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while empowering State and local acrion. The Administration believes that the federal 

 government should lead by example as well as by directive. To this end< the existing 

 Executive Order on wetlands will be revised to establish an interim goal of no overall 

 net loss of wetlands and a long term goal of increasing the quantity and quality of 

 wetlands. The revised Executive Order will also direct federal agencies to take a 

 watershed or ecosystem approach to wetlands protection and restoration in working 

 toward these goals. 



The Administration policy also identifies voluntary, non-regulatory wetlands 

 restoration as an essential vehicle to achieve these goals. The Wetlands Reserve 

 Program (WRP) is a crucial part of the Administration's wetlands restoration plans. 

 The 1990 Farm Bill requires a minimum of one million acres to be enrolled in the WRP 

 by the end of fiscal year 1995. The Reconciliation Act of 1993 amended the WRP 

 acreage provisions to require not less than 330,000 acres be enrolled by the end of 

 1995, reduced the minimum acreage target to 975,000 acres, and extended the 

 enrollment period from 1 995 to 2000. In 1 992, a 50,000-acre pilot of the WRP was 

 very well received, with proposals from 2,300 farmers to restore 250,000 acres. The 

 fiscal year 1994 Agriculture appropriations would provide for 75,000 new acres to be 

 enrolled, and would more than double the number of States eligible for participation 

 in the program. Under the policy, the Administration will use this program in the 

 Midwest in conjunction with emergency assistance programs to restore wetlands and 

 assist farmers affected by the_ recent flooding. The Administration will seek to have 

 this program fully funded and expanded in the fiscal year 1995 Farm Bill. 



