March 21, 2011
Traditionally, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has been the lead federal agency for consultation with farm operators and land owners protection of America’s waters including drainages, streams, rivers, and wetlands. Protection of these waters (known as jurisdictional surface waters) is required primarily by two legal acts – The Food and Securities Act promulgated by the USDA and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act promulgated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In order to best simplify compliance, the USDA and USACE defined their agencies’ roles and responsibilities in 1994 with an Agriculture Memorandum of Agreement. The agreement basically recognized the lead agency role of the USDA in consultation with farmers and adherence to clean water regulations.
In January of 2005, the USACE and the USDA withdrew from the agreement, leaving a regulatory conundrum for America’s farmers. In many instances, activities allowed within the Food and Securities Act are considered violations of the Clean Water Act. For instance, many farm operators are working in consultation with the USDA in order to provide better drainage in row crop fields. Such fields produce greater quantities of corn and soybeans as drainage is improved. While delineation of wetlands can be requested through your local USDA office, the loss of wetlands (including farmed wetlands) requires permit authorization from the USACE. Farmers need to be very careful when the USDA denotes a field as Prior Converted Wetlands. Modification of Prior Converted Wetlands requires compliance with complex rules for “mitigation”, which usually results in the creation or restoration of a new wetland area to replace to wetland being impacted. The USACE decides the type and amount of mitigation for each loss of wetlands and other surface waters.
The scientists and engineers at Terra Technologies contribute hundreds of hours on a pro bono basis to consult with Midwest farmers on compliance with such regulations. For more information, contact your local office of Terra Technologies Inc.
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