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Alan Journet teaches ecology and Richard Stiehl teaches wildlife biology and ornithology at Southeast Missouri State University. Both are involved in research in wetlands.

Proposed changes in the guidelines for interpreting wetland boundaries could eliminate up to two thirds of Missouri's wetlands and contribute to the further decline in North American waterfowl populations. For the past 20 years, waterfowl populations in the United States have been dropping. Although the loss of brood ponds in the upper mid-west is blamed for waterfowl decline, the loss of important wintering areas here is another critical factor. Our wetlands provide breeding areas for residents and refuges where migratory birds escape from their northern breeding grounds for the winter. Our wetlands allow these birds to return north in peak breeding condition. Just as National Parks, and clean air and water are national resources in need of defense, so is the North American wetland system.

Wetland Nature and Loss

Since European arrival, more than 50 percent of the 200 million acres of wetland in the lower 48 states have been lost. Wetlands across the nation are disappearing at the rate of 300,000 acres a year. In Missouri, 87 percent of the original wetland has been lost, and in southeast Missouri only 2 percent remain.

Wetlands are more than unappealing, mosquito infested swamps. They do not need to be permanently flooded, or look like swamps; nearly 50 percent of the nation's lost wetlands were forested. Almost all wetlands are dry at least once every few years. Here they are usually wet during the winter, which is why our wetlands are so important to migratory waterfowl.

Besides their importance for waterfowl, wetlands serve other important purposes. They are important for flood control, serving as sponges and protecting neighboring areas. A drained wetland loses this capacity. Wetland drainage lowers the water table, reducing the availability of groundwater for irrigation and drinking. Wetlands filter silt, and toxic chemicals as water seeps from uplands to the rivers. They prevent soil erosion by slowing the rate of water flow, since roots and vegetation bind the soil.

Wetlands Protection

Wetland protection has been controlled by the Corps of Engineers and the EPA, with advice from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The 1989 federal manual compiled the criteria previously used by these agencies with input from the Soil Conservation Service. It did not change any criteria for wetland delineation. The argument that the 1989 manual resulted in increased wetland acreage is based on misunderstanding.

The regulations require a permit prior to any activity resulting in wetland filling; but application does not necessarily mean denial. These guidelines do not recreate wetlands from drained land. They clearly state that a drained area is defined as non-wetland even if the remaining criteria are met. The 1989 guidelines and their enforcement may benefit from streamlining, but they reflect our understanding of the nature and importance of wetlands.

An End To Wetlands Protection?

The "no net loss of wetlands" promise of candidate Bush has proven empty. Vice-President Quayle's Council on Competitiveness assaulted the guidelines. Following considerable input from a coalition of real estate developers, mining corporations, oil companies and the agri-business industry, but little input from the agencies involved in wetland study, the Council proposed major modifications to the 1989 guidelines. Several bills before Congress also restrict wetland protection and legislate these modifications. The changes weaken two of the three criteria (soil type, soil saturation, and wetland vegetation), by which wetlands are identified. These changes in the definitions of saturation period and wetland plants result in many areas now defined as wetlands no longer meeting the criteria. Many wetlands would not require permission to drain or fill. This may eliminate entire wetland systems, and significantly reduce the boundaries of remaining wetlands.

The EPA suggests that 20 percent to 40 percent of the remaining wetlands in the lower 48 states could be deregulated, while an Ecological Society of America committee estimated the figure is closer to 50 percent. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concluded that 66 percent of Missouri's bottomland forest and marshes could lose protection. Gerald Clawson, manager of Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, said that up to 90 percent of the refuge wetlands would not meet the new criteria. Areas as wet as Mingo might no longer be protected. Large and important areas in Missouri and the nation would cease to be protected, and would be immediately available for drainage and development without any public input.

Opposition to the Proposed Changes

The proposed changes remove the right of the public to evaluate the actions of those who would destroy the water quality, wildlife, soil quality, and wetland resources that afford priceless benefits to the nation. As a result, many organizations, including the Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited, the Ecological Society of America, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Sierra Club are opposed to this wetland redesignation. Individuals with an interest in protecting the hunting, recreation, erosion control, biodiversity, and groundwater values of wetlands should contact the EPA directly by the Dec. 15 deadline. They should urge a full scientific study of the proposed guidelines be undertaken and recommend that no criteria be implemented that result in further loss of wetlands. Federal representatives should be urged to defeat measures before congress that would reduce wetland protection, and the President should be urged to adopt a more reasonable attitude to wetlands protection.

To date the state of Missouri has lost 87 percent of its wetlands; with the proposed changes, possibly fewer than half of the current wetlands would remain protected.

In the event that federal guidelines are weakened as the current proposal requires, the state of Missouri will have to take some steps unilaterally to preserve its wetlands. Wetlands play too many important roles in Missouri and the lives of Missourians to permit such a disastrous outcome.

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