United StatM
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water (WH-556F).
Office of Wetlands, Oceans,
and Watersheds (A-104 F)
EPA843-F-93-001aa
March 1993
wEPA WETLANDS FACT SHEET #27
What is a State Wetland
Conservation Plan?
A new tool that States are using to pro-
tect wetlands is the State Wetland Conservation
Plan (SWCP). A State Wetland Conservation
Plan is not meant to create a new level of bureau-
cracy. Instead, it improves government and
private sector effectiveness and efficiency by
identifying gaps in wetland protection programs
and finding opportunities to make wetlands
programs workmen better.
SWCP's are strategies for States to
achieve no net loss and other wetland
management goats by integrating both
regulatory and cooperative approaches
to protecting wetlands.
Advantages
A large number of land and water-based
activities impact wetlands. These activities are
not addressed by any single Federal, State or
local agency program. While many public and
private programs and activities protect wet-
lands, these programs are often limited in scope
and not well coordinated. Neither do these
programs address all of the problems affecting
wetlands.
States are well positioned between Fed-
eral and local government to take the lead in
integrating and expanding wetland protection
and management programs. They are experi-
enced in managing Federally mandated envi-
ronmental programs under the Clean Water Act
and the Coastal Zone Management Act. They
are uniquely equipped to help resolve local and
regional conflicts and identify the local eco-
nomic and geographic factors that may influ-
ence wetlands protection.
What arp Static
VVIiai are States
Currently, nineteen States are at various
stages of developing an SWCP and have re-
ceived financial assistance from EPA.
• Michigan's SWCP will focus primarily on
non-regulatory aspects of wetlands manage-
ment to complement their regulatory programs.
Initiatives will be developed for wetland water
quality, reclamation of valuable wetland func-
tions, coordination of existing wetland protec-
tion and management efforts, and wetland edu-
cation and outreach.
• California plans through its SWCP to inven-
tory its wetlands, identify crucial wetlands, de-
velop a statewide strategy to plan wetlands
protection and restoration, and take a crucial
role in overall wetland regulation.
• New York will work towards a "no net loss/
net gain" goal under its SWCP. Because one
purpose of an SWCP is to integrate wetlands
protection into other programs, wetland issues
and references to the SWCP have been inte-
grated into several State programs.
Other States working on SWCFs include: MO,
TN, DE, N], ND, OH, OK, OR, TX, AL, AR, IL,
MT,NE,VT,WA,
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
• Seethe Statewide Wetlands Strategies guidebook, which te available from Island Press
(1-800-828-1302).
• Call the EPA Wetlands Hotline* at 1-800-832-7828.
• Askfor copies of theSWCP brochure "Why Develop a State Wettand Conservation Plan?"
from the hotline*.
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