For decades, our wetlands were thought of as worthless swamps and
wastelands that must be drained and reclaimed in the name of economic
progress. In the early 1900s, a network of canals, ditches, and levees
were built in an effort to drain the wetlands that formed the headwaters
of the St. Johns River. More than 70 percent of the marsh was converted
into agricultural lands and urban development. Since Florida's
inception as a state, we have drained and filled approximately half of
our wetlands.
Vanishing Wetlands
Nearly a century later, we now recognize the value and importance
of wetlands to water quality, fish and wildlife, and to us
as humans. In 1988, President George H. W. Bush announced a
pledge of "no net loss of
wetlands", and President Bill Clinton and President George
W. Bush have followed suit and echoed these same words. Unfortunately,
we are still allowing our wetlands to be decimated at an alarming
rate by new strip malls, parking lots, and housing developments.
Recently, Reporter Craig Pittman and the St. Petersburg Times
released a special investigative report, Vanishing
Wetlands,
that found that we lost approximately 84,000 acres of wetlands
in Florida between 1990 and 2005.
Importance of Wetlands
- Filter water to remove nutrients, contaminants and sediment
- Retain storm water to help prevent flooding
- Provide habitat for an array of plants, fish, and wildlife
- Help to recharge our ground water
- Support valuable
commercial and sport fisheries
- Provide recreational opportunities
such as hunting, fishing, birdwatching, and photography
Wetland Mitigation
As a means to justify the destruction of
wetlands, mitigation is usually required to offset the loss.
According to the FL Department of Environmental Protection,
mitigation is a wetland enhancement, creation, restoration,
or preservation project "that
serves to offset unavoidable wetland impacts" and serves
to "compensate for the functional loss" of
the ecological benefits provided by the wetlands being destroyed.
Unfortunately, the impacts are usually not "unavoidable",
and the mitigation rarely "compensates" for the ecological
functionality of the impacted wetlands. Mitigation projects
frequently don't work as well as anticipated and rarely is
there a true "no net loss" of wetlands. In
addition, mitigation projects are often allowed that take place
miles from the impacted wetlands, and sometimes are even allowed
outside of the impacted watershed. The proposed Freedom Commerce
Centre development project is a good example of the shortcomings
of mitigation. The developer proposed to destroy over 130 acres
of wetlands that comprised the headwaters of Julington Creek
and Pottsburg Creek. The St. Johns River Water Management District
agreed to allow the developer to "compensate" for
this loss by offering mitigation lands that were located in
southern St. Johns County, well outside of the watershed of
these two creeks. To make matters worse, one of the parcels
of land that was offered as mitigation was formerly a potato
farm.
Links:
Vanishing Wetlands - St. Petersburg Times Special Report
This highly recommended special report provides insight into the
dramatic loss of wetlands in the state of Florida.
University of Florida IFAS Extension - Florida Wetlands
Defines wetlands, describes wetland types, vegetation, wildlife, and
soils.
St. Johns River Water Management District - Wetland Fact sheet
Department of Environmental Protection - A Guide to Living with Florida's Wetlands
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service - National Wetland Inventory
St. Johns River Water Management District - Water Resources Permitting
Program
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Jacksonville District
Information about permitting, mitigation, and public notices
FL Department of Environmental Protection
Wetland Resource Permitting Program - overview, authorizing statutes,
process
"No Net-Loss" - Instrument Choice in Wetlands Protection
Interesting research paper on mitigation by James Salzman, Duke
Professor of Law and Environmental Policy, and J.B. Ruhl, FSU Professor
of Law.
Get Your Permits Here
Parties interested in impacting or destroying wetlands must receive
both a state and federal permit to do so. Environmental Resource
Permits (ERP) are issued by the state water management districts.
Wetlands located within the watershed of the St. Johns River,
are regulated by the St. Johns River Water Management District
(SJRWMD). Although the SJRWMD states that the environmental resource
permitting program “is one tool to make sure that new construction
does not …harm wetlands”, the agency has permitted the destruction
of nearly 10,000 acres of wetlands since 2000. In 2005-2006,
SJRWMD issued permits for 2,282 acres of wetland destruction
and required only 430 acres of wetlands to be created or restored.
That's a state-permitted loss of 1,852 acres in just one year
in one region of the state.
Federal permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers and
are subject to the Clean Water Act. A permit applicant is required
to demonstrate to the Corps of Engineers that impacts to the
aquatic environment and wetlands have been avoided, minimized
and compensated. Impacts must first be avoided as much as possible
by considering alternative sites and/or alternative design configurations.
Once avoidance has been maximized, then the applicant must minimize
adverse wetland impacts and compensate for those impacts through
mitigation. Although the Clean Water Act requires wetlands to
be protected and a “no net loss” policy has been established,
the Corps has permitted the destruction of over 84,000 acres
of wetlands in Florida since 1988. Between 1999 and 2003, the
Corps approved more than 12,000 wetland permits and only denied
one. In 2003 alone, the Corps approved more than 3,400 permits
in Florida and denied none. Of the 3,282 acres of wetlands proposed
for destruction in 2003, the corps said yes to all but 185. |
