When Annette Hansen saw the federal government’s concerns with Indiana’s wetlands program, she felt sick to her stomach.
“Especially when you’re somebody who was out here in the trenches trying to take care of just a small piece,” said Hansen, executive director of Porter County’s chapter of Izaak Walton League of America. “We helped restore 150 acres, but that’s such a tiny, little postage stamp compared to when I look around and see what’s happening.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle, on Monday, reported that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — who regulates the program — found the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ wetlands program to not be in compliance with its “three-growing-season timeframe in all service areas.”
According to the Capital Chronicle, the DNR has taken in at least $109 million in wetlands payments from landowners, but many projects supposed to offset disruption have stalled since the program’s launch in 2018.
According to the DNR’s website, the wetlands program — formally called the Indiana Stream and Wetland Mitigation Program — is a statewide in-lieu fee program that allows developers to “purchase stream and/or wetland mitigation credits to fulfill compensatory mitigation requirements” under various sections of the Clean Water Act, Rivers and Harbors Law, and Indiana’s State Isolated Wetlands law.
“DNR will complete all approved and ongoing stream and wetland projects,” a DNR spokesperson said in an email statement to the Post-Tribune, including three projects in the Northwest Indiana region. “We have three projects in the Calumet Dunes Service Area. Two are anticipated to be constructed in 2027, and the third is expected to be constructed in 2028 pending Army Corps approvals.”
The Porter County Izaak Walton League completed a wetlands restoration project several years ago, Hansen said, so they’re unaffected by compliance issues with the DNR’s wetlands program. Hansen said they created the Frame Family Little Calumet Conservation Area, which they bought from the family and brought it back to a higher quality and got rid of invasive species. The restored wetland helps with drainage in the area, especially farms and other lands that hold stormwater.
“That’s really important,” Hansen said. “We’ve seen all the time, now with climate change, how things flood so easily. … By creating these spaces, we’re helping the community hold water.”
The DNR comes out to the property and checks its progress, Hansen said. The agency also ensures that the Izaak Walton League doesn’t place a building there or sell the land, she added.
Hansen believes wetlands are important for local communities to ensure there’s less stormwater buildup, and she said restoration is increasingly important as more land is developed statewide.
“No one’s trying to protect it any more,” Hansen said. “People make choices for the almighty dollar, not thinking about what’s better for the land, the property, the community.”
More Top Picks Eureka Airspeed Neu100
The Post-Tribune contacted the Army Corps’ Chicago District for this report, whose team forwarded the request to the Louisville District. The Louisville District is the lead for managing Indiana’s wetlands program.
According to the statement, the Army Corps found the program to be out of compliance following a 2025 review, including with initial physical and biological improvements, credit delivery and credit cost.
“As a result of the non-compliance determination, the Corps has directed the ILF Program to provide a Corrective Action Plan for all service areas not meeting initial physical and biological improvements,” the statement said. “The Corps continues to work with the IDNR ILF Program to improve project review timeframes and facilitate the timely delivery of mitigation credits.”
The Army Corps is “not aware” of permit application review delays when asked about any Northwest Indiana projects affected by this.
For projects to be completed, the DNR must comply with requirements in the 2008 Compensatory Mitigation Rule, which the Army Corps’ statement said includes identifying potential mitigation sites in accordance with the program’s compensation planning framework, preparing the mitigation plan and all documentation associated with a project, obtaining approvals and permits, project construction and annual monitoring and maintenance.
The Army Corps’ statement also addressed how data center development in Indiana impacts wetlands, which concerned both Hansen and Hoosier Environmental Council Water Science and Sustainability Specialist Susie McGovern.
“Data center development requires (Department of Army) authorization if the activity includes the discharge of fill material into Waters of the U.S., including jurisdictional wetlands,” the statement said. “Compensatory mitigation may be required as a special condition of the DA permit depending on the nature and/or amount of impacts to the Waters of the U.S. The purchase of ILF mitigation credits is one of three options available to DA permit applicants to fulfill mitigation obligations, along with mitigation bank credit purchase and permittee-responsible mitigation. The Corps is not aware of any issuance of DA permits associated with data center development as result of the current compliance status of the IDNR ILF Program.”
McGovern said data centers are becoming “a primary threat” statewide. Data center development faces a streamlined permitting process, which allows development to come faster, she said.
President Donald Trump’s administration has also encouraged data centers nationwide, leading to executive orders aimed at loosening regulations and permitting requirements, McGovern added.
As data centers are built in wetland areas, McGovern said she’s worried about the future of wetlands if they’re being lost without a replacement.
“They provide what we call ecosystem services,” McGovern said, “and those are things like reducing the impact of flooding, they also filter and purify our water resources, they recharge our groundwater resources, and they’re also an essential wildlife habitat. It’s somewhere near 30% of endangered, rare and threatened species rely on wetlands for some period of their life cycle. … It’s incredible.”
McGovern hopes that Indiana activists and residents come together to see the importance of wetlands replacement and restoration. She hopes that it can be remembered when state and local officials make business decisions.
“I feel our state is very much business friendly,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of economic opportunity in the preservation and conservation of wetlands.”