Tres Rios Wetlands
Jake Frederico
Arizona Republic
Spread over 700 acres, the Tres Rios Wetlands form a bustling tapestry of nature, home to more than 150 species birds and animals, including bobcats, beavers and coyotes. The captivating colors showcase an impressive plant community of marshes, cattail stands, bulrush beds and mesquite bosques that each year lure thousands of migratory birds.
The wetlands, roughly 15 miles west of Phoenix, were established as part of a rehabilitation project in and around the Salt River to restore the natural habitat of an area that had been severely degraded. But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision threatens the future of the area, along with millions of other acres of wetlands across the country.
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In a 5-4 decision last month, the court curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate the nation’s wetlands and waterways under the Clean Water Act.
The challenge to the regulations was brought by Michael and Chantell Sackett, an Idaho couple who bought property on what an appeals court called a “soggy residential lot” next to Priest Lake, a 19-mile stretch of water fed by mountain streams and bordered by state and national parkland. After the couple started preparing the property for construction in 2007, adding sand gravel and fill, the EPA halted construction and ordered the Sacketts to return the property to its original state because they had failed to get a permit for disturbing wetlands.
In its ruling, the high court sided with the Sacketts and rolled back longstanding rules adopted to carry out the 51-year-old Clean Water Act. It was the court’s second decision in the last year limiting the ability of the agency to enact anti-pollution regulations and combat climate change.
