Wetland Program 2 



Program Type 



State 



Name of Program 



Administering Agency 



Implementation Method 



Legal Authority 



Resources (Funds and Staff) 



Lands Covered 



Inventory and Classification 



Activities Regulated 

 Exemptions 



Lands Covered 

 Compliance 



Education 

 Problems 



Success 



EPA Role 

 Needed from EPA 



Taking Issues 

 Mitigation 

 Cumulative Impacts 



Taxation Programs .-_, p.., ,. -'j-jW 



Oregon 



Riparian Lands Tax Incentive Program 

 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 

 Soil and Water Conservation Districts 

 Complete exemption of county property tax 

 25% personal state income tax exemption for 

 money spent on habitat improvement 

 Oregon Laws Chapter 720, 1981 

 No funding (therefore not very successful) 

 Department had to absorb costs 

 Any land on a stream, can include up to 100' 

 landward on each side of a stream. Must be on 

 agricultural, range or forest lands (exclusion 

 for urban areas) 

 No inventory 



Information was supplied to the USFWS for their 

 wetlands classification 



Tax break for protecting riparian areas 

 Urban areas. Program only covers agricultural, 

 range or forest lands 

 Riparian areas 



Implied compliance with penalty provisions of up 

 to five years back taxes. In practice there is 

 little monitoring 



Statewide distribution of program brochure 

 No funds for implementation of protection 

 measures which are required by the Department 

 (for example, fencing to exclude cattle) 

 Just tax break is not enough incentive for 

 program, the tax incentive was so low it was not 

 effective 



Fencing disliked by cattlemen 

 Agricultural community is very suspicious of 

 resource agencies 



Small quantitative success, but did focus public 

 attention on value of riparian areas 

 Provides one of first programs in the nation to 

 address riparian protection 

 None 



Felt EPA could assist but not sure how 

 Funding 



Tax incentive is not taking — is "giving." 

 No plan - only present for coastal estuaries 

 Subjective biological judgment 

 Stream survey methods 



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