Ron Turco, a soil microbiologist and senior researcher of the project had this to say, "Golf courses are a perfect place for constructed wetlands used as part of a water management system, because wetlands can filter chemicals out of surface water, and they can also store excess water during storms," ("Cleaning Water and Controlling Flooding with Wetlands" 53) So there may be some hope on the back nine for some wetlands after all. But all kidding aside, this is the type of project, smaller and more immediate, that needs to be funded along with the philosophy of co-habitation of wetlands and human beings kept in mind. This kind of thinking helps to counter the "manifest destiny" concept that the American culture has in regarding land and their possession of it. It is this arrogance than American's can conquer and subdue any environment that has put many flood victims into their situations.
There are a number of difficulties that wetlands face, most certainly on more local levels as well. Some of the most difficult and stringent protections for people and their own habitats. The legislation refereed to as PPRA, or the Private Property Rights Act, has hampered many local environmental groups from being able to work on the state level. This act requires that all alternative means are exhausted before the private property of any individual is seized by the state, and for wetlands the figures are dire:
The number of wetland acres in states subject to any kind of PPRA is approximately 60 million acres. These represent 21% of the total wetland acres in the United States (52% excluding Alaska). The number of acres subject to generally applicable PPRAs is approximately 40 million acres. These represent approximately 14% of wetlands in the United States (34% excluding Alaska). (Hecht)
The PPRA's were enacted in order to correct a trend that local state agencies were using to give land to large corporations for use. The great number of wetlands that are in Alaska tend to skew the percentage figures presented, which is why the author shows both data with and without.
Even other legislation enacted for environmental protection often leads to capricious and disastrous results for wetlands in general as in this scenario:
The court ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acted reasonably in granting a dredge and fill permit to the developer, pointing out that any of the alternatives to development would probably cause greater environmental harm. Conditions for issuing such permits are set out in section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver decided the case, Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. Flowers, in March. (Lawlor 38)
Later in the same article and interesting side note concerning some other less fortunate species was also included, "The project's predicted adverse impact on three nesting pairs of bald eagles was largely unavoidable and would be the result of increased human activity in the area, not the issuance of the section 404 permit, the court said." (Lawlor 38)
Some local communities have also created wetlands bylaws which they enforce at the neighborhood level. So far evidence suggests...
LA Wetlands Wetlands of Louisiana are the water-saturated swamp and coastal regions of southern Louisiana. The Environmental Protection Agency says that wetlands are "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (e.g. swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, and estuaries) ("Environmental Protection Agency")." These areas
From the point-of-view of the variation and flexibility of the species such cultivated woody crops rank as no more than cornfields. While the tree farms are conveniently be stretched on the private lands, national forests those are considered priceless reservoirs of most of the biological diversity of the nation cannot expand so easily. The commercial logging is considered as the greatest danger for survival of the national forest system.
The establishment of the MWD right after the aqueduct was approved is another milestone, because the MWD administers the water even today, and regulates how much water goes to each of its member water districts. The final milestone in the Colorado River Aqueduct is the Seven States Water Management Agreement, which was signed in April 2007. The agreement spells out how the river's water will be managed in the future,
Strategy plan I am heading into negotiations with the Sanibel Island environmentalists from a strong position, as I have very little to lose. I am already projecting a profit, even with some of the environmental remediation work factored into my projections, and the profit will grow substantially after the first year. If I get no concessions out of these negotiations, the hotel will still be profitable; if I get any concessions,
Folkman, MI. California Engineer Sees Fears About New Orleans Levee system Come True, 2005 The author writes about the thoughts and experiences of Robert Bea, civil engineer at the University of California in Berkeley on the recent killer hurricane in New Orleans. Bea studied the city's levee system since 1954 when began working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, He discovered that it was not high enough and that parts
Aquaculture in the Midwest Except for bucolic scenes of fishing on rivers meandering across the Midwest and Great Plains, most people don't equate fish with that region, at least not huge catches of commercial fish. However, as long ago as 1996, "traders in the 'futures pit' of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange were shouting and signaling bids and offers for spring wheat, white wheat, white shrimp and black tiger shrimp" (Weber 1996).
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