Central Utah Project, Bonneville Unit correspondence, 1978

Page 161

Executive Order 11990-PROTECTION OF WETLANDS On May 23, 1977 President James Earl Carter delivered an environmental message to the Congress of the United States of America. Included in the message are "actions to protect our natural resources". The Presidents message reads in part: "We are losing wetlands at the rate of some 300,000 acres per year. While many of the individual developments which have caus­ed this loss may once have been appropriate-and some still may be-we must now protect against the cumulative effect of reduc­ing our total wetlands acreage. For these reasons I am proposing a concerted federal effort to protect our wetlands.* Executive Order 11990-Protection of Wetlands was signed by President Carter, on May 24, 1977- The purpose of this Executive Order is "to avoid to the extent possible the long and short term ad­verse impacts associated with the destruction or modification of wetlands and to avoid direct or indirect support of new con­struction in wetlands where there is a practicable alternative." The Forest Service Manual 2528 provides direction for implementing E-0. 11990. The Proposed High Uintas South Slope Land Management Plan and Draft Environmental Statement does not comply with Executive Order 11990. In fact, it is the Sierra Club's understanding (from reading and reviewing the docu­ment) that the Executive Order in question is not even mentioned in the Land Use Plan- The Forest Service Manual 2528.03 Policy reads: "Forest Service policy is to comply with the direction of E.0- 11990 through the use of the Forest Service land management and NEPA planning and decision making process." Wetlands are defined as "those areas that are inundated by surface or ground water with a frequency sufficient to support and under normal circumstances does or would support a prevalence of vegetative or aquatic life that requires saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions for growth and reproduction. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas such as sloughs, potholes, wet meadows, river overflows, mud flats and natural ponds." The Proposed High Uintas South Slope Land Management Plan and Draft En­vironmental Statement does not comply with E.6. 11990. In order to comply with Executive Order 11990 :he Final Environmental Statement should include, but not be limited to the following: 1. A copy of Executive Order 11990-Protection of Wetlands; 2- A copy of the Forest Service Directives for implementing Executive Order 11990; 3. A detailed map showing wetland areas as defined by Sec. 7(c) of Executive Order 11990; 4* Consideration of wetland values in formulating or evaluating land management options, and requirements, and insurance that uses of land and water resources are made in accordance with E.O..11990.