HINTS ON PREPARING A COMPREHENSIVE WETLAND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Public Service Building
125 E. 8th Ave.
Eugene OR 97401
(503) 687-4243
February 1992
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
A Comprehensive Wetland Management Plan (CWMP*) is a plan to resolve development and protection conflicts where wetlands affect a significant portion of a community. The plan encompasses the identification, study, and evaluation of wetland functions and community values, and development needs and investments with regard to wetlands protection and regulation.
* (Also known as a Special Area Management Plan, SAMP, in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers parlance or a Wetland Conservation Plan, WCP, The Oregon Division of state Lands parlance).
Wetlands provide environmental and social values: habitats for many plants and animals, including threatened and endangered species; flood storage and stormwater conveyance; groundwater recharge; water pollution filtration and sediment trapping; and soil protection from erosion. These environmental benefits also provide societal benefits. Humans benefit from wetlands in terms of recreation, open space, and economics. Proximity to or views of wetlands can increase adjacent property values for residences and certain kinds of businesses. Furthermore, wetlands provide educational value and can be a tourist attraction.
The existing wetland permitting process can work well when isolated wetlands are at issue, particularly when developers and environmental interests agree on wetlands functions, protection measures, and mitigation requirements during the pre-permit or permit process. Too often, however, agreement is difficult to reach. State and federal regulatory agencies find themselves caught between these competing interests with little opportunity to use a collaborative process to resolve issues to the mutual benefit of the environment, the community, and private interests. Appeals and litigation add further uncertainty and delay to the wetland permitting process. Results are obtained in a piecemeal fashion with each side unhappy and uncertain about unpredictable results. To developers, permit delays can be costly and devastating. In areas where large wetland concentrations are involved, the permitting process can be particularly difficult. The CWMP offers an alternative to the individual permitting process.
While discovery, study and planning for wetlands is likely to be controversial and stir emotions in the individual permit as well as the CWMP process, the CWMP process can lead to better understanding of relative values and solutions which add certainty within the community consistent with state and federal laws. Wetlands can be considered within the context of local comprehensive land use plans and local zoning. A wetlands protection ordinance, a natural resource overlay zoning district, or a streamside protection ordinance can be prepared with careful consideration for both wetlands protection and development needs and impacts.
Investments in local public facilities and planning for future facility siting be conducted within the context of a CWMP. Wetlands can be viewed as part of a community's water resources and facilities. For example, wetlands protection, enhancement, and restoration can be integrated into the local floodplain management strategy, the stormwater drainage system, the stormwater quality treatment system, and the linear parks and open space system along streams.
The CWMP can offer public and private benefits. The Plan can integrate wetland issues into local land use regulation with the multiple benefits described above. When wetlands are viewed as part of the public facility system, the flood storage functions of wetlands can be used to enhance the waterway system and save future public investment in flood control structures. Private owners benefit if new development in designed with wetlands in mind. The site drainage and landscaping plan can use a created pond and native plants to buffer adjacent wetlands from the impacts of development. In addition, residents, workers, customers and visitors who frequent the development can enjoy an adjacent, protected wetland. For businesses, location in proximity to a wetland can be used as an amenity which helps attract employees who enjoy viewing and visiting a nearby wetland, market business services or products to customers who enjoy the wetland setting and provide a positive environmental image for the firm and its logo.
Based on the development of the West Eugene Wetlands Plan in Eugene, Oregon, here are some general and specific hints to consider if your community is faced with a wetlands question or issue.
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Here are some specific hints that cover the above key points in more
detail and add some other minor ideas. Conduct a reconnaissance survey. Useful tools include: the U.S. Fish
& wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory maps, U.S. Soil Conservation Service
soil surveys for your county (you can ask for help in determining which soil types are
classified as "hydric" or wetland type soils), floodplain maps, air
photos, infrared photography, property ownership maps, comprehensive land use diagram or
zoning maps, historical wetland maps (from old Government Land Surveys), drainageway maps,
and topographic maps or U.S.G.S. quadrangle sheets. if you have vegetative or habitat
mapping available, that can be useful (ask your federal or state agency representatives
for a list of wetland type plants for your region).
From this information and a preliminary off-site view of the potential
wetlands, you can determine the extent and nature of wetlands in your community. if your
wetlands are of small size or extent or affect only one or a few properties, you may chose
to let individual landowners rely on the wetland permitting process(es) for regulated
wetland activities.
