Wetlands are a valuable natural resource, yet over 200,000 acres are destroyed in the United States each year. An alternative recently promoted to improve wetland protection is state assumption of the law governing wetland protection, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (section 404). This book discusses the implementation problems associated with the national wetland regulation program and examines the state assumption option in twelve states, with extended case studies of Florida, Maryland, Michigan, and New Jersey.

Ronald Keith Gaddie is Associate Professor of Political Science at The University of Oklahoma.

James L. Regens is Freeport-McMoRan Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of Entergy Spatial Analysis Research Laboratory at Tulane University Medical Center. They are coauthors of The Economic Realities of Political Reform: Elections and the U.S. Senate.