For years, wetlands, the natural system for slowing flood waters, cleaning drinking water and providing habitat for wildlife, had been filled at an alarming rate. As part of a bid to be known as the environmental president, Bush 41 promised in the 1988 presidential election that he would commit his administration to the goal of no net loss of wetlands. Noting that our wetlands are being lost at a rate of nearly half a million acres a years, President Bush delivered on his promise. “Wherever wetlands must give way to farming or development, they will be replaced or expanded elsewhere. It’s time to stand forward; anyone who tries to drain the swamp is going to be up to his ears in alligators.”

At that, federal regulators went into overdrive. The meaning of wetlands were re-defined. No longer just swamps, marshes, and low areas around streams. Now, wetlands could exist on your property, miles inland and miles from waterways. Regulatory and enforcement responsibility was given to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the premise it was their job to maintain navigable waterways. The Corps expanded their authority by insisting creeks or branches leading to the navigable water ways, and the branches that flowed into branches, AND THE SOILS TYPES UNDER THESE BRANCHES, were under their jurisdiction. Keep in mind every square foot of just about every county in the country has been soil mapped. If a type of soils associated with these branches, referred to as hydric soils, exists on your property, you probably aren’t permitted to build on that area of your property.

An entire industry has grown up around the wetland regulation empire. There are environmental specialists who keep up with the latest regulations and will come to your property and delineate the wetlands on your property. What this means, is they will mark, using survey flags (colored strips of plastic), around areas they determine to be wetlands. By looking at soils types, plant life type, and how much of the year the property is under water, they will delineate the location of the wetlands on your property. The flag locations are marked with a GPS, and printed out, usually on a survey. If you wish to construct a building or a road on this property and “disturb” the wetlands, your environmental consultant will act on your behalf to seek permission (permits) from the Corps.

Get your check book! If you are going to fill in a large section of wetlands on your property, you may be required to “mitigate.” This is part of the “Wherever wetlands must give way to farming or development, they will be replaced or expanded elsewhere” ...thing. You fill in land the Government considers wetlands, and you get to buy one to four acres some company’s land somewhere in the country at four times the price the company paid for each acre of wetlands on YOUR property you wish to build on. Luck you! Plus, environmental consultants don’t work for free! You’re looking at $3,500 on up for a decent sized tract of land. What if you just fill and build on the land and don’t tell anyone? It’s done all the time. The only danger in doing that is you’ll be looking over your shoulder... the rest of your life... hoping some bureaucrat doesn’t catch the activity on a satellite photo. The enforcement arm of the Corps can impose some hefty fines. There are cases were judges sent builders to jail that built subdivisions on, or refused to stop building on wetlands.

Want to know if your Southern Mississippi land has soils indicating wetland activity? E-mail us at mm@gulfcoastland.com with a tax parcel number if your property is in Jackson, Harrison or Harrison Counties.