We all understand the value of wetlands in environmental protection. We know that wetlands are essential as habitat for a broad array of wildlife and plants. Without wetlands our fisheries production would be lessened. Wetlands also play a role in protecting communities from hurricane and storm damage. The debate over wetlands has revolved around the balance between protecting wetlands and private property rights.
Wetlands have important functions in providing habitat and environmental protection.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Soil Conservation Service all play a role in regulating the use of wetlands under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. It purports to protect wetlands by requiring the permission of the Corps, EPA, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in order to conduct any activity on a wetland which requires the movement of dirt or placement of any type of fill material, including dirt. In 1977 the Federal Water Pollution Control Act was again amended to authorize the Corps to issue general permits, to exempt certain activities from the coverage of the act, to allow for delegation of the program to qualified states, to provide for consultation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to provide for enforcement, and certain other miscellaneous provisions. A reading of section 404 in search of the Congressional mandate to protect and regulate the use of wetlands, will not reveal such language within the text of the statute. They also construed the term to include all freshwater wetlands adjacent to other waters covered by the Clean Water Act, defined as areas periodically inundated and normally characterized by the prevalence of vegetation that requires saturated conditions for such growth and reproduction.