In many communities, reliance on the permitting processes is a
satisfactory way to deal with wetland issues. In general, state and federal wetland
permitting programs work in a streamlined way for routine types of activities in many
wetland situations. Many important wetlands are protected, because owners recognize that
permits would be difficult to obtain. Once a permit is applied for, most wetland
activities are allowed within normal permitting timelines.
However, if you determine that the extent of wetlands is great enough,
that they will create development conflicts with community development plans, or that they
jeopardize sizable community investments in public facilities and services, you may
consider developing a CWMP.
Table of Contents Preparing a CWMP has the following advantages over the regular permitting process(es).
There have been enough wetland planning projects undertaken that you
can seek examples and advice about the required and optional tasks and the sequence of
events necessary to accomplish the study and prepare the plan. If the wetlands affect more
than one jurisdiction, decide on the level of coordination needed (including consistent
plan adoption and implementation). Designate a project manager to facilitate communication
among the various departments and agencies involved in the process. You may want to
consider assistance from a regional planning agency. Once tasks are identified, prepare an
estimated budget and realistic schedule for completing the plan.
Most plans with which we are familiar have taken two or more years to
complete. The cost of preparing the plan should be weighed against the magnitude of the
problem. Seek advice from state and federal agencies about financial assistance, as well
as in-kind and private contributions. See also #6 below regarding a citizen involvement
program.
Table of Contents Consider in advance what information is already available, what needs
to be gathered, and how that information will be evaluated. Do you plan to use the Wetland
Evaluation Technique (WET) or the Habitat Evaluation Program (HEP)? Do you have ways to
conduct soils or hydrology studies in-house? Can you enlist volunteers from the local
plant club to inventory for rare plants? Do you have university or college interns who can
conduct air photo interpretation for you? Seek assistance from state and federal agencies
for a list of wetland consultants in your region.
In order to discuss implications with property owners, boundaries
should be fairly specific so protection and development implications can be considered.
Gather information about the functions and values of wetlands in order to determine
relative significance. A wildlife habitat rating system was valuable in west Eugene.
Having information on wetland types, acreages and values allows for better decisionmaking
in a regional context. Without that information, it is difficult to asse the impact of a
fill on a single wetland. Balancing wetlands protection and development requires a good
information base so the community and regulatory agencies can reach agreement on a plan
for a regional wetland resource.
To the degree possible, tie your inventory into a Geographical
Information System (GIS) and develop a data base for each wetland type or unit.
Table of Contents Educating and communicating with your local elected representatives is
important because budget decisions and eventual adoption of the plan must involve them.
Find ways to keep them informed as you make progress over the life of your work program by
using newsletters, meetings, copies of reports, field trips, and individual contacts.
Invite them to any workshops you may conduct. While it easy to call attention to wetland
values or to development conflicts with wetlands law in a crisis mode, a comprehensive
wetland planning approach allows issues to be debated in a rational manner. The
comprehensive approach allows wetlands issues to be addressed in a positive, pro-active
fashion. In addition to local elected officials, other decision-makers are important,
including planning commissioners.
Table of Contents This can be done in conjunction with the work program. See #3 above.
The citizen involvement program is a major key to the success of a
comprehensive planning effort. A citizen involvement program that includes property
owners, environmental interests, the development community, educators, and other
interested citizens and groups is essential to success. Educating and involving the
community allows them to provide suggestions for creative solutions. In the West Eugene
project, we found widespread support for concepts such as mitigation banking (i.e.,
advanced wetland creation, enhancement and restoration), greenways (i.e. wildlife
migration corridors, open spaces, and recreation trails along streams), regional planning
for a connected system of wetlands, a balanced approach to protection and development, and
a financial plan with federal, state, local, private and non-profit group roles.
Among the techniques used in the West Eugene project were developing,
updating, and expanding an interested parties mailing list; nine workshops (eight open to
the public); handouts; field trips; speaking to civic and community organizations and
special interest groups; a self-guided tour brochure; individual letters to property
owners; posters around town; media exposure; talking to elementary, secondary, and college
classes; having assigned staff to meet with owners and others at the City or at the COG to
answer questions. In addition to educating citizens through use of maps, posters, and
handouts at the workshops, these events allowed staff to meet people directly. Informal
surveys, maps, questionnaires, bean jars (citizens voted by placing beans into canning
jars), and one-to-one contact were techniques used to solicit feed-back from the public at
workshops. A description and summary results of every workshop were prepared after every
workshop and sent to all planning commissioners and elected officials (city councilors and
county commissioners) following each workshop.
