Environmentalists Fear Anti-Wetlands Rules

[GreenPartyVoter]

FISHERS, Ind. (AP) - Just blocks from a strip mall in Indiana's fastest-growing town, geologist Lenore Tedesco wades into a reed-lined wetland teeming with butterflies, wildflowers and swallows swooping down to scoop up insects.

Drained long ago for farmland, this 14-acre plot is experiencing a rebirth that began when field tiles were dug up, allowing water to pool again. Where crops grew two years ago is now a mix of plants with names like buttonbush and rattlesnake master.

It's a success story, but Tedesco, director of the Center for Earth and Environmental Science at IUPUI, worries that recent changes in how the government regulates wetlands could open up many of these small but rich oases of life to development.

In a state that ranks fourth in the nation for the loss of its original wetlands, places like this have a value that transcends the potential for development, she said.

http://apnews1.iwon.com/article/20040716/D83S27IO0.html