CRS-75 



of navigation. However, this approach provided no protection for many wetland 

 areas, including most fresh and saltwater wetlands, and most nonprimary tribu- 

 taries of navigable waters. 



While not altering the geographic boundaries of the Corps' jurisdiction, 

 several legislative enactments and judicial decisions led to expansion of the 

 Corps' permitting review to factors other then navigability. Among these was 

 an amendment to the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act in 1958. _78/ The 1958 

 amendments strengthened prior law by elevating fish and wildlife values to 

 equal consideration with other objectives, such as navigational and flood con- 

 trol improvements, whenever waterways are impounded, diverted, or modified. 

 The Act required that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and appropriate State 

 wildlife agencies be consulted prior to such construction or modification. 

 Before 1967, when the Corps (the Department of the Army) signed a Memorandum 

 of Understanding with the Department of the Interior, the sole criterion for 

 reviewing permit applications was protecting navigability of waters actually 

 used for navigation. Under terms of the 1967 agreement, the Corps gave equal 

 consideration to environmental effects, along with the traditional interest in 

 navigability, and created a process for resolving disputes by negotiation 

 between higher levels of the Department of the Army and the Department of the 

 Interior. 79 / In 1968, the Corps published regulations in response to these 

 1958 amendments stating that its review would include evaluation of all 



78/ Public Law 85-624, 16 U.S.C. sec. 661-668 (1970). 



79 / Holmes, Beatrice H. Federal Participation in Land Use Decision 

 Making at the Water's Edge — Floodplains and Wetlands. Natural Resources 

 Lawyer, v. 13, no. 2, 1980. p. 386. 



