ARTICLES

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Vernal Pools are at Home on the Range PDF

by Jaymee Marty

Vernal pools are among the rarest of California’s scarce but ecologically vital wetland resources. Although conventional wisdom suggests that preserving these areas requires leaving them untouched, new research indicates that nearby cattle grazing actually may benefit the fragile wetlands.

Jaymee Marty works for The Nature Conservancy as the project ecologist for the Cosumnes River Preserve in Galt, California. She has been conducting vernal pool research for more than six years for The Nature Conservancy, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the United States Air Force.

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Calling It Like It Is? PDF

by Jim Murphy

A recent report by the U.S. General Accounting Office describes significant inconsistencies in the ways U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts make jurisdictional calls under the Clean Water Act. A wetland advocate argues that the report fails to deeply explore the causes of this troubling variance.

Jim Murphy is the wetlands and water resources counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, where he focuses on Clean Water Act litigation. He has a J.D. from Boston College Law School (1997) and B.A. from the University of Vermont (1992), and is currently finalizing his thesis for an LL.M. in environmental law from Vermont Law School.

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Achieving Effective Physical Attributes in Constructed Marshes PDF

by Georganna Collins

An ambitious wetland development project in Galveston Bay, Texas, seeks to use dredged material to create 4,250 acres of intertidal salt marshes and other wetland habitat. A landscape architect and project consultant describes how project planners approached this monumental task.

Georganna Collins is a registered landscape architect and an associate environmental specialist with Turner Collie & Braden Inc., an AECOM engineering and environmental consulting company based in Houston, Texas. Ms. Collins provides technical environmental support in areas including designing beneficial use plans, marsh monitoring systems, and site management recommendations tailored to performance criteria.

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Averting Turtle Tragedy: Saving Lake Jackson’s Turtle Populations PDF

by Matthew Aresco

What happens when a highway, built before transportation planning law acknowledged environmental concerns, crosses a thriving wetland—and the once-sleepy road becomes a busy thoroughfare? A Florida conservation biologist learned the disturbing answer and resolved to halt an ecological crisis.

Matthew Aresco is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University in Tallahassee. His research focuses on population dynamics and habitat distribution of freshwater turtles in northern Florida, the role of turtles in lake food webs, and the effects of roads on turtle populations.

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Connecting the Jurisdictional Dots? The Migratory Bird Rule and the Hydrological Connection Theory PDF

by Jim Wedeking

The “hydrological connection theory” is gaining popularity among courts and regulatory agencies as a viable replacement for the migratory bird rule. But does the theory really provide a strong basis for federal jurisdiction over isolated wetlands? Here, an author argues that it does not.

Jim Wedeking is a 2005 J.D. candidate at Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law. The author would like to thank Professor George P. Smith and Sharon Siegel at Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood LLP. A version of this article appeared in the May 2004 issue of the Environmental Law Reporter,® published by the Environmental Law Institute.

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