U.S. EPA Highlights 1st Ever National Wetlands Condition Assessment, Changing Federal Protections for California Wetlands (HQ, CA)
Field sampling taking place
in San Mateo, San Diego, Orange, Solano, Contra Costa, Ventura,
Marin, Monterey, Humboldt, San Joaquin and
additional counties throughout California,
U.S
SAN FRANCISCO
— The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency is hosting a press availability
today to highlight a national effort to assess the health of the
nation’s wetlands, and an opportunity to provide input on
proposed changes to how the government protects wetlands. The media
event is being held at the Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in
Elk Grove, California, where scientists will be simultaneously
sampling nearby wetlands as part of the National Wetlands Condition
Assessment (NWCA).
The NWCA is a collaboration between EPA and
its state, tribal, and federal partners representing the first-ever
national field survey on the health of the nation’s wetlands.
More than 1,000 sites across the country—including 43 in
California—are being surveyed to assess indicators of wetland
health, including water quality and flow, vegetation, and soils.
NCWA sampling locations during the next two months will include
wetlands in the following California counties: San Mateo, San
Diego, Orange, Solano, Contra Costa, Ventura, Marin, Monterey,
Humboldt, San Joaquin, Inyo, Merced, and Mendocino.
EPA officials will also be answering questions regarding recent
draft guidance on federal wetlands protection. The draft Guidance,
developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, aims to clarify
which waters are subject to protection under the Clean Water Act,
and is open to public input until July 1st. Formal regulations
clarifying when the CWA applies may follow the guidance, a process
which would again involve public input.
“Wetlands filter pollution, and protect communities from
flooding while providing habitat for fish, fowl and flora,”
said Alexis Strauss, EPA’s water division director for the
Pacific Southwest. “The draft Clean Water Act guidance will
reaffirm our intent to protect these vital and vanishing resources
to the fullest extent of the law, while providing greater clarity
to the regulated public.”
Between 80 and 95 percent of California’s original wetlands
and stream-side (“riparian”) habitats have been
destroyed or modified. For nearly 40 years, the Clean Water Act has
been a cornerstone of EPA’s effort to ensure that Americans
have clean and healthy waters. The draft guidance, part of the
Obama administration's national clean water framework, implements
recent Supreme Courtdecisions addressing what types of waters could
be subject to traditional CWA protections. The framework outlines a
series of actions across federal agencies to ensure the integrity
of the waters Americans rely on every day for drinking, swimming,
and fishing, and that support farming, recreation, tourism and
economic growth.
The National Wetland
Condition Assessment (NWCA) survey was designed by EPA’s
Office of Research and Development and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service. It will use a probability-based model to estimate the
health of aquatic resources consistently nation-wide to ensure that
the results can be compared across the country.
Used along with similar
surveys on the nation’s coastal waters, wadeable streams,
rivers, and lakes, the NWCA results will help us to better protect,
maintain, and restore our nation’s water quality and
vanishing aquatic habitat.
For additional
details if you would like to attend today’s press
availability, please visit:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/d4a2c80571f73050852578a10058f38c?OpenDocument
To view a list of the California locations that will be sampled as part of the assessment and for additional photos, please visit: http://www.epa.gov/region9/mediacenter/wetlands
To read the draft Waters of the United States" guidance and for information on how to submit a comment, please visit: http://www.water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/CWAwaters.cfm.
To learn more about the National Wetlands Conditions Assessment, please visit: http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/assessment/survey/index.cfm
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