Ch. 6— Impacts and Mitigation • 135 



the areas are vegetated and unvegetated wetlands 

 of significant environmental value, EPA has ex- 

 pressed some concern about whether such a pre- 

 designation is legal. 



State and local concerns about Federal involve- 

 ment in the plan also have been expressed in an- 

 other manner. The plan is viewed as an attempt 

 to create a regional plan for shoreline management 

 that will provide consistency and predictability for 

 both development and conservation interests. 

 Through the planning process, least damaging al- 

 ternatives and compromise solutions were inves- 

 tigated and pursued. 



Greater legal commitment of different Federal 

 agencies to the results of any planning efforts of this 

 sort are very much needed. If the Federal agen- 

 cies cannot commit to the final components of the 

 plan, then case-by-case permit evaluation will re- 

 place long-term plaiming. Not only will predictabili- 



ty and shortened permit processes be precluded, 

 but other local jurisdictions will be discouraged 

 from pursuing comprehensive shoreline planning, 

 an outcome perceived to thwart the goals of 

 OCZM. 



In spite of the concerns described above, the plan 

 is considered by many to have been a successful 

 exercise. Representatives from most of the jurisdic- 

 tions involved felt it was a good idea and have com- 

 mitted time and effort for almost 6 years. The port 

 often has been able to maintain momentum when 

 other agencies lost enthusiasm or became mired in 

 the process. Furthermore, many areas of "predict- 

 ability" have been identified. Development inter- 

 ests can learn which are controversial locations and 

 which are acceptable. At least some regulatory 

 agency personnel already are using the plan to assist 

 them in making decisions, even if they have not 

 firmly acknowledged its authority (45). 



CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES 



1. Allen, K. R. and Hardy, J. W., "Impacts of Navi- 

 gational Dredging on Fish and Wildlife: A Litera- 

 ture Review," U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bio- 

 logical Services Prog., FWS/OBS-80/07, 1980. 



2. Banta.J. and Nauman, J., "Mitigation in Dredge 

 and Fill Permits," Coastal Zone 78, vol. II, Sym- 

 posium on Technical, Environmental, Socioeco- 

 nomic and Regulatory Aspects of Coastal Zone 

 Management, San Francisco, American Society of 

 Civil Engineers, New York, N.Y., 1978, pp. 1316- 

 1332. 



3. Barclay, J. S., "The Effects of Channelization on 

 Riparian Vegetation and Wildlife in South Central 

 Oklahoma," Strategies for Protection and Manage- 

 ment of Floodplain Wetlands and Other Riparian 

 Ecosystems, proceedings of the symposium, Dec. 

 11-13, 1978, Callaway Gardens, Ga., U.S. Forest 

 Service, GTR-WO-12, 1978. 



4. Benforado, J., "Ecological Considerations in Wet- 

 land Treatment of Wastewater, ' ' Selected Proceed- 

 ings of the Midwest Conference on Wedand Values 

 and Management, B. Richardson (ed.), St. Paul, 

 Minn., 1981, pp. 307-323. 



5. Blumm, M. C, "The Clean Water Act's Section 

 404 Permit Program Enters its Adolescence: An In- 

 stitutional and Progrjmimatic Perspective," Ecology 

 Law Quarterly, vol. 8, 1980, pp. 409-464. 



6. Boss, T. E., personal communication, 1982. 



7. Cairns, J., Jr., Bunson, M. M., Johnson, R. L., 

 Parker, W. B., Turner, R. E., and Winger, P. V., 

 "Impacts Associated with Southeastern Bottomland 

 Hardwood Forest Ecosystems," Wetlands of Bot- 

 tomland Hardwood Forests, JR. Clark and J. Ben- 

 forado (eds.), Proceedings for Workshop on Bot- 

 tomland Hardwood Forest Wetlands of the South- 

 eastern United States, June 1-5, 1980 (Lake Lanier, 

 Ga.: Elsevier Scientific Publishing Co., 1981.) 



8. Canter, L. W., Klehr, E. H., Laguros, J. W., 

 Streebin, L. E., Miller, G. D., and Cornell, D. R., 

 "An Assessment of Problems Associated with Eval- 

 uating the Physical, Chemical and Biological Im- 

 pacts of Discharging Fill Material," Technical 

 Report No. D-77-29, U.S. Army Corps of Engi- 

 neers, Washington, D.C., 1977. 



9. 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. 80-81. 



10. 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, p. 1-51. 



