Northeast Colorado stands to lose its small, free-standing wetlands to development more than any other area of the state, according a report released Thursday.
The report – by the Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Integrity Project – also ranks Colorado eighth in the nation in terms of potential wetlands loss.
The threat, the report says, was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ interpretation of a U.S Supreme Court ruling in 2001 that “isolated” wetlands providing critical habitat for migratory birds don’t warrant federal protection.
As a result, the Corps has exempted more than 11,000 acres of marshes, prairie potholes and playa lakes in 15 states from provisions of the Clean Water Act since 2004, said Eric Shaeffer, the project’s director.
“As bad as the Supreme Court decision was, the Army Corps has made it worse by going beyond what the decision requires,” said Shaeffer, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official.
Shaeffer’s group analyzed more than 15 months of Corps data that revealed the agency frequently determined it had no jurisdiction over isolated wetlands.
The Corps did not require developers and farmers to get a permit to dredge or fill wetlands, which often provide critical wildlife habitat and play an important role in an area’s water quality.
“We have not yet made a determination about a lot of acreage affected by the Supreme Court decision, but we continue to focus on regulating and protecting the places we do have jurisdiction over,” said Candice Walters, a Corps spokeswoman.
In Colorado, the Corps has issued 105 decisions that exempt 469 to 872 acres of wetlands from permitting requirements since May 2004, according to the report.
The greatest number of exemptions – 25 – were given in Weld County. Adams County had the largest exempt acreage – as much as 147 acres.
Corps officials say that although isolated wetlands can be found across Colorado, they are being asked to make rulings more often in northeast Colorado, which is experiencing some of the state’s most rapid growth.
Despite the loss of wetlands there, state officials point to more than 200,000 acres of wetlands and associated uplands that have been protected in Colorado since the late 1980s.
“That figure is more than double our original obligation,” said Bill Goosmann, the state division of wildlife’s wetland program coordinator.
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
