Ch. 9— Capabilities of the States in Managing the Use of Wetlands • 195 



insufficient technical expertise to determine wetland 

 boundaries and values and insufficient funds to hire 

 additional staff. Many States expressed the hope 

 that the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) inventory 

 effort will be accelerated and that increased aid be 

 given to States for their own inventories. 



Agency Fragmentation 



In many States, more than one agency handles 

 programs that protect wetlands. In some States, 

 there may be four or more agencies involved. In- 

 consistency in policy often results. Another sort of 

 fragmentation takes place within single agencies: 

 agencies and their personnel with wetland-protec- 

 tion responsibilities often have other duties as well. 

 Divided responsibilities between State and local 

 governments also can cause problems for wetland 

 protection. For example, the North Dakota Drain- 

 age Law is implemented at the State and local level. 

 Complaints about illegal drains are reported to the 

 State, but the local water board is responsible for 

 forcing closure. The J. Clark Salyer National Wild- 

 life Refuge requested closure of over 200 illegal 

 private drains in 1978. The State Water Commis- 

 sion informed the local boards and sent 200 viola- 

 tion letters. None of these drains had been closed 

 as of August 1982 (3). 



State Interest in Assuming 

 404 Permitting 



Somewhat less than a third of the 48 States re- 

 sponding to OTA's survey are interested in the 

 possibility of assuming responsibility for a portion 

 of the 404 program. Through such assumption, 

 some States hope to get a stronger regulatory pro- 

 gram; some a weaker program. However, almost 

 none of these States is willing to assume the pro- 

 gram without major changes in one or more of the 

 following: current EPA regulations governing as- 

 sumption, the scope of areas that States would be 

 allowed to administer, and, most importantly, fi- 

 nancial assistance. In fact, only four States have 

 accepted responsibility for 404 permitting on an ex- 

 perimental basis. If the Federal Government re- 

 duced its involvement in wetland protection, wet- 

 lands would receive mixed levels of protection from 

 the States, owing to States' budgetary and political 

 constraints. In response to cutbacks in the 404 pro- 

 gram, few States would be willing at this time to 

 increase the current level of wetland protection 

 without additional resources from the Federal 

 Government; even with resources some States 

 would be reluctant. 



CHAPTER 9 REFERENCES 



1. Center for Governmental Responsibility, "Wet- 

 lands Loss in South Florida and the Implementa- 

 tion of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, ' ' Uni- 

 versity of Florida College of Law, contract study for 

 OTA, September 1982, pp. 58-61. 



2. Center for Wetland Resources, "Wetland Trends 

 and Factors Influencing Wetland Use in the Area 

 Influenced by the Lower Mississippi River: A Case 

 Study," Louisiana State University, contract study 

 for OTA, September 1982, pp. II20-II23. 



3. Department of Agricultural Economics, "Wetlands 

 in the Prairie-Pothole Region of Minnesota, North 

 Dakota, and South Dakota — Trends and Issues," 

 North Dakota State University, contract study for 

 OTA, August 1982, p. 73. 



4. ESA/Madrone, "Wetlands Policy Assessment: 

 California Case Study," contract study for OTA, 

 September 1982, pp. 19-63. 



5. ESA/Madrone, "Wetlands Use and Regulation: 

 Alaska Case Study," contract study for OTA, Janu- 

 ary 1983, p. vi. 



6. Great Plains Office of Policy Studies, "Wetlands 

 Trends and Protection Programs in Nebraska," 

 University of Nebraska, contract study for OTA, 

 September 1982, p. 49, 



7. JACA Corp., "A Case Study of New Jersey Wet- 

 lands Trends and Factors Influencing Wetlands 

 Use," contract study for OTA, September 1982, 

 pp. 3-23, 34. 



8. Kusler,Jon, "Strengthening State Wedand Regula- 

 tions," Fish and Wildlife Service, 1978, pp. 25-28. 



9. Rosenbaum, Nelson, "Enforcing Wedands Regula- 

 tions," in Wetland Functions and Values: The State 

 of Our Understanding, American Water Resources 

 Association, 1979, pp. 43-49. 



10. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 



