The politics of wetland conservation: A wildlife view

Excerpt

PUBLIC and private views of wetlands range from “a resource worthy of protection” to “the only good swamp is a drained swamp.” Both interests have carried the gauntlet, one intent on ridding the land of a blight and the other determined to save every wetland acre.

Political action at many levels plays a major role in the competition. Congress passed three Swamp Land Acts, in 1849, 1850, and 1860, transferring millions of acres of swamp and overflow land to states, mostly for conversion to agriculture. Private interests responded with a vigor typical of the times, aided by local governments in the formation of drainage districts.

Today, in every section of the nation where wetlands occur, political institutions exist for converting them to other uses. Often these local units of government are the focal point for federal or federally assisted programs.

Politics can be and often are unrelenting within local drainage districts. North Dakota's defunct Starkweather watershed, a Public Law 566 project, is a case in point, but by no means the only one. That $4.5-million project, when proposed, included 60 miles of channel improvement. The project was sponsored by two local …