TALLENT: WETLANDS WON'T STOP SCHOOL

Wetlands on the planned site of a vocational-technical school won't prevent the Cape Girardeau School District from building the school, superintendent Dr. Dan Tallent said Wednesday.

The site is west of the intersection of Kingshighway and Southern Expressway along a gravel section of Silver Springs Road. A wooded portion of the tract has been declared wetlands by the Army Corps of Engineers.

It is unclear where or how large the wetlands are, said Tallent. Originally the wetlands weren't considered to be on school property; however, further review found they are in an area planned for a high school.

Tallent said the school district received a Corps of Engineers map that indicated wetlands were in the area. He said the Missouri Department of Natural Resources surveyed the area at the request of the school district.

"We don't want to get in the middle of dirt work and find out you're violating the law," said Tallent.

Tallent said Department of Natural Resources Soil and Water Division representatives will visit the area Tuesday to determine exactly where and how large an area the wetlands occupy on school property.

"We might have to set aside other ground to make up for this one," said Tallent. "This is just a wrinkle," he said. "It won't hold us up. The weather is not conducive for them to do the work until the spring rains are over."

A wetland is saturated or covered by water most of the growing season, said Missouri Department of Conservation educational consultant A.J. Hendershott. That means either water is standing on the soil or the soil is muddy most of the year.

Disturbing wetlands is prohibited by law because of their diminishing numbers. Missouri needs to identify and preserve its wetlands, said Hendershott.

"There's value in them, and I think in this part of the country keeping a wetland has merit," said Hendershott. "In Southeast Missouri we need to make a special case because we have about 2 percent of our wetlands left."

He said it is easier to define a wetland based on its inhabitants rather than soil or other conditions. Wetlands are inhabited by specific plants and animals that won't live anywhere else, he said. They include swamp oaks, willow oaks, cattails, horsetails, aquatic turtles, muskrat and mink, he said.

Hendershott said wetland size is irrelevant; some of the most important wetlands are in very small areas that contain unusual inhabitants.

"There are ramifications if you're going to drain a wetlands," he said. "If you destroy one, sometimes they have to create another one. Ecologically, I would hope it doesn't come to that."

Tallent said the Board of Education won't be able to make any decisions until after the area is reviewed next week.

Regardless of what state officials recommend, construction of the vocational-technical school won't be interrupted, he said. The school is scheduled for completion in time for the start of school in fall 1999.