Table of Contents Whether through a committee or by direct involvement in conducting
inventories and managing plan preparation, or through other communications (telephone,
field visits, review of draft materials, progress reports), involvement of State and
Federal agency personnel is critical. The formation of a Technical Advisory Committee
(TAC) worked well in the West Eugene project. This mechanism provides local staff
opportunities to clarify many wetland issues. We conducted meetings in Portland, Salem and
Eugene to meet the time constraints of individual members. Some TAC members participated
in every workshop. This involvement allowed them access to local citizens and gave them an
opportunity to view the wetlands first hand.
Table of Contents Within your own jurisdiction(s) form a multi-disciplinary team from all
affected departments. In the West Eugene study, we included planning, public works, parks
and recreation, finance, business assistance, intergovernmental relations, legal counsel,
and the permit and information center, as well as L-COG project management and technical
assistance. To understand wetland functions, it is very important to obtain the expertise
of ecologists and biologists on the interdisciplinary team. Recently, the Eugene Public
Works Department entered into an agreement with The Nature Conservancy to jointly fund an
ecologist position. As well as participating on the local wetland planning staff team and
providing expert advise to the City this plant ecologist is managing Nature Conservancy
Reserves in the greater Eugene region.
Table of Contents Groups such as The Nature Conservancy, a public land trust, a wetland conservancy, or a
"Friends" organization can be beneficial at the inventory, planning and
implementation stages of the project. They can play an important role in property
negotiations and purchase because of expertise and options they can offer to property
owners for lands slated for purchase.
Table of Contents If the issue is of regional significance, it may be advisable to involve State and
National elected representatives. They usually hear only bad things about wetlands - let
them know that you are working on a positive approach to solving a regional issue. In the
West Eugene project, the Oregon delegation has been helpful in obtaining study funding and
in seeking funds to implement the plan (i.e., land acquisition funds). The City of Eugene
also retains a professional lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. which has been invaluable in
achieving the City's federal wetland lobbying agenda.
Table of Contents Under the Oregon land use planning and City of Eugene planning systems, the West Eugene
Wetland Plan is a refinement to the general comprehensive plan. It contains goals,
objectives, policies, and maps and is backed by a technical report which details issues of
need, alternatives, and environmental and economic evaluation. In Oregon, these land use
policies have the effect of local land use law (they must be adopted by ordinance of the
county board or city council). The following associations with a comprehensive plan
clarify the reasons for integrating wetlands and land use:
Consider the wetlands as part of a drainage system or watershed. They
are often related to upstream and downstream events and uses. Most wetlands do not exist
in isolation from uplands. Consider how upgradient uses may affect valuable wetlands, how
wetlands to be protected can be buffered from adjacent incompatible uses, and what values
the wetlands have for downstream users (e.g., flood storage and sediment trapping
capacity).
Table of Contents How is your plan going to be implemented? Will you use existing
development regulations and zoning ordinances to protect wetlands? If so, are your current
codes adequate? Do you need new ordinances? If you propose to buy wetlands, acquire
conservation easements, or manage a municipal wetland system, do you have an identified
local funding mechanism in place (e.g., a stormwater user fee or systems development
charge)? Do you plan to obtain a regional wetlands permit from the Corps - what does it
entail? How will you implement a local wetland permitting program? How will your inventory
and plan be integrated into decisions at the local permit counter? Will you operate
mitigation bank? If so, will a manual be needed to guide financial transactions? Will
public works maintenance practices associated with wetlands and streams need revision?
Table of Contents The CWMP allows you to be proactive. Think creatively and find solutions that benefit
the pubic, solve problems for the majority of people, and still maintain the rights of
owners of small land parcels. Find creative ways to protect wetland and water resources.
Table of Contents A CWMP that addresses only wetlands protection is likely to fail. When
the inter-relationships among wetlands, urban development, public facilities, open space,
wildlife habitat, streamside protection, recreation corridors, aesthetics, urban design,
and water quality are taken into account in a balanced way, the CWMP can offer benefits
for the environment and the entire community. While wetlands protection alone may be
prohibitive in cost and may lack overall community support, when combined with many
interests, the multi-objective approach can save total dollars and can generate broad
public support.
