ABSTRACT
Wetlands regulation in the United States is a patchwork quilt of legislative, judicial, and institutional action pieced together over the last century. Starting with the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and progressing through the various water pollution control acts of the 1970s and 1980s, the US Army Corps of Engineers gradually assumed regulatory control over wetlands in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). EPA made an attempt in 1974 to control NPS pollution from forest management activities by drafting a model forest practices act that could be used by the states. The Federal Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1934, as amended in 1958, required the Corps to consider how proposed water projects would affect wildlife and fish habitat and conservation. A National Wetlands Policy Forum was held by the EPA in 1987 to make recommendations for national wetlands policy. The chapter concludes with information on the current situation in relation to forest management activities.
