From the National Wildlife Federation. Net Gain Goal for Wetlands Actually a Net Loss Policy Julie Sibbing, Wetlands Policy Specialist, National Wildlife Federation In the conservation community's monthly meeting with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water last week, the conservation group representatives present requested an update on the President's wetlands initiative announced last Earth Day. This was the announcement by the President that the administration was going to go beyond the no-net-loss goal for wetlands and pursue a net gain goal. Specifically, the Earth Day announcement included plans to restore one million acres, enhance one million acres and protect one million acres of wetlands over the next five years. The media, conservation and environmental groups, and Congressional staff all took this pledge to mean that the administration was going to attempt to achieve a net gain of one million acres of wetlands (as well as enhancing and protecting another two million acres) over the next five years. At the meeting last week however, we were informed that the one million acres of restored wetlands was simply "a gross number goal" (adding up several federal wetlands programs, including all of the Wetlands Reserve Program, the North American Wetland Conservation Act grants restored acres, and Partners for Fish and Wildlife restorations, etcetera for the next five years) and was not meant to imply that they would counteract losses or achieve a net gain of one million acres. This gross gain would "contribute" towards reaching the goal of getting to a net gain, according to staffers at the Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, including Deputy Assistant Administrator for Water, Greg Peck. The conservation community wasn't alone in its surprise at this differing interpretation. Reportedly Senate Environment and Public Works Committee staffers were just as surprised to find this out during an administration briefing on the issue earlier in the week. It appears now that the one million acre restoration, one million acre enhancement and one million acre protection goals stand alone as the administration's net-gain initiative. Since: 1. Many of the programs that will contribute to this goal were already in existence at fairly significant levels prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's SWANCC decision, which said that the Clean Water Act does not apply to certain "isolated" waters, and the nation was still losing more than 130,000 acres of wetlands a year, and 2. It has been estimated by the EPA that the administration's 2003 policy directive on Clean Water Act jurisdiction, based on the SWANCC decision, has put 20 million acres of wetlands at risk The administration's initiative cannot result in a net gain and will most likely result in further net losses. The lesson this administration doesn't seem to learn on wetlands is that you can't just count the "assets" column, without also counting the "debits" column. Under this policy, our wetlands accounting for the next five years will almost certainly leave us in the red. Last week, President Bush once again repeated his claim that the administration has a plan to restore three million acres over the next five years. This statement is both misleading and inaccurate. It implies a net gain in wetlands of three million acres and, even if taken to mean only a gross gain, does not point out that only one million acres of the plan are for restoration, the rest involve already-existing wetlands to be enhanced or protected. Read the President's Earth Day speech from Maine yourself at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/images/20040422-4_maine1-515 h.html Julie M. Sibbing Wetlands Policy Specialist National Wildlife Federation 1400 16th St. N.W., Suite 501 Washington, DC 20036 (202) 797-6832 fax (202) 797-6646 [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp