Opinion ID: 2302071
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Regulation of Wetlands In General

Text: The Maryland Code does not define the broad term wetlands, and definitions of it seem to vary. The State Department of the Environment (DOE) has noted, with seeming approval, the definitional characteristics articulated by Ralph W. Tiner and David G. Burke, Wetlands of Maryland (1995)areas that hold water for significant periods during the year characterized by anaerobic conditions favoring the growth of specific plant species and the formation of specific soil types. See An Overview of Wetlands and Water Resources of Maryland, prepared by DOE for the Maryland Wetland Conservation Group (Jan.2000). Wetlands may be permanently flooded by shallow water, permanently saturated by groundwater, or periodically inundated or saturated for varying periods. Id. Being a coastal State blessed with a large portion of one of the world's great estuariesthe Chesapeake Bayas well as several coastal bays and numerous tributaries, Maryland has an abundance of wetlands. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory, 9.5% of the State's land surfacesome 600,000 acresis covered by vegetated wetlands. See id. All are subject to some form of State regulation. For purposes of regulation, the Code defines three types of wetlandsState, private, and non-tidal. Md.Code, § 16-101(o) of the Environment Article (ENV) defines State wetlands as any land under the navigable waters of the State below the mean tide, affected by the regular rise and fall of the tide except wetlands of that category that have been transferred by the State by valid grant, lease, patent, or grant confirmed by Art. 5 of the Md. Declaration of Rights. ENV § 16-101(k) defines private wetlands as any land not considered `State wetland' bordering on or lying beneath tidal waters, which is subject to regular or periodic tidal action and supports aquatic growth, including wetlands transferred by the State by valid grant, lease, patent, or grant confirmed by Article 5 of the Declaration of Rights. [1] State and private wetlands, under those definitions, are tidal. Non-tidal wetland is defined in ENV § 5-901(i), the important aspect of which, for our purposes, is that is does not include tidal wetlands regulated under Title 16 of the Article. Comprehensive regulation of the State's wetlands, both State-owned and in private hands, came about with the enactment of the Wetlands Act of 1970, which this Court described in Bd. of Pub. Works v. Larmar Corp., 262 Md. 24, 277 A.2d 427 (1971) and Hirsch v. Md. Dep't of Nat. Resources, 288 Md. 95, 416 A.2d 10 (1980). The regulation was prompted by legislative concern over the loss or despoliation of the wetlands, which the General Assembly considered an important natural resource, as the result of unregulated dredging, dumping, filling, and like activities. That concern and the statement of public policy regarding the need to preserve the wetlands and prevent further loss or despoliation was expressed in the Code and now appears in ENV § 16-102. [2] As we pointed out in Hirsch, 288 Md. at 100-01, 416 A.2d at 12-13, the Act established a bipartite regulatory scheme, one part for State-owned wetlands and one for private wetlands. Activities on State wetlands always were subject to being regulated, precisely because the State owned them. What the 1970 Act did was to put in place a scheme for actually regulating the filling and dredging of State wetlands and, for the first time, to regulate activity on private wetlands. The effect of the Act was to preclude riparian owners from freely exercising rights on adjacent wetlands that, under common law or pre-existing statutory law, they previously could exercise. In Larmar, the Court observed that, under an 1862 statute, a riparian owner had the right to make artificial landfill in navigable waters in front of his shore, limited only to the extent that he could not obstruct navigation and that the 1970 Act unqualifiedly repealed that right. Larmar, supra, 262 Md. at 44, 277 A.2d at 436. The nature and scope of the regulatory scheme differ based on the type of wetland involved. Certain activities on non-tidal or privately owned wetlands require a permit from DOE. See ENV §§ 5-905, 5-906, and 16-307. Activities on State wetlands that fall within the definition of dredging or filling (ENV § 16-101(e) and (f)) require a license from the Board of Public Works. ENV § 16-202. We are dealing here with the latter, so, except for purposes of comparison, when relevant, our focus will be on the statutes and regulations governing the licensing procedure relating to those kinds of activity on State wetlands.