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and Wildlife Service (FWS), and other resource agencies also <br />share in these roles. <br />The 404 program, however, has been heavily criticized for <br />its inability to prevent the loss and degradation of valuable <br />wetland areas, and should not be considered adequate by itself. <br />This is partly a function of the 404 program as it is currently <br />authorized and partly a function of the Corps administration of <br />the program (GAO 1988). In Colorado, the effectiveness of the <br />404 program as a tool for regulating peatland activities may be <br />less than it is in most other areas of the nation because: 1) on <br />the basis of site acreage and volume of fill placement, most <br />sites in Colorado are exempt from full review and are approved <br />under a general permit; and, 2) authority for the program within <br />the state is shared between three COE offices which has resulted <br />in inconsistency in the enforcement of the program. <br />As presently authorized, the Corps may issue one of the 26 <br />nationwide general permits for groups of similar activities which <br />the Corps determines cause only "minimal individual and <br />cumulative environmental impacts" (GAO 1988). Nationwide 26 <br />(N26) permits allow the landowner to bypass the normal 404 permit <br />process in which a complete assessment of the project's impacts <br />are evaluated. N26 permits are routinely issued to operations <br />that are either above the 5 cfs level on a stream or involve less <br />than ten acres. All of the study sites in the South Park area <br />have N26 permit approval. Because of the uniqueness of sites in <br />the vicinity of South Park, it is questionable whether activities <br />62 <br />