Here is a horror story for you.

President Bush has stated that he does not want to see any loss of wetlands acreage. The Feds (Army Corps of Engineers - USACE) are the guys that are upholding this. I recently settled a dispute with USACE regarding a 'Wetland' area that I am converting into a pond. A wetland is judged to be so by the type of plants growing there. Seems funny but a pond only collects and increases water. I rcvd permission to construct my pond by State, County and Town Gov'ts. I did not think that the small intermittant stream running through my marshy area would be a concern to the feds but, one day one drove past and noticed the excavation. They put a year and a half 'Cease and Desist order' on my project. I was only able to get permission to continue by involving my local politicians and Congressman. My pond is a Farm Pond and the USACE was constricting my right to farm.

State did not consider my site a wetland as it was smaller than their criteria of 12 acres but the Feds go down to 1/10 of an acre !!. In my state if the dredged material is trucked off of my property it is considered as being a Mine and that requires a whole lot of other permits/restrictions.

The things to remember about excavations and permits are two-fold: 1) Out of view is best as every self appointed tree-hugger will complain to agencies. 2) Common sense has nothing to do with it. It is all about Gov't agencies exercising and staking out their power & jurisdiction.

My intermittant stream of about 6" deep and 2' wide couldnt navigate a toothpick but it was considered 'Navigable Waters' as it eventually flows to one. My stream is not even on the USACE map and must flow about 3 miles before it comes to a mapped stream. It then must flow an additional 6 miles before reaching a navigable water. I was flabbergasted when I was told this was the reason for the Feds jurisdiction. I am a Cargo Ship Sea Captain so I know a thing or two about Navigable waters. Under the Feds reasoning any body or stream that flows or overflows is considered Federal Jurisdiction as it will eventually flow to a Navigable water. When I asked this they said 'Yes, and dont forget about drainage ditches too...' The rules are meant to allow their jurisdiction in wetlands or waters that are close enough to affect navigable waters but they view the interpretation to include all connected waters and yes 'even drainage ditches'.