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wetlands stakeholders. It contains a balanced, common sense, workable set of 

 administrative initiatives and legislative recommendations that will make Federal wedands 

 policy fairer, better coordinated, and more effective in protecting wetlands. 



The Working Group established five principles that serve as the framework for the 

 Administration's comprehensive wedands policy. First, the Administration supports the 

 interim goal of no overall net loss of the Nation's remaining wedands, and the long-term 

 goal of increasing the quality and quantity of the Nation's wetlands. Second, the 

 Administration encourages non-regulatory approaches, such as watershed-based planning, 

 wedands restoration, and public/private cooperation. Third, expanding Federal 

 partnerships with State, Tribal, and local governments is essential to protecting and 

 restoring wedands in an watershed, ecosystem based context. Founh, wetlands regulatory 

 programs must be efficient, fair, flexible, and predictable and avoid duplication among 

 regulatory agencies, while providing effective resource protection. And finally, wedands 

 policy must be based on the best scientific information available. 



In implementing its plan, the Administration believes that the Federal government should 

 lead by example as well as by directive. We are revising the existing Executive Order on 

 wedands to establish the no- overall-net-loss and net-increase goals. 



Administration policy also places great emphasis on voluntary, non-regulatory wedands 

 restoration as an essential vehicle to achieve these goals. USDA's Wedands Reserve 

 Program CWRP) and the Emergency Wetlands Reserve Program (EWRP) are crucial parts 

 of the Administration's wedands restoration plans, as is reflected in the budget recendy 

 submitted to Congress. 



The EWRP is being used in the Midwest to help farmers who wish to restore wetlands on 

 property affected by the recent flooding. The initial sign-up for EWRP ended December 



