Why Are Stream Buffers Important?
State Regulations - Georgia Erosion and Sedimentation Act
Federal Regulations - Army Corps of Engineers
At Issue: Regional General Permits
Enforcement Highlights—Stream Buffers
Why Are Stream Buffers Important?
An aquatic buffer is an area along a stream, shoreline, or wetland where development is restricted or prohibited. The primary functions of aquatic buffers are to physically protect and separate a stream, lake or wetland from future disturbance or encroachment and to filter stormwater on its path to the waterway. If properly maintained, buffers can provide stormwater management to protect water quality and act as a right-of-way during floods, sustaining the integrity of stream ecosystems and habitats.
Many small streams do not show up on topographical maps, but that doesn’t mean that they are not ecologically important. See Where Rivers Are Born: The Scientific Imperative for Defending Small Streams and Wetlands.
State Regulations - Georgia Erosion and Sedimentation Act
The Georgia Erosion and Sedimentation Act (12-7-1) requires a 25-foot vegetated buffer along all state waters and a 50-foot vegetated buffer on state-designated trout streams. A variance may be obtained from this law under certain circumstances, upon application to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). UCR actively monitors buffer variance applications and investigates citizen complaints of potential buffer encroachment violations.
Federal Regulations - Army Corps of Engineers
While protection of stream buffers is regulated by the state, a stream channel itself is protected by federal regulations.
If there's going to be any dredged or filled material placed within that stream channel, then a Section 404 permit must be applied for and obtained through the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) . The Corps has nationwide permits for acitivities with "minimal" impacts and individual permits for activities with substantial impacts. In Georgia, the Corps is attempting to institute a Regional General Permit that would allow for acitvities previously regulated by the individual permitting process to undergo less stringent scrutiny and review.
At Issue: Regional General Permits
The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), which administers and enforces regulations to prevent our waterways from being filled and piped during construction and road building, has proposed changes that would weaken protections for our rivers, streams and wetlands. The Corps has proposed a regulatory change - only in Georgia - that would allow larger, publicly-funded projects with more impacts on our waterways to be permitted with less scrutiny and limited public comment.
Summary
The Corp has proposed four new Regional General Permits to expedite review of publicly-funded projects that have environmental impacts to streams and wetlands. The four project types are:
(1) widening or improvement of existing transportation projects;
(2) bridge replacement projects;
(3) construction of institutional facilities such as governmental offices, schools, libraries, and museums; and
(4) construction of infrastructure projects such as water treatment facilities and storm water management facilities.
A General Permit is one type of permit available to projects with "minimal" impacts. To date, minimal impacts to streams and wetlands have included those projects that impact no more than one half acres of wetlands and 300 linear feet of stream. Now the Corps proposes to expand the General Permit to the four types of projects listed above with impacts of up to five to ten acres of wetlands and 1,000 to 2,000 linear feet of stream.
UCR disagrees with the Corps’s determination that the proposal meets the minimal impact criteria. The public comment period on this issues ended on Friday, May 29.
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