewer riverine wetlands than unmined lands. This was caused primarily by avoidance of lands containing streams, and secondarily by a 10% reduction in replacement of riverine wetlands during reclamation. Land managers need to develop land use policies that maximize the ecological and social benefits that can be derived from developing diverse wetland communities on mined lands. 相似文献
8.
The hydrogeomorphic (HGM) approach to wetland classification and functional assessment is becoming more widespread in the
United States but its use has been limited by the length of time needed to develop appropriate data sets and functional assessment
models. One particularly difficult aspect is the transferability among geographic regions of specific models used to assess
wetland function. Sharing of models could considerably shorten development and implementation of HGM throughout the United
States and elsewhere. As hydrology is the driving force behind wetland functions, we assessed the comparability of hydrologic
characteristics of three HGM subclasses (slope, headwater floodplain, mainstem floodplain) using comparable long-term hydrologic
data sets from different regions of the United States (Ridge and Valley Province in Pennsylvania and the Willamette Valley
in Oregon). If hydrology by HGM subclass were similar between different geographic regions, it might be possible to more readily
transfer extant models between those regions. We found that slope wetlands (typically groundwater-driven) had similar hydrologic
characteristics, even though absolute details (such as depth of water) differed. We did not find the floodplain subclasses
to be comparable, likely due to effects of urbanization in Oregon, regional differences in soils and, perhaps, climate. Slight
differences in hydrology can shift wetland functions from those mediated by aerobic processes to those dominated by anaerobic
processes. Functions such as nutrient cycling can be noticeably altered as a result. Our data suggest considerable caution
in the application of models outside of the region for which they were developed. 相似文献