Abstract:
Since the 1890s, American federalism has been perceived as being unique in the
world by having two different levels of government operating within the same
jurisdiction without influencing one another. Modern scholars call into question the
validity of this basic assumption, but few have published quantitative evidence to
reject its application. Furthermore, even some of these theorists continue to suggest
that national government programs established under the interstate commerce clause
may resist influence from state counterparts.
This study tests this suggestion by examining how selected outcomes of the national
wetland regulatory program may be influenced by similar statute-based state programs.
In the process, three other voids in the wetland management literature are filled. First,
wetland regulatory units are described for the first time as consequential components
of the regulatory landscape. Second, relationships between the outcomes of the
national wetland regulatory program and local socioeconomic and landscape
conditions such as population size and growth rates, income, wetland abundance, and
program funding levels are quantified. Finally, a model describing the amount of
wetland fill permitted and the number of permits issued by the national government is
constructed from these relationships. The accomplishment of these tasks produces
new evaluative tools that may be used by state and national government wetland
managers to more efficiently and effectively implement their programs.
The results reveal that some, but not all measures of the national wetland regulatory
program's outcomes are influenced by state programs. There is no evidence that the
amount of wetland fill permitted by the national government differs measurably in
accordance with the presence of any type of active state wetland regulatory program.
There is, however, strong evidence that the number of permits issued is directly related
to the presence of statute-based state programs. Furthermore, these programs exhibit
the same relationship to the national program as do state programs that are empowered
solely through federal authorizations.
Therefore, when it comes to wetland regulation, the traditional assumption of
American federalism is inadequate. The United States does have two different levels
of government operating within the same jurisdictions, however, their programs
exhibit measurable influence upon one another.
