142 • Wetlands: Their Use and Regulation 



wetlands that have been created or restored as a 

 result of the program. In practice, it is very dif- 

 ficult to present an accurate picture of the effects 

 of the program. Very litde quantitative informa- 

 tion has been compiled detailing what the program 

 has accomplished. 



Although many sources were consulted, the fol- 

 lowing are the only available sources of hard data 

 on the effects of the program nationwide: 



• The Corps' Regulatory Functions Branch 

 summaries, covering basic information such 

 as number of permit applications, denials, and 

 withdrawals. 



• The Corps' Institute for Water Resources 

 (IWR) report. Impact Analysis of the Corps 

 Regulatory Program. The major source of 

 data for the IWR report was a "regulatory im- 

 pact assessment" (RIA) questionnaire, sent to 

 all Corps districts by the Regulatory Functions 

 Branch in 1981 . This report only appeared in 

 draft form and has not been released official- 



ly (1)- 



• OTA survey of Corps districts. OTA sent all 

 Corps offices a questionnaire designed to sup- 

 plement information available from other 

 sources. Of 38 offices, 37, including all 36 

 Corps districts, responded. (The Honolulu of- 

 fice did not respond to the survey.) 



These sources were supplemented by other ma- 

 terials, such as an OTA survey of the 50 States, 

 case studies of 21 States conducted by contractors 

 for OTA, data on NMFS Southeast region permit 

 recommendations, and interviews conducted by 

 OTA staff. 



While adequate data are available on such basic 

 indices as the number of permit applications and 

 issuances, information is far more sketchy concern- 

 ing permit modifications, mitigation, and other 

 things necessary to assess the impact of the program 

 on wedands. Few districts compile the permit infor- 

 mation necessary for an evaluation of the program. 

 Usually, Corps personnel have been forced to make 

 unverifiable estimates when asked to provide quan- 

 titative data on the program. Composites of such 

 approximations probably convey an accurate over- 

 all picture but make the accuracy of resulting sta- 

 tistics open to question. In the absence of firm data. 



estimates from different sources must be weighed 

 against one another. 



Interpretation of data from the above materials 

 is complicated further by several factors. First, 

 Corps districts have great independence and flex- 

 ibility in how they interpret the requirements of the 

 404 program and often differ considerably in the 

 types of wetlands and development activities en- 

 compassed within their boundaries. Many of the 

 conclusions of most studies of 404-program effects 

 are based on information from a limited sample of 

 districts. 



Second, it is extremely difficult to separate the 

 effects of the 404 program from the effects of other 

 influences on the use of wetlands. It is likely that 

 general economic conditions, such as interest rates, 

 and conditions specific to particular development 

 activities or areas have much greater effects upon 

 wedand development than do governmental regula- 

 tions. 



Third, while reduction of wetland loss rates can- 

 not be exclusively attributed to the 404 program, 

 it is clear that in the great majority of States, the 

 program plays a crucial role in regulating the use 

 of many wetlands. When States were asked by 

 OTA to evaluate the relative importance of the 404 

 program in comparison with State programs, 10 

 States asserted that the 404 program is redundant 

 and relatively unimportant in management of both 

 coastal and inland wedand areas and that their State 

 programs play the dominant role. However, separa- 

 tion of the effects of the 404 program from those 

 of State programs is possible only where State pro- 

 grams do not exist or do not cover activities or areas 

 dealt with by the 404 program. 



Program Effects Not Reflected 

 in Permit Data 



The 404 program has been successful in reduc- 

 ing damage to wetlands through actions not re- 

 flected in permit data and which are difficult to 

 quantify. The greater the number of projects sub- 

 mitted to the 404 process and the more environmen- 

 tally damaging those projects are, the more per- 

 mit modifications and denials are likely to be re- 

 quired by the Corps. Measures taken by the Corps 



