A LEGAL REVIEW OF SOME LOUISIANA 

 WETLAND MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES 



James G. Wilkins and Michael Wascom 



LSU Sea Grant Legal Program 



170 Paul Hebert Law Center 



Baton Rouge, LA 70803 



ABSTRACT 



Land owners in Louisiana wishing to undertake marsh management must obtain a coastal use 

 permit (CUP) from the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources' Coastal Management Division 

 (CMD), which administers the Louisiana Coastal Resources Management Act (CRMA), and U.S. 

 Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), §10 and/or §404 permit. In some parishes, local coastal 

 management programs replace CMD for activities in the coastal zone defined as uses of local 

 concern. In some situations a permit may be required from the Department of Natural Resources' 

 Division of State Lands (DSL). At the State level, several agencies have commenting authority 

 on CUP applications through memoranda of understanding (MOU) with CMD. Under the 

 memoranda, CMD is required to condition its permits so that they comply with the regulatory 

 requirements of five of the agencies which may have jurisdiction over the permitted activity. The 

 MOU between CMD and the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (DWF) requires that DWF 

 comments be given full consideration and responded to in the actual permit document. 



The Federal permitting authority for marsh management activities is the Corps, with other 

 Federal agencies having commenting authority. Memoranda of agreement with the Federal 

 agencies give them the authority to request elevation to a higher level of review if their comments 

 are not responded to satisfactorily, resulting in significant time delays in permit decisions. Under 

 Federal consistency requirements, the Corps' permit decisions must be consistent with approved 

 State management programs. 



The Corps operates under the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and the Clean Water Act. These 

 Federal statutes regulate structures blocking navigable waters and dredge and fill in wetlands 

 respectively. The Endangered Species Act could prevent issuance of a Corps permit if the marsh 

 management activities adversely affected a threatened or endangered species. 



State laws affecting marsh management are the CRMA and various State property laws. The 

 CRMA administered by CMD, attempts to balance development with conservation in the coastal 

 zone. The State property laws affecting marsh management are designed to delineate State/private 

 property ownership rights and protect State property ownership. These laws limit certain marsh 

 management activities. The regulatory process for obtaining a marsh management permit may be 

 slow due to interagency checks and balances and widely varying policies and mandates. 



INTRODUCTION 



Within the last 15 years, much attention has been focused on Louisiana's coastal erosion 

 problems. An outgrowth of the concern for Louisiana's coastal resources has been the emergence 



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