Mitigation Regulations

April 1, 1980 Resolutions

Number: 1980-13

 

WHEREAS, water resource developments constructed, authorized, and financed by the Federal Government frequently result in the uncompensated loss of fish and wildlife habitat; and

WHEREAS, the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act was intended to prevent unnecessary damage to habitat and to compensate for any necessary loss; and

WHEREAS, the Coordination Act has not worked efficiently due in large part to the lack of a comprehensive set of rules and policies to guide the responsible administrative agencies; and

WHEREAS, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, in response to a petition filed by the National Wildlife Federation, did issue draft “Mitigation Regulations” last summer, but, under political pressure, these regulations were withdrawn so that an EIS could be written; and

WHEREAS, the longer the Mitigation Regulations are delayed, the longer fish and wildlife resources are being shortchanged.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 20-23, 1980, in Miami Beach, Fla., hereby calls for the expeditious promulgation of Mitigation Regulations containing the following principles:

  1. Wherever possible, the in-kind replacement of fish and wildlife habitat lost to water resource developments;
  2. Primary use of biologically-based methodologies, such as the HEP procedure used by the Fish and Wildlife Service, to evaluate and justify mitigation measures;
  3. Elimination of the outmoded and conceptually-flawed “man-day use” method of valuing wildlife resources;
  4. Elimination of the lump-sum payment approach to mitigation;
  5. “Retrofit” of authorized but unconstructed projects with adequate mitigation plans;
  6. Concurrent and proportionate implementation of authorized mitigation measures;
  7. Preauthorization (i.e., feasibility stage) mitigation studies on federal projects, to be funded by the construction agency; and
  8. Equal consideration of (e.g., equal funding for) nonstructural approaches to water management.