Wetlands Protection Project, AL

Wetlands provide Alabama with a first line of defense against storms, floods, and water pollution. Wetlands and the shallow estuaries they feed also serve as aquatic nurseries—safe havens where life begins for shrimp, crabs, and other species vital to the state’s fisheries.

By the mid-1980s, Alabama had lost nearly half of its wetlands, and those that remain are under threat from intense development pressures, confusing U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and breakdowns in the enforcement of environmental safeguards.

SELC is confronting these threats with the Alabama Wetlands Protection Project, part of our intensified work and presence in the state made possible by our new office in Birmingham. Drawing on our national and regional expertise on wetlands issues, we are pursuing five key strategies:
 

• Compel the Army Corps of Engineers to enforce wetland protections. Two U.S. Supreme Court rulings from the past decade (SWANCC and Rapanos) have created confusion over the scope of the Clean Water Act and require the Corps of Engineers to determine, case by case, whether certain streams and wetlands are covered by the law. Too often the Corps fails to recognize that a wetland is federally protected, leaving it vulnerable to destruction and development.
• Prevent abuse of the Clean Water Act exemptions. Landowners are often tempted to claim their harm to wetlands falls under the silviculture or farming permit exemptions in the law, when in fact they intend to develop the property or sell to speculators.
• Strengthen local laws. We have developed model ordinances that counties can adopt to conserve wetlands and other natural resources.
• Prevent construction of unnecessary reservoirs. Projects on the books would inundate thousands of acres of wetlands and miles of streams.
• Improve wetlands mitigation. Whenever a wetland is filled for a new development or a road project, the Clean Water Act requires that a comparable wetland be preserved or restored elsewhere to mitigate the impact. We want to make certain that wetlands are saved in places where they truly compensate for wetlands that were lost.

The future of Alabama’s wetlands, the aquatic species that depend on them, and the communities that rely on healthy fisheries all hinge on a strong commitment to wetland conservation. Our goal is to help the state embrace and fulfill this commitment.