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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 2003

"Every year, the federal government and Americans across the country preserve, restore and enhance thousands of acres of wetlands through cooperative conservation efforts, partnerships and voluntary programs. Unfortunately, that's not the news that most Americans read about. Instead, the focus has been on the wetlands regulatory program.

Wetlands are essential to a healthy environment. They filter water, provide habitat for wildlife and offer opportunities for recreation. Over the past century, the United States has lost slightly more than half its wetlands, leaving about 105 million acres of intertidal basins, coastal estuaries, saltwater marshes and freshwater ponds, swamps and lakeside areas.

The debate is not whether to protect wetlands, but how. For the last 25 years, government officials and environmental activists have largely relied on the Clean Water Act's regulations to protect wetlands. That focus has given short shrift to the role nonregulatory conservation — the willing partnerships between citizens and all levels of government — can play."

Get the Story:
Gale Norton, Ann Veneman: There's More Than One Way to Protect Wetlands (The New York Times 3/12)
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