Study: Prairie potholes deserve federal protection

Substantial shallow wetlands

Marci Gilbert, Mar 09, 11.

The thousands of shallow ponds carved into the prairies of the Texas coast provide more water for Galveston Bay and other navigable bodies than the federal government recognizes, a new Texas A&M University study says, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle:

The study, to be published in the journal Wetlands, shows that at least 17 percent of the water that fell on these inland ponds — also known as “prairie potholes” - reached a navigable waterway over a four-year period.

The findings run counter to the Army Corps of Engineers’ presumption that wetlands farther up the watershed are hydrologically isolated from a bay, river, stream or other “waters of the United States” and not eligible for federal protection under the Clean Water Act.

The corps, by statute the nation’s primary steward of wetlands, has not claimed jurisdiction over the prairie potholes in Texas following a Supreme Court ruling in 2001. Since then, the court has said that wetlands must have a “significant nexus” to a bay or other navigable waterway to receive federal protection.

“The bottom line is these isolated wetlands are critical to the watershed of Galveston Bay,” said John Jacob, one of the researchers. “The federal government needs to take a second look.”

Officials at the corps’ Galveston branch said it would not comment on the study at this time but that it has considered “all pertinent scientific information” in the assessment of jurisdiction for each wetland. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is drafting guidelines for claiming jurisdiction over isolated wetlands, such as prairie potholes.

Source: Houston Chronicle