Notes: Clean water act gets bad rap; film stop gets rave review

Hunters and anglers heard the horror stories.

No more building duck blinds on private land without a costly and time-consuming permit.

No more firing over or near wetlands, ponds, lakes or rivers because even non-toxic shot would be considered a pollutant.

No more driving all-terrain vehicles to transport gear to off-road hunting or fishing spots without at least a special permit.

Farmers heard that a puddle of rainwater on their land would fall under control of federal bureaucrats.

But these perceived threats by a revitalized federal clean water law to sportsmens' cherished pastimes and farmers' routine farming operations are bogus, say conservationists.

“These are scare tactics and horror stories'' used by opponents of the Clean Water Restoration Act, said Jan Goldman-Carter, a wetlands attorney for the National Wildlife Federation.

Duck blinds, fishing ramps and anything else not regulated or constrained in 2001 — including farming operations — won't be under new legislation, she said.

Goldman-Carter was one of several representatives of national and state conservation and wildlife organizations who cheered last week's U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee vote to advance an amended clean water act to the full Senate.

They said the bill is a positive move to protect wetlands for waterfowl and clean water for Americans.

“This is important to everyone. It goes way beyond wildlife,'' said Scott Yaich, conservation director for Ducks Unlimited.

The new act would restore the original intent of the Clean Water Act, which was weakened by Supreme Court rulings in recent years. The resulting legal confusion stripped Clean Water Act protections from 20 million acres of wetlands and millions of miles of streams.

The implications in Nebraska and Iowa are significant.

In Nebraska, 52 percent of the streams have no other streams flowing into them and 77 percent do not flow year-round, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Sixty-two percent of Iowa streams are intermittent.

Under varying interpretations of the court decisions, these smaller water bodies are among those at risk of losing Clean Water Act protections.

EPA also says 525,000 Nebraskans and 620,000 Iowans receive some of their drinking water from areas containing these smaller streams.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission has estimated that nearly 829,000 acres of wetlands in the state could be considered so-called “isolated” waters. These water bodies are particularly vulnerable to losing Clean Water Act safeguards.

Kirk Nelson, an assistant Nebraska Game and Parks Commission director, said the issue is a huge concern because of the role the wetlands play in supporting local and migratory waterfowl.

“Conservationists were in a panic,'' he said. “Wetlands have a lot of other benefits for society. They filter water and control flooding.''

Dan Young, DU's executive vice president, said the bill is a huge step toward restoring the act's safety net for prairie potholes and wetlands across the country that provide critical habitat for waterfowl, fish and other wildlife.

Steve Moyer, Trout Unlimited's conservation vice president, said the bill protects small headwater streams that are the root of healthy watersheds and strong local economies across the West.

The Clean Water Act did not apply to gutters, puddles or other insignificant accumulations of water and neither would the new bill. The new act also preserves all existing agricultural exemptions under the law, such as for return flows and construction and maintenance of irrigation ditches and farm ponds.

Moyer said the bill is pragmatic, balanced legislation that protects America's rivers and streams while preserving existing farm and ranch operations.

“This is a bill that rural America can support,” he said.

Rave reviews

The Fly Fishing Film Tour's first-ever stop in Omaha attracted about 90 viewers last week.

The one-night mini-film festival at Westroads 14 featured slices of new short fly-fishing movies shot in Papua New Guinea, Russia, New Zealand, Belize, India, California, Colorado, Louisiana, the Florida Keys and other sites.

Ticket sales and a silent auction raised $1,400 for Recycled Fish, the Council Bluffs-based non-profit organization that promotes catch-and-release and a lifestyle of stewardship.

Mark Olson of Omaha, a Recycled Fish volunteer, arranged for the three-year-old tour's Omaha stop. Tom Mathley, an angler and general manager of Westroads 14, provided a screen.

“This film tour is the hottest thing going in the fly world and we got to bring it to Omaha,'' said an enthused Teeg Stouffer, executive director of Recycled Fish. “Fishing is really fun!''

Contact the writer:

444-1127, david.hendee@owh.com