Table of Contents How will the plan affect individual properties? Will there be a
reasonable economic return? If the wetlands are protected from adjacent upland
development, how will the transition area between wetland and upland affect development?
How will the present public investment in public facilities and services be taken into
account? Can the remaining carrying capacity of those systems be used by allowing
development on some lesser value wetlands? Lastly, what is the cumulative impact of your
wetlands plan on the residential, commercial, and industrial buildable land inventory
within your city limits or planned growth area (In Oregon, this is defined by an urban
growth boundary)? Do you need to make adjustments elsewhere in your plan to account for
adding protection to wetlands which were not subtracted from your buildable land inventory
previously? Answering these questions as part of the project will go a long way in
explaining the impacts of wetlands decisions to the public and local officials.
The West Eugene Wetlands Technical Report contains chapters which deal
with these questions. Oregon land use planning law requires an economic, social,
environmental and energy analysis of conflicting uses affecting natural resource areas.
The West Eugene Wetland Plan also provides analysis of wetland impacts on the buildable
land supply within the study area.
Table of Contents Through words and illustrations, show the community what the system
will look like when fully implemented. In the West Eugene Wetlands Study, we used
mops, drawings, and narrative to show an integrated system with mature vegetation along
streams, with forested wetlands and ponds alive with animals and birds. We illustrated a
visitor center and showed a boardwalk leading school children through a marshy habitat. We
provided drawings showing a tasteful new industrial building near a wetland with a
buffered area serving to pre-treat parking lot runoff before discharge into a wetland.
These kinds of illustrations and vision statements can help the community understand the
long-term goals of your CWMP.
Allow the public to help shape the vision or to amend it during the
process. The public should feel ownership in the vision, as should your planning
commission and elected officials.
Table of Contents Rather than focus on wetlands as a community problem, realize that
wetlands are valuable natural resources which can be an asset to your community. Through
enhancement, protection, interconnection with other natural areas, wetlands can be
opportunity areas for wildlife, recreation, rare plants, cleaner water, and nearby
development. Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems on earth. Loss of habitats
is one of the major environmental problems facing human-kind; protection of wetlands
through "no net loss of wetlands functions and values" can help reverse our
national trends.
Table of Contents The West Eugene project was accomplished in several ways: 1) The study
included a detailed review of land use and facility plans (in Oregon, statewide planning
goals require that projected population and employment growth be translated into land use
needs for residential, commercial, industrial and public uses): 2) Because of wetland
impacts on industrially zoned land in Eugene, a detailed industrial land study was
conducted to review the total supply in terms of service availability and timing of
extension, site suitability, recent market trends, and appearance; and 3) The property
owners and development interests were involved in both the wetland and industrial land
planning processes.
Table of Contents The comprehensive wetland approach is an excellent way to address
wetlands issues in a community or region where a pocket or system of wetlands requires
more intensive study than that undertaken through the individual wetland permitting
process. The comprehensive wetlands plan allows for the best available information to be
integrated into a rational solution. The comprehensive planning approach should not be an
excuse for developing wetland resources; it provides an opportunity to protect valuable
wetlands through a systems approach rather than through the incremental permitting
process. The resulting system of west Eugene wetlands will produce multiple environmental
and social benefits for the enjoyment of present and future Lane County residents and
visitors.
GENERAL HINTS
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SPECIFIC HINTS
1. Consider the Scope and Nature of Your
Wetlands
2. CWMP Advantages Over the Permitting
Process
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3. Develop a Work Program and Budget
4. Conduct the Best Inventory and Assessment That You Can Afford
5. Support of Elected and Planning Officials Is Vital
6. Develop A Citizen Involvement Program
7. Involve Affected State and Federal Agencies
8. Develop Multi-disciplinary Local Expertise within Affected
Departments
9. Consider The Role of a Non-Profit Group
10. Consider Involving Your State and Federal Representatives
11. Link the Wetlands Plan to Your Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
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12. Use a Systems Approach
13. Think About Implementation Early In the Process
14. Be Positive
15. Think of Multiple Objective Approaches
16. Evaluate the Economic Impact of Your Wetlands Plan
17. Develop a Vision
18. Treat Wetlands As An Opportunity
19. Be Realistic in Assessing Development Goals and Needs
CONCLUSION