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Emergency Wetlands Resources Act

The Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 was approved on November 10, 1986.  The purpose of the Act is to promote wetlands conservation for the public benefits and to assist in fulfilling international obligations in various migratory bird treaties and conventions.

Wetland is a land that has a predominance of hydric soils and that is inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances supports, hydrophytic vegetation adapted for saturated soil conditions.

The Act authorized the purchase of wetlands from Land and Water Conservation Fund monies, removing a prior prohibition on such acquisitions.  The Act empowers the Secretary to establish a National Wetlands Priority Conservation Plan, requires the States to include wetlands in their Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plans, and transfers amounts equal to the import duties on arms and ammunition to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund.

The Act extended the Wetlands Loan Act authorization through 1988, and forgave the previous advances under the Act.  It also required the Secretary to report to Congress on wetlands loss, along with an analysis of the role of Federal programs and policies in inducing such losses.

Along with other federal and state statutes and programs, the Act promotes wetlands conservation by intensifying cooperative efforts among private interests and local, state and federal governments, intensifying efforts to protect wetlands through acquisition in fee, easements or other methods by local, state and federal governments and the public sector[i].

For providing additional revenues to units of the National Wildlife Refuge System for conservation of wetland resources and for operation and maintenance of refuges, the Secretary of the Interior shall set and charge entrance fees at National Wildlife Refuges, with fee receipts to be allocated 70 percent into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund and 30 percent for operations and maintenance at the refuges; increase the price of duck stamps from $7.50 to $15.00; and establish the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana[ii].

The Secretary shall set up a national wetlands priority conservation plan specifying on a region-by-region basis the types of wetlands that must be given priority for state and federal acquisition.  This shall be done in consultation with the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Agriculture and the states[iii].

In addition, the Secretary is empowered to purchase wetlands not acquired under the authority of the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, consistent with the wetlands priority conservation plan.  Powers of condemnation and eminent domain shall not be used to acquire wetlands constructed for farming or ranching[iv].

[i] 16 USCS § 3901.

[ii] 16 USCS § 3911.

[iii] 16 USCS § 3921.

[iv] 16 USCS § 3922, 3923.


Inside Emergency Wetlands Resources Act