Local officials are asking Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and the Oregon congressional delegation for help in determining whether the federal Environmental Protection Agency intended to impose wetlands laws on agricultural lands.

John Lively, executive director of the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Partnership Inc., said Goldschmidt told local officials during a visit to Eugene last week that he is seeking clarification from the EPA on the apparent shift in policy.

Agricultural lands until now were exempt from most wetlands regulations, including obtaining permits to build on such sites, called for by the federal Clean Water Act of 1972.

A Lake Oswego consulting firm and local officials have concluded, and federal officials so far agree, that a new federal wetlands field guide issued this year appears to classify as wetlands agricultural areas that previously would not have been considered wetlands.

Lively said that if the EPA confirms that agricultural land falls under the regulations, "there's no question the state will be very aggressive in getting the policy changed, because obviously it has very long-range impacts for the whole state of Oregon, let alone west Eugene."

Biologists previously had identified about 765 acres of industrial land in west Eugene as wetlands. Because of the new definition including agricultural lands, that estimate has jumped to between 2,300 and 3,100 acres.

Eugene's wetlands problem is one of the most critical in Oregon at the moment, because the city invested $12 million in sewers and streets in west Eugene, expecting it to be the home of new industry.

That was before the city knew about the wetlands, which are subject to federal regulation because of their environmental values. They serve as habitat for unique wildlife and plant species, provide flood control and improve water quality.

Because of huge wetlands losses as a result of development earlier this century, the federal government now requires permits from the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before development can occur on those lands.

It requires developers to replace each acre of wetlands they develop with new wetlands elsewhere, a costly process called mitigation.

Presentation of a map showing tentative boundaries for wetlands in west Eugene--including newly charted agricultural wetlands--will be part of a public workshop to be held Wednesday night.

The third of five forums on the west Eugene wetlands, the workshop will provide information on a study of the west Eugene wetlands being conducted by Scientific Resources Inc. of Lake Oswego. The workshop will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Ernst Block Room of the Eugene Community Conference Center, 66 E. Sixth Ave.

Participants in the workshop will be asked to fill out a survey giving their positions on a number of wetlands issues.

Steve Gordon, senior program manager for the Lane Council of Governments, said it's crucial for members of the public to be involved at each step as the city plans how to protect the most significant wetlands areas in west Eugene while retaining sites for industrial development. A draft report is expected by next July.

The new federal field guide--the result of a national forum on wetlands held last year--does not come right out and say that wetlands regulations apply to agricultural lands, Gordon said.

The field guide was an attempt to resolve longstanding disagreements between the Corps of Engineers and the EPA over how to define wetlands. The two agencies jointly administer wetlands regulations at the federal level and wanted to adopt a single definition.

"It's real complex, but (the field guide) does list some pretty clear indicators of hydric (wetlands) conditions," that would include many agricultural lands, Gordon said.

Federal and state officials, in a recent tour of west Eugene, confirmed that they saw agricultural sites that met the test for wetlands protection, he said.

City and Lane Council of Governments officials said they object to federal agencies changing wetlands definitions without engaging in public debate on the potential effects on landowners and local governments.

"I think they're trying to amend the (wetlands) definition through the back door. That's what upsets us the most," Gordon said.

The federal government previously had looked for the presence of three conditions in identifying wetlands.

Those included areas inundated with water at least part of the year and with plants and soils specific to wetlands areas.

Under the new field guide, lands may qualify as wetlands based on their soil type alone. That means that while crops such as corn and grass seed may have wiped out native wetlands plants, the land still falls under federal protection if it has wetlands-type soil, Gordon said.

SRI has spent the past several months refining the findings of Esther Lev, a Portland biological consultant who in December 1988 for the first time established the general boundaries of wetlands on west Eugene industrial parcels.

Using the field guide, SRI has drafted "much more precise" boundaries for the west Eugene industrial wetlands, Gordon said.