Wetlands

By Denise Anderson First Published February 24, 1995“I can't stand it,” Alvin moaned into his coffee cup at the coffee shop the other day. “This farming business is going to be the death of me.”It sounded to us like Alvin was doing his income taxes again. It's that time of year, after all, and Alvin always has had problems when it came to figuring his taxes.“Nope, it's not that at all,” Alvin said. “You see, I got this letter from the government.”He handed Carl, who was sitting next to him, a letter. Carl looked at it and shrugged.“It's an official government letter, all right,” he said. “But I don't see anything to get excited about. It just designates a small piece of your land as a wetlands.”We commiserated, but didn't feel particularly sorry for Alvin, since most farms include some type of wetlands, according to the government. A wetlands, by definition, is any area that holds water at some time during the year. This ranges from the large prairie potholes of the Rainwater Basin in the south central part of the state to rivers, lakes, streams and creek beds.It also includes low-lying land in fields, marshes, irrigation reuse pits and, occasionally, hog lagoons, although anyone who has seen a hog lagoon knows it's unlikely any wildlife will be using it.Wetlands are important, to our history, culture, environment and to the animals and birds who rely on that type of ecosystem for their survival. I still think that the Environmental Protection Agency and the federal government have gone a little overboard in designating every creek bed a wetland, especially those that only fill with water during a 10-inch gully washer, and to include man-made irrigation reuse pits is pushing it. Hog lagoons are way off base.Still, if the government says we have a wetland, we probably aren't going to argue. After all, wetlands are a fact of life for farmers. You just farm around them and do the best you can.“I'd be happy with that,” Alvin said, “but if you read a little further, you'll see that according to the rules, you can't drain a wetland, or alter it in any way without proper permission from the government. And in this case, because there are ducks nesting there, I'm not allowed to drain it or clean it out.”“Yup, that's what it says, all right,” Carl said, still holding the letter. “You may not change, dredge or drain this wetland. And apparently, you must have talked to someone about a permit, because it says here that a permit to do any of those things has been denied.”“That's what I was afraid it said,” Alvin moaned. “That's why it's going to be the death of me. Mabel said drain it and if I don't she's going to… well, let's just say, it won't be pleasant.”Why would Mabel care? Carl asked. “She doesn't care too much what you do with your farming, does she?”“Not unless I ask her,” Alvin agreed. “but in this case, she's hollering about that wetland and she's not going to be happy until it's gone.”“Well, where exactly is this wetland located?” Carl asked. “I can't really tell from the letter. It looks like it's in the same section as your farmstead. All you've got on that section is pasture, so Mabel shouldn't be concerned about that, unless it's somewhere real inconvenient, like your garden plot.”That would be just like the government, to designate a garden as a wetland. I suddenly had an idea of what Mabel wouldn't like.“I bet it is the hog lagoon,” I said. “If they won't let you drain it, that could be a problem.”It was worse than both of those possibilities. Alvin moaned, way worse. It was his house. (To Be Continued…)

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