NATURE WATCH - THE BUFFALO NEWS - Published 3/26/2006

"Wetlands good for wildlife, not so good for homes"

By Gerry Rising

I have a love-hate relationship with wetlands.  The Clean Water Act defines wetlands as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support . . . a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions."

Like many friends who participate in nature-related activities, I spend much time in them. Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and the Tonawanda and Oak Orchard State Wildlife Management Areas, Great Baehre Swamp, Buckhorn Island, Tifft Nature Preserve and Times Beach, Nature View Park, Tillman Road Swamp, Zoar Valley - you name the regional wetland, and I have probably been there recently.

Why? Because those areas are where wildlife abounds. They are where I find the most wild mammals and birds; wildflowers, trees, mushrooms and ferns; butterflies, moths, beetles and other insects; frogs, salamanders and snakes. Dry forests have their own, often different wildlife but not nearly so many species because water is a life essential.

Unfortunately, I also live in a wetland. The Army Corps of Engineers calls it a flood plain. And indeed our home was once flooded. That is not an experience I would wish on anyone. Now my town has added pumps and an overflow-diversion area has been dug along our local creek, but that only reduces the threat. As the Corps official told us, "When you live on a flood plain, sooner or later you get flooded."

Caveat emptor. When we purchased our home, why didn't we check for flooding? We would have found that hundreds, perhaps thousands of homes in this area are built in areas that earlier settlers knew as swamps. Like other buyers, we faced so many other considerations that we never thought we would be defenseless against an extended episode of rain and melting snow. In much of northern Erie and Niagara counties, it is difficult to avoid wetland environments. The area is very flat, and the clay soils only slowly absorb water.

We didn't realize that we were gambling and that the house, Mother Nature in this case, always wins in the end.

What made me reconsider my attitude toward wetlands were two things: a newly issued series of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetland maps and the notice of an upcoming meeting about wetlands.

Detailed maps comparing the new federally defined wetlands with the earlier state definitions are now available, including map quadrangles for much of Western New York, from the Web site wetlands.fws.gov. That assumes, however, that you can master the complicated process necessary for downloading.

These new maps avoid indicating as wetlands most areas already developed, but they still show clearly how much still-undeveloped wetlands have not already been designated by New York State. The older state definitions represent the less sophisticated technology then available. The problem now will be to bring the state into conformity with these federal maps in order to avoid further development that will punish future home buyers.

Important, then, will be the free April 1 Wetland Conference hosted by the Sierra Club, the Niagara Frontier chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club and the University at Buffalo Greens.

A morning session will run from 9 to noon in 120 Clemens Hall on UB's Amherst Campus. State entomologist Wayne Gall will speak on "Quaking Mats, Muck, Mire, Bogs and Fens: Bog Walking in Western New York"; Bill Hudson, director of the Audubon Society's Beaver Meadow Sanctuary, will explain "Why Wetlands Matter"; Liz Kaszubski, state wetland chair for the Sierra Club, will present "Comparison Mapping of State and New Federal Wetlands: How to Save Wetlands in Your Community"; and a Corps of Engineers representative will speak on "Wetland Regulations and the Public's Role in the Regulatory Process."

At 1:30 p.m. interested participants will reconvene at the Baird lot for a Great Baehre Swamp hike. Bring boots for wet conditions. The swamp is just 10 minutes from the campus.

For further information about the morning meeting, contact Lynn Kenney at 825-7329 or at woodthrush@ hotmail.com or Art Klein at 693-1082 or at [email protected]. For information about the afternoon hike, contact Larry Beahan at 839-3112.

�WETLANDS ARE IMPORTANT TO LAKES�

Guest View by Art Klein, published in the Tonawanda News on April 18, 2006

One thing is very clear-- we in the Great Lakes Basin now have but one asset: Water.

Whether we use it for fun or profit, our water and waterfronts are just about all we have. Water quality mainly depends on two things: controlling the pollutants we humans just love to dump; and the effectiveness of wetlands to cleanse surface waters that flow through on their way to the rivers and lakes at our doorstep.

Wetlands are nice natural areas that concentrate wildlife and vegetation in a small area of the terrain. The principal thing that separates wetlands from surrounding areas is they are generally lower and always contain a unique combination of soils called hydric soils.

During the 1970�s and 1980�s, I was a waterway investigator for the Corps of Engineers. I met with dozens of government officials, individuals and contractors to inspect the impact of their construction projects on navigation and wetlands. I also aided in several public hearings to inform these same folk of the new wetland regulations.

By the late 1970�s, in just about every office of responsible town supervisors and engineers, a well-thumbed copy of the county soils maps would be in easy reach. These folk recognized that wetlands were now an important part of our Great Lakes fabric and were fully aware of the wetlands in their province of concern.

With this, my experience, I was unprepared for the reaction of the North Tonawanda officials at the DEC information hearing March 30 in NT city Hall.

Recently the US Fish and Wildlife Service discovered that more wetlands exist in North Tonawanda than had been previously mapped by the DEC. Maps delineating these wetlands were released but are not yet adopted. The DEC is now seeking ways to implement this information.

The DEC wetlands were mostly mapped in a hurry-up fashion in the 1970�s and that science is now much improved. The wetlands are not new but have been here since the last ice age 12,000 years ago. Sadly for a Great Lakes City, North Tonawanda does not appear ready to realize the presence and importance of their wetlands.

At the hearing, one councilperson complained that New York State was over regulating its wetlands. Sorry, Brett (Sommer), but New York has less wetland regulation than every other state in the Great Lakes and all the Northeastern states. It is sad that we continue to allow such threat to one of our most important assets.

The mayor wants the government to compensate owners of wetlands for the loss of value. There has been a lot of sympathy for this but Congress is afraid as many fools as victims would be rewarded. After all wetland knowledge has become pretty common in 35 years.

As far as an over-designed water treatment plant, I recall the EPA officials in the 1970�s imploring local and county governments to combine their facilities. The DEC would never be expected to intervene and redesign plans from an architect/engineer firm and a municipality. They just make sure the system works. But most municipalities were reluctant to combine resources.

I was also surprised at the representative of MJ Peterson. Now this firm should know the nature of wet basins that had been avoided by many generations of much smarter folk. I cannot get over that he and all the officials, planners and engineers involved who appear not to realize hydric soils were present in all these vacant basins of the city. I question the motivation of anyone who would propose to build in this soupy environment. Think of the sinking homes in Amherst when you ponder (Dennis) Penman�s words.

After the city officials huffed and puffed then disappeared into the night, they missed many local citizens who were disturbed that development near them was shoving water into their yards and basements.

But the important thing here is that wetland laws also are the laws of New York State and of the federal government that these same officials have sworn to uphold when they assumed office. To challenge and provide adversarial comments to a state representative who was there to help define these laws is a civic embarrassment. Shame on every North Tonawanda official who was so discourteous.

Another amazing fact is that North Tonawanda endeavors to build new homes in the wetlands, just when the overall housing market is deflating and Western New York�s largest employers are down sizing. Maybe they want to house the 600-plus employees whose NT companies moved to other areas and who lost their jobs last year.

I recommend that North Tonawanda just appraise its situation. The waterfront, not housing in the inland wetland basins, is the key to your future. Fix it up, put in public dockage, provide public access and a reason to be there. Look at the success on the Tonawanda side of the canal and get to work. The public will then come to celebrate the magic of water.

Art "Happy" Klein

43 Luksin Dr, Tonawanda, NY 14150