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<br />o <br />C) <br />C;O <br />l'0 <br /> <br />The Council believes that the Federal agencies have done an <br />outstanding job in following the directives of the Executive Order <br />with regard to coordination and joint development of the <br /> <br />implementation plan. <br /> <br />However, appropriations to carry out the <br /> <br />activities recommended in the implementation plan have not been <br /> <br />sufficient to assure the numeric criteria will be met in the <br /> <br />future. <br /> <br />The Council has, for a number of years, expressed its concern <br /> <br />with issues relating to wetlands and procedures for evaluating and <br />monitoring the progress of the voluntary replacement of wildlife <br />habitat values foregone under the USDA program. While the Council <br /> <br />recognizes some progress has been made, 'there continue to be delay <br /> <br />and controversy stemming from a lack of agreement on various <br /> <br />wetland issues. The Council urges continued efforts on the part of <br />the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Fish and Wildlife <br />service (FWS), and Soil Conservation service (SCS), to resolve the <br />issues concerning the voluntary replacement wildlife habitat values <br />foregone with the full recognition that only voluntary replacement <br />is authorized (PL 98-569), and that maintenance of federally- <br />mandated water quality standard is the primary purpose of the <br />program. The Council recognizes that SCS has initiated additional <br />actions to track and report wetland and wildlife habitat effects on <br /> <br />a contract by contract basis as well as the assessment of offsite <br />effects. The Council strongly recommends that agencies increase <br />efforts to resolve the current and future replacement issue and to <br />keep the Council and the Forum advised as.to p~ogress and problems. <br /> <br />5 <br />