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Wetlands Policy Adjustment In early November, the Army Corps of Engineers published a Regulatory Guidance Letter broadening options for developers to "mitigate" wetlands damage through set-asides. According to an analysis published in the November 16 New Orleans Times-Picayune, the policy allows developers who damage wetlands "to purchase and preserve wetland property off the development site but in the same watershed. It also says developers can set aside 'upland' land that isn't wet as long as it contributes to the 'ecological function' of the mitigation project." Mitigation "credits" might also accrue to developers who preserve vegetative buffers around streams, rivers, or marshes. Developers said they were pleased with the new policy's flexibility, whereas "environmentalists" quoted are of two minds. Some view it as a retreat from the "no net loss" goal but others seem to view it as a pragmatic means to involve developers more positively in wetland and water quality conservation -- which they view as having suffered through exploitation of loopholes in past policy. Return to Public Policy Archive Forest Resources Association
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