101 



wetlands are not only important in terms of wildlife but for many other functional 

 values. 



Present regulations, in some instances, may contravene society's goals to protect and restore 

 wetlands and current wetland regulations need to have more latitude to encourage and support wetland 

 restoration/creation projects by various organizations. Increased regulatory flexibility must include 

 pro-active acquisilion and long-term management if compensatory mitigation and mitigation banking 

 are to protect and restore our Nation's wetland resources. 



An example of an active mitigation banking scheme - North Dakota's no net loss of wetland 

 law - is describee in Appendix B. 



CATEGORIZATION 



Classification and categorization are useful tools in ordering chaos whether the subjects are 

 insects, stamps, job descriptions or wetlands. Wetlands classification is generally understood to 

 represent groupings of wetlands based on their hydrologic, biologic and edaphic characteristics without 

 any attempt to include a value judgment on one group or another. Categorization, however, implies 

 grouping wetlands based on some form of assigned value regime. 



Valuation or determining/assigning values by nature must include by whom, for whom, and for 

 what ourptise. The value of something is determined by society and is not an inherent characteristic, 

 i.e., flood alteration Unction of a specific wetland could have significant value to a downstream 

 community yet lack any value to an upstream community. Value has socio-economic implications that 

 go far beyond an assessment of presence or absence or even quantitative measurements. Valuation is 

 also a function of time in that societv's values change, and therefore the very same wetland could have 

 a very different perceived value in ine same society at a different point in time. 



The Committee recognizes the importance of evaluation of natural resources as an important 

 basis for making decisions concerning land use. Mapping and scientific assessment of soils and forest 

 stands ha.<i long neen recognized as essential to prudent management of agricultural and forest 

 resources. Wetlands resources likewise must have a similar level of assessment and hasty legislation to 

 lump wetlands into categories without a sound science base will put health, safety and welfare at 

 unwarranted risk. 



We regularly put wetlands and other resources in different categories for management and 

 protection without reducing the effectiveness of management programs. EPA makes advance 

 designation of wetlands under the 404 program, the FWS designates wetlands for the RAMSAR list of 

 Wetlands of International Importance and has identified high priority wetlands for each region of the 

 country. Biosphere Reserves and Natural Heritage Sites are other well recognized categories that do 

 not reduce the value of the basic resource. 



The Committee also recognizes that wetlands regulatory agencies are already engaged in 

 wetland valuation as they decide what level of review is necessary when permits are filed. Some 

 permits receive a desk review and others require costly field data and expert consultants. However, in 

 many cases, the basis for this decision is not clear, interprctable or available to the permit applicant in 

 advance. Some agencies make these assessments in advance of the permit process. COE and EPA 

 make advance designations to advise the public that certain wetland complexes will require more 

 rigorous review. New Hampshire and Connecticut have adopted manuals to guide in identifying prime 

 wetland that will require higner levels of review. 



A key element of current categorization proposals must be a means of evaluating wetlands to 

 determine the appropriate catecory for each individual wetland. The Committee is familiar with 

 widely used evaluation meihocTs (WET, HEP, etc.) mo.st of which are technical assessment tools, see 

 Appendix C. We do not believe that any existing evaluation regime is adequate to measure the true 

 value of each function performed by the myriad of types of natural wetlands in the U.S. 

 Conseuuently, any attempt to evaluate and subsequently categorize natural wetlands with existing 

 methodologies for the purposes of determining those with lesser values, would result in irretrievable 

 harm to the Nation's wetland and wildlife resources. Unfortunately, at the present state of the art. 



