Wetlands May Lose Protection Under New Federal Rules New Federal rules have been proposed by the Bush administration that will change the definition of wetlands and that critics say may remove needed protection for millions of acres of marshes and swamps. Still, numerous efforts are under way in Texas to preserve and protect wetland areas. The changes would define whether areas were wetlands or not through the use of a scale based on soil types, vegetation, and whether areas are flooded or inundated for 15 consecutive days a year. Those rule changes could open as many as 10 million acres national for development.
Current regulations guard only against filling wetland areas.
Despite the rule changes. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working with conservation groups to create wetlands in Barker Reservoir near Houston. Legislation in the U.S. House of representatives has been passed to purchase 5,000 acres of wetlands including a 600- acre lake, in Calhoun County on the Texas Gulf Coast. In the Seabrook area near Galveston Bay, a 5- acre marsh was created from clay materials that were displaced after flood control structures were improved.