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accorded the same status as that of other agricultural 

 commodities under 7 CFR sections 12.5, 12.33, and any other 

 provisions which contain exemptions for agricultural activities 

 from wetlands restrictions. This includes the Army Corps of 

 Engineers Regulatory Guidance Letter 90-7 which arbitrarily 

 excludes nursery crops and other perennial crops, such as 

 turf grass sod, from exemptions provided to other segments of 

 agriculture as "prior converted cropland." 



Moreover, AAN is particularly disturbed with the definition of 

 the term "agricultural lands" found in the "Interagency 

 Memorandum of Agreement" (MOA) concerning wetlands determinations 

 as published in the January 19, 1994 issue of the Federal 

 Register at page 2920. In this definition, the term 

 "agricultural lands" is arbitrarily limited to "those lands 

 intensively used and managed for the production of food or 

 fiber " 



Since nursery crops are neither food nor fiber, this 

 "agricultural lands" definition effectively excludes nursery 

 farms or production nurseries, thereby creating a wholly 

 inappropriate wedge between the nursery industry and the rest of 

 American agriculture. Inevitably, this artificial division will 

 lead to additional confusion, contradictory policy directives, 

 and sheer frustration on the part of nursery growers seeking to 

 comply with regulations implementing wetland policies. Clean 

 Water Act amendments, the Coastal Zone Management Act, and other 

 non-point source pollution standards. 



The MOA's definition further clouds this issue by stating that 

 the "agricultural lands" definition does not include tree farms. 

 It is understood that "tree farms" nearly always refer to 

 forestry and timber operations, and, in light thereof, AAN has no 

 reservations about such a "tree farm" exclusion. However, in the 

 absence of an explicit inclusion of nursery crops under the term 

 "agricultural lands," there will be some who will erroneously 

 interpret "tree farms" as being production nurseries. This must 

 be avoided. 



In recent meetings with top officials of USDA's Soil and 

 Conservation Service, AAN discussed these concerns and our desire 

 to remove the ambiguity from wetlands conservation regulations, 

 and the MOA which defines agricultural lands as only those 

 intensively used and managed for the production of food and 

 fiber. Nursery crops must be accorded the same status as that of 

 other agricultural commodities because: (1) the farming 

 practices necessary for nursery crop production are just as 

 intensive — if not more so — as they are for annual crops and 

 other agricultural commodities; and, (2) the overwhelming litany 



