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Isolated
Wetlands Need Protection Now
Forward
and quick thinkers could help save some of the thousands
of isolated wetlands in Chicago Wilderness that recently
lost federal protection (See "Supreme
Court Overrules Clean Water Act Protection," CW,
Spring 2001). DuPage County has a unique ordinance already
in place to protect these wetlands. Now, Lake and Kane County
officials are working to strengthen their wetland ordinances.
These officials understand how important wetlands are for
flood and pollution control as well as habitat for wildlife.
A
Supreme Court decision in January allowing an isolated wetland
to be destroyed to create a landfill in Bartlett, Illinois,
opened the door for many more isolated wetlands to be disturbed
or destroyed. Lake County alone could lose protection of
nearly 7,000 acres of wetlands. And while the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies are still
hammering out a workable definition for "isolated wetland,"
an estimated 30 to 60 percent of the nation’s wetlands
have lost protection because of the Supreme Court ruling.
"We've
looked at all the best available information to determine
to what extent isolated wetlands make up the landscape,
and we found that Lake County contains thousands of isolated
wetlands," says Ward Miller, executive director of the Lake
County Stormwater Management Commission. "Lake County may
begin to see more flooding, poorer water quality, and decreased
natural habitat if these are allowed to be filled in or
further disturbed without some kind of mitigation."
Mitigation
is one way to protect wetlands. Under the Clean Water Act,
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the authority to deny
or grant permits to owners of wetlands who wanted to fill
them in. If the permit is granted, the owner has to recreate
(mitigate) wetlands at least as large as those disturbed
or pay for wetlands to be restored elsewhere.
Several
years ago, the Army Corps denied a permit for the Solid
Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) to create
a garbage dump or balefill in Bartlett, where more than
100 great blue herons nest. SWANCC took its fight all the
way to the Supreme Court and won.
"While
the true significance of this ruling may not be known for
some time in the Chicago Wilderness region, we do know that
the destruction of our isolated wetlands will have devastating
effects to our water resources and natural habitats," says
Dennis Dreher of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission
and Chicago Wilderness Smith Family Fellow.
Isolated
wetlands can hold large quantities of water for a long time
during wet seasons, which helps to control flooding. "Studies
have shown isolated wetlands, even those relatively small
in size, provide essential habitat for amphibians, birds,
and migrating waterfowl," says Dreher. "They also are important
in transforming damaging pollutants that run off the landscape,
such as phosphorus and nitrogen, thereby minimizing their
adverse impacts on downstream rivers and lakes." Dreher
says people need to let their local government officials
know how important wetlands are.
"If
these wetlands are destroyed, their habitat, water quality,
and flood protection benefits will be forever lost."
People
in the Chicago Wilderness can protect, and, in fact, already
are protecting some of these wetlands, he says. DuPage County
already has an ordinance that fully regulates wetlands,
including those that are isolated. "We wrote an ordinance
to protect all wetlands of any size," says Bruce Maki, regulatory
services administrator for DuPage County’s stormwater
management ordinance. The Army Corps agreed to allow DuPage
County to assume jurisdiction over all the county’s
wetlands. Since the passage of the ordinance in 1992, anyone
wanting to fill in a wetland of any size in DuPage County
has had to mitigate at least 1 to 1. Part of that strong
ordinance was driven by the massive flood damage the county
has experienced due to rapid growth and development. DuPage
County had already lost 80 percent of its wetlands by the
time the ordinance was written, Maki notes.
Kane
County and Lake County are working to amend their countywide
ordinances to include these isolated wetlands. The Lake
County Stormwater Management Commission has introduced an
ordinance would give the Commission jurisdiction over the
county’s isolated wetlands. "We want to mimic how the
Army Corps is already doing business," says Miller. Under
this proposal, owners of
isolated
wetlands would submit requests for permits locally instead
of federally. If permits are granted, the owners would have
to mitigate. The majority of people who attended the first
of several public hearings in Waukegan supported the amendment
to the ordinance, said Rebecca Grill, chairman of the Highland
Park Environmental Commission.
Illinois
legislators are trying to gain support for legislation to
protect wetlands across the state. Wisconsin legislators
recently voted unanimously to restore protection to isolated
wetlands, although they did not act in time to save 23 acres
of wetlands filled for a new truck stop. The bill, which
was passed after much debate and changes, gives local governments
more authority regarding filling wetlands smaller than one
acre, and it gives the state authority to enter private
property to investigate possible violations. Charlie Luthin,
executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association,
organized a coalition of over 70 groups that supported saving
wetlands in Wisconsin that lost federal protection.
—
Sheryl De Vore
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