Defining Wetlands in Huntington Beach

Re: Huntington Beach wetlands:

Being an attorney for an involved landowner in the Huntington Beach Wetlands, Roy B. Woolsey should have used a more scientific definition of wetlands in his letter (‘Dry Land and Wetland,’ March 19). Courts generally defer to scientists or expert agencies on technical matters such as the definition of wetlands.

Wetlands are not defined just on the basis of past survey maps but also, more importantly, on existing soil and vegetation characteristics peculiar to wetlands.

In 1984, the Assembly issued a report entitled “Status and Trends of California Wetlands.” This report listed current methods of defining wetlands. For example, the various agencies define wetlands using criteria such as “saturated or seasonally saturated soil conditions” and “a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.”

If we are to comply with President Bush’s campaign position that all existing wetlands, no matter how small, should be preserved, and if we are to observe the Environmental Protection Agency’s policy stipulating no net loss of wetlands, then the wetlands along Coast Highway should be described in scientific documents and preserved, not lost to urban development.

JAN D. VANDERSLOOT

Huntington Beach