|
Even projects deemed a success can
<br /> 12A'. Sunday/January 3/1993/Star Tribune have serious side effects.Wal-Mart,
<br /> A%; the giant Arkansas-based retailer,is
<br /> DRYING In 1989,the U.S.Fish and Wildlife ' building a new store in Fridley,where it filled 2.4 acres of wetlands
<br /> - IdV Service estimated that more than half 1 and agreed to create 5.7 acres of new
<br /> of the wetlands in the Twin Cities wetlands.City officials were elated.
<br /> • &W/ area had been lost to development But Wal-Mart's new wetlands,along
<br /> since the area was settled.Since then with storm water runoff from its
<br /> UP
<br /> hundreds of permits allowing wet- parking lot,will flow into the nearby
<br /> Wetlands
<br /> lands to be filled have been issued. Spring Brook Nature Center.adding to those losses.Beth Kunkel, Wal-
<br /> Mart is the latest of four new major
<br /> Continued from page lA }wetlands consultant who frequently developments that,within the past
<br /> works for Twin Cities developers, year,have surrounded the city-
<br /> „permit was issued so Anoka could S;id,"The'no-net-loss'policy isn't a owned nature center and its wetland
<br /> no-fill policy....We can't reason-
<br /> ;,build a gazebo. In Plymouth,the Sil- ably believe that we can stop filling network.Siah St.Clair,director of
<br /> ver Buckle Saddle Club destroyed wetlands." the nature center,said storm water
<br /> wetlands to create a horse pasture runoff already causes a 3-to 4-foot
<br /> and track. The loss is compounded by other rise in the wetlands'water levels and
<br /> floods nesting areas for waterfowl.
<br /> problems,from developers who try
<br /> Today,wetlands are no longer to cut corners to suburbs and town-
<br /> viewed as swamps and marshes to be IMuch wetland fill,such as the Wal-
<br /> ships now charged with protecting
<br /> I ,.,bulldozed wholesale. Most projects wetlands while seeking development Mart project,is driven by growth and
<br /> 1 "that involve filling wetlands are lim- ventures that could endanger them. economics. In 1987,Mills Fleet Farm
<br /> ited to a few acres or less. Gradually, wanted to build in Oakdale and fill
<br /> wetlands have become recognized as5.3 acres of wetlands. The store
<br /> Another wild card is"mitigation,"a
<br /> ' important ecosystems that contribute federal requirement designed to re- promised to replace the loss through
<br /> to wildlife,water purity and floodwa- place wetlands lost to development mitigation,and the city's community
<br /> ter storage. with new,man-made wetlands. But service director urged federal officials
<br /> such a requirement,which usually to grant the permit because of"the
<br /> Some suburbs have enacted strict applies only to projects that fill more financial benefits that would accrue
<br /> controls on development and corn- than an acre of wetland,doesn't guar- to the city."The permit eventually
<br /> piled their own inventory of wet- antee good results. Duplicating na- was issued,the mitigation was corn-
<br /> lands.And a tough new state law is lure is an imperfect science,followup pleted and the store was built.
<br /> designed to force even the most re- checks are spotty and enforcement
<br /> l
<br /> calcitrant suburb to ensure that wet- Still other projects
<br /> lands taken by development are penalties are rarely meted out.Often, compound dam-
<br /> mitigation has resulted in the scoop- age caused by earlier wetlands loss.
<br /> replaced. ing of a hole out of the ground— In a subdivision in Washington
<br /> wetland in name only. County,the Corps of Engineers is-
<br /> Totaling the loss of wetlands is all sued a permit to fill wetland for two
<br /> �t impossible because federal and Some city officials and developers driveways.The Fish and Wildlife
<br /> ate wetland regulators haven'tcharge that wetlands are overregulat- Service,trying unsuccessfully to stop
<br /> tracked it. Only in the past few ed,and that too many marginal,un- the permit,said the wetland was"es-
<br /> months has the U.S.Army Corps of sightly wetlands are being preserved sential to maintaining the water qual-
<br /> Engineers. which regulates wetlands ity of Clear Lake. .. [which has]
<br /> at the expense of development.They
<br /> under federal jurisdiction,kept accu- argue that some net loss is inevitable already been impacted by residential
<br /> rate records of what's been lost. Indevelopment."
<br /> and generally favor a policy that
<br /> fact,the federal count that puts the would save only larger wetlands. Monitoring compliance
<br /> number of wetland acres in the Twin
<br /> Cities area at 270,000,released in Meanwhile,the debate that pits wet- Wetlands protection in Minnesota
<br /> November, is based on data collected lands against growth rages on,from involves a dizzying maze of overlap-
<br /> in the early 1980s. the White House and Congress to ping jurisdictions and evolving regu-
<br /> Furthermore.wetland draining isn't Anoka County and the Rice Creek lations.Although a host of watershed
<br /> Watershed District. districts and cities regulate the filling
<br /> even regulated by federal law,and
<br /> only since eariv 1992 has it been of wetlands,two agencies—the
<br /> onlycoven ba new Minnesotab law.nWetlands under pressure Corps of Engineers and the DNR—
<br /> And there still isn't a federal report- A just-completed federal mapping of wield the most power.
<br /> ing requirement for most wetland the seven-county metropolitan area
<br /> projects filling less than an acre. shows that 14 percent of its total The DNR oversees large waterlogged
<br /> acreage is wetlands. In rapidly grow- marshes and open-water wetlands.
<br /> Some attempts have been made to ing Anoka County,28 percent.The The Corps of Engineers regulates all
<br /> quantify the loss. One study by the pressure to develop wetlands in the metro-area wetlands,but generally
<br /> state Department of Natural Re- Twin Cities area is so intense that the acts only on those that fall outside
<br /> sources(DNR),which examined a Corps of Engineers spends one-third the DNR's purview.Because most of
<br /> selected number of proposed devel- of its time regulating metro projects, 1 the small wetlands targeted for devel-
<br /> even though the Twin Cities ac- i opment fall outside the state's juris- j
<br /> opment projects,shows a projected
<br /> net loss of 581 wetland acres from counts for only 4 percent of the diction,the Corps of Engineers issues
<br /> mid-1988 to early last fall in the state's total land acreage. the bulk of wetland fill permits.
<br /> seven metro counties of Anoka,Car- Some projects that fill wetlands are Corps officials concede that there has
<br /> ver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey,
<br /> Scott and Washington.The losses driven by public purpose:A highway been a net loss of wetland acreage
<br /> from 27 acres in Ramsey
<br /> Øged
<br /> by-pass in Shakopee,a new middle despite the no-net-loss policy.In
<br /> inty to 410 acres in Anoka Coun- school'in Farmington,a hospital op- awarding permits,the Corps consid-
<br /> Only Dakota County did not crating room in St.Louis Park.0th- ers more than just the environment;
<br /> show a projected loss. ers are more questionable.Wetlands it also takes into account the need for
<br /> were filled to create a ballfield in roads,houses,utility lines and the
<br /> Maple Grove,which by the city's economic benefits that come from
<br /> count already had 39 ballfields. • development.Corps officials also say
<br /> that they lack the resources to regu- 1
<br /> late the smallest wetlands. I
<br />
|