A Bi-Weekly Publication Friday February 24, 2006

	In This Issue: · U.S. SUPREME COURT REFUSES TO HEAR BEACH WALKING CASE · LANDMARK WETLAND CASES HEARD THIS WEEK · DEADLINE APPROACHING FOR WETLANDS 2006 CALL FOR PAPERS MICHIGAN’S BEACH WALKING DECISION WILL STAND The U.S. Supreme Court decided this week that they will not take up the Michigan “beach walking” case. The U.S. Supreme Court Justices left undisturbed the Michigan Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Public Trust doctrine allowing people to walk along the Great Lakes shorelines. The Michigan Supreme Court ruled last summer that walking the Great Lakes shoreline in front of private property is legal. Upholding the Public Trust Doctrine, the Court recognized that large bodies of navigable water, including the Great Lakes, are natural resources that belong to the public. In addition, the Court recognized that under Michigan common law, the state “has an obligation to protect and preserve the waters of the Great Lakes and the lands beneath them for the public.” Despite the name, Save Our Shoreline (SOS) once again tried to restrict public access and engage in another effort to do anything but save Michigan's shoreline. SOS, on behalf of property owners, requested the high court review the U.S Supreme Court ruling stating the Michigan Supreme Court decision committed a taking of private property that would be in violation of the Constitution. Hopefully, the refusal by the U.S Supreme Court to hear this case will bury the issue in the sand for good. SUPREME COURT HEARS LANDMARK WETLAND CASES THIS WEEK On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases that will shape the scope of the Clean Water Act. The Court heard arguments on two Michigan cases, Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, to determine whether the Clean Water Act protects interior wetlands that are not considered navigable waters. According to Rapanos’s lawyer, Congress intended to regulate navigable water and adjacent wetlands but did not extend that jurisdiction to tributaries and wetlands adjacent to non-navigable waters. Interestingly enough, current and past members of Congress who helped write the original law or revise it, filed an amicus brief justifying that Congress did, in fact, intend to extend the regulation to the wetlands in question in the cases. During the oral arguments, justices asked many difficult questions including what test the court should use in determining jurisdiction and what constitutes a “significant nexus” between adjacent waterbodies and navigable waters. The answer provided by the lawyer for the Corps to the latter, “one drop is significant enough.” The Army Corp contends that the wetlands are linked to the larger bodies by ditches and streams and, therefore, degrading them would negatively impact the navigable waters. Apparently, that rationale might not be sufficient for one specific justice, Scalia, who claimed it “absurd” to call drainage ditches “waters of the U.S.” subject to regulation. Some legal experts believe the ruling will come down to the interpretation of “ditch” and “navigable”. We will just have to wait and see. A ruling is expected later this summer. Whatever the outcome, it will surely be a historic day for environmental protection. REMINDER: CALL FOR PAPERS DUE MARCH 10, 2006 International Symposium Wetlands 2006 Applying Scientific, Legal, and Management Tools for the Great Lakes and Beyond August 28-31, 2006 Grand Traverse Resort, Traverse City, Michigan The Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc., Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sponsors and cooperating parties invite you to submit a paper for Wetlands 2006, an international symposium providing a forum for presentations and discussion on the scientific, legal and management tools relevant to sustaining and restoring wetlands and watershed functions. The symposium will include presentations, posters and discussion on activities in the Great Lakes area, as well as projects describing, "lessons learned" from other parts of the United States and Canada. The call for papers can be found at http://www.aswm.org/calendar/wetlands2006/cfp2006.htm.	e
Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council 426 Bay Street , Petoskey, Michigan 49770 Phone: (231) 347-1181 x 114 Fax: (231) 347-5928 Email: jenniferm@watershedcouncil.org Web: http://www.michiganwetlands.org/