source, and under the Conservation Law the Water Resources Commission may take land by eminent 

 domain. 



The Long Island Wetlands Act permits the State government to enter cooperative agreements with the 

 towns and counties on Land Island in support of conservation of tidal marshes. Where wetlands owned 

 by towns or counties have been dedicated to conservation purposes, costs of maintenance and operations 

 are shared by the State on a 50-50 basis with the local government. Cooperative agreements may also 

 provide for development of dedicated wetlands by the State Conservation Department with its own 

 personnel. Fifteen thousand five hundred acres of wetlands are now under cooperative agreements with 

 the townships. Program goals are to extend the agreements to about 3 1 ,000 acres of remaining township 

 lands, which constitute the bulk of significant Long Island wetlands. 



Agency The State Conservation Department is primarily responsible for estuarine conservation 

 programs. Condemnation powers are vested in the Water Resources Conrmission. 



Funding Average annual State expenditures under the Long Island Wetlands Act are projected at 

 about $15,000. 



Court Tests None. 



Coordination of Regulation and Development The Water Resources Commission is responsible for 

 coordination of all activities centered on water. 



North Carolina Regulation The broadest authority vested in any State agency in North Carolina is 

 granted to the Department of Conservation and Development, acting primarily through its Division of 

 Commercial and Sports Fisheries. General jurisdiction is granted to this Department over the 

 conservation of marine and estuarine resources— which include coastal and ocean fish and fisheries, 

 related plant and animal Ufe, and the entire ecology supplying them. In addition to the Army Engineers 

 permits, State legislation was proposed in 1967 in North Carolina which would have required permits for 

 dredging and filling of coastal marshlands. The permit authorization was turned down by the General 

 Assembly, however, and a compromise law was passed which merely requires registration of dredges, 

 draglines, and other heavy equipment used in dredging and filling publicly owned tidelands and 

 marshlands. This law is administered by the Department of Water and Air Resources. A riparian land 

 owner may request an easement to fill submerged land fronting his property. The views of adjoining 

 riparian land owners are soUcited, and the effect of the proposed filling on navigable waters is evaluated. 

 Any material dredged from State owned submerged lands to fill on private property is charged for at the 

 rate of 25^ per cubic yard for the first 1 ,000 cubic yards; 1 5^ per cubic yard for the next 1 ,000; and 10^ 

 per cubic yard for any over 2,000 cubic yards. 



The volume of requests for easements is not large, and more are denied than are granted. An effort is 

 made to hold approvals down to small tracts. This appears consistent with efforts to protect the natural 

 condition of estuarine areas. 



Acquisition Comprehensive land acquisition powers to lease, purchase, and condemn estuarine lands 

 in the best interests of conserving marine and estuarine resources are conferred on the Board of 

 Conservation and Development. (The State Lands Act governs acquisition procedures, which are the 

 responsibility of the Department of Administration with the approval of the Governor and Council of 

 State. Other land acquisition powers that might be used in estuaries include the authority of the Board 

 to acquire land for State forests and parks.) 



Court Tests One test is in progress in cormection with a proposed private waterfront improvement 

 on a creek off the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway near Wilmington. In this case the owner appUed to the 

 Army Engineers for a permit to dig a small navigation channel along the shore in front of his property. 

 The State recommended denial of the permit on the grounds that public marsh would be destroyed; the 

 area affected was relatively very small, but this stand was taken as a matter of principle and the permit 

 was denied. The owner expressed willingness to create a spoil bank on the creek side of the channel, 

 grade it to the proper elevation, and plant local marsh grass on it, to an extent that would provide more 



111-175 



