This combination of conditions has led to trial and error regulatory demands becoming part of 

 oil and gas operation permits on private as well as public lands. A noted demand was the 

 requirement for gaps in the spoil banks along canals excavated for access to drilling sites in order 

 to provide ingress and egress of marine organisms. This disastrous requirement led to accelerated 

 saltwater intrusion into many marsh areas and also destroyed some established marsh management 

 projects for waterfowl and fur-bearing-animal food production. This practice shocked landowners 

 and managers into reality. For many, it was the first time they recognized their rights as 

 landowners had been impacted by State and Federal regulations. 



The practice of gaps in spoil banks has been addressed and is now a requirement only on rare 

 occasions, except for back of a plug at the mouth of a canal. Other undesirable requirements 

 are being recommended as conditions for permits to be issued. Some of these requirements include 

 spraying spoil dredged from access canals into the marsh, and trying to backfill unused canals with 

 the spoil excavated during original construction. 



In recent Marsh Management Plan permits, requirements for extensive monitoring have been 

 included. Environmental conditions for the proper management of an area are being expanded 

 to include many information-gathering projects that are of little or no value to the landowner in 

 his effort to restore the marsh or reduce land loss. Fisheries production is one of the many 

 functions of a wetlands area. This production has been relegated to a position of little value to 

 landowners because of their limited authority to harvest the resource produced upon their lands. 

 In some cases, the high yields of fisheries on public properties has swayed the management 

 programs to provide recreational opportunity at the expense of target species of the management 

 program. In the case of private landowners, this has led to vandalism of structures and levees in 

 order to obtain these resources in the most expedient manner. 



One of the high priority projects of the newly formed North American Waterfowl Management 

 Plan is to restore wintering waterfowl habitat of the Mississippi Delta and Gulf Coast Marshes. 

 This plan is an attempt to return the continental population of waterfowl to a level that will 

 support a fall flight in excess of the 100 million birds experienced during the 1970's. Habitat 

 restoration and management will be a cornerstone of this program and will require coordination 

 of activity on the wintering grounds along the gulf coast. In some prime waterfowl marshes, in my 

 opinion, fisheries resources may have to be relegated to a position of less importance than 

 waterfowl. 



Another area of great concern to managers and landowners is the extensive time lag between 

 application for a marsh management permit and permit issuance. In almost no case is the final 

 permit issued in less than 1 year and then only after substantial changes in the content and goals 

 of the original plan. Plans being prepared for landowners by the Soil Conservation Service are 

 being subjected to extensive revision in order to reflect goals beyond the needs of the landowner 

 to manage his wetlands. In some cases, these provisions result in landowners' reluctance to accept 

 Coastal Use Permits, and the ecosystem continues to suffer adverse impacts that could be corrected 

 by structural measures. 



Most small landowners can be encouraged to do some management work on their properties. 

 However, if permission to do the work is delayed for an extensive time period, they lose interest 

 in the project, or funds to carry out the work are no longer available. A policy position developed 

 among regulatory and commenting environmental agencies will not recommend manipulable 

 structures as mitigation on wetlands without an approved marsh management plan. Additional 

 wetlands will be lost without a change in this position or an improvement in the program to make 

 it reasonable to obtain a permit for marsh management. 



110 



