Wetlands destruction evident at the line between Waste Management's garbage dump and a fragmented wet-mesic landfill.
The wet-mesic flatwoods are visible behind leveled ground for Waste Management’s garbage dump. Photo by Nick Hagen.

The panel took less than a minute to make its decision: More than 30 acres of rare and imperiled wetland habitat in Van Buren Township would be cut and replaced by a garbage dump.

Garbage disposal giant Waste Management, which generates $20 billion per year in revenue and pocketed $7.8 billion in profits in 2023, had applied for a Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) permit to build a landfill on the site. 

When Waste Management submitted its application, Dr. Connie Boris did what she usually does as executive director of the Wayne County Conservation District; she drafted a comment recommending that this irreplaceable forested-wetland habitat be preserved and that Waste Management put its new dump on any of the heavily degraded sites in the county that do not contain a precious and endangered ecosystem. 

Predictably, Dr. Boris’ advice went unheeded. EGLE granted Waste Management’s permit request in October 2020. From 2000 to 2020, 601 wetland development permit applications were submitted in Wayne County. EGLE approved 587 of them; that’s 97.7%. In neighboring Oakland County, there were 1,744 permits issued over the same period – a 97% approval rate.

But this one shocked the conscience. The wet-mesic flatwoods on the property are one of the rarest and most imperiled kinds of natural community on the planet, occurring on poorly drained glacial lakeplain with an impervious clay layer that allows abundant vernal pools to form. 

Vernal pools provide essential breeding habitat for a rich diversity of amphibians and invertebrates. Some, like the fairy shrimp, spend their entire lives in these ephemeral havens.

And because the soil dries in the summer, the trees can root more deeply than in most wetlands, reducing windthrow and allowing for some of the greatest tree diversity of any habitat in our northern climes. 

Both wetland and “mesic” (preferring medium moisture levels) species can grow here. The state-endangered swamp cottonwood, with its big leaves and pendulous purple flowers, has been identified in other flatwood fragments. So has the showy orchis, though few Michiganders have ever seen the magenta caps and snow-white tongues of its flowers. 

Among the countless animal species that can call the flatwoods home are at least 26 that are threatened or of state special concern, including several state-endangered snake species, the federally endangered Indiana bat and the state-endangered smallmouth salamander.   

WCCD’s board filed an administrative action challenging EGLE’s issuance of the permit. 

The wet-mesic flatwoods provided perfect habitat for many rare and threatened species. But someone needed to prove it. Waste Management granted Dr. Boris and a few of her ecologist colleagues two days’ access to find and catalog these elusive species.

But their rarity makes them difficult to find, particularly in such a short timeframe. 

Dr. Boris spotted an eastern massasauga rattlesnake, but she couldn’t level her camera before it slipped into the duff. By the time she obtained the special listening devices that could have confirmed the presence of the Indiana bat, it was too late. Her time was up. 

An administrative law judge upheld EGLE’s permit on October 20, 2023. WCCD appealed that decision to the Environmental Permit Review Commission’s Contested Case Review Panel, a three-member panel convened by the director of EGLE (the same agency that granted the permit in the first place). 

On March 22, that panel sided with EGLE and Waste Management, affirming the permit and approving the destruction of the flatwoods.

One panelist admitted, “I don’t feel that I am educated enough to say what the value of [the wet-mesic flatwoods] is.” Nevertheless, Waste Management won the day. One particularly staggering argument was that the surrounding area is already too degraded and fragmented for this remnant to be valuable.

In other words, we’ve already paved and drained and trashed so much that we might as well raze the rest. It can only provide limited ecological value because there’s so little of it left. 

Pursue that logic a bit and see where it leads you.

Could the savings of a company that generates nearly $8 billion in annual profits be worth more to the people of Michigan than the showy orchis or smallmouth salamander? 

Perhaps. Though they comprise our natural heritage, they’re as invisible to most of us now as they will be when they’re gone.

Dr. Boris speaks with reverence about a 250-year-old burr oak on the property, which she’s named “the Monarch.” Few like it remain. 

Habitats like the wet-mesic flatwoods are crucial for supporting our dwindling wildlife and retaining stormwater to help control the flooding that’s becoming increasingly common and severe in southeast Michigan. 

As of seven years ago, some 97% of the wetlands that were present along the Detroit River in 1800 had been destroyed. And the permits have continued unabated. 

But we have to dump our garbage somewhere, don’t we?  

Today, nine medium to high-quality remnants—small fragments—of wet-mesic flatwoods remain in Michigan. Very soon, this number will be eight.

But Wayne County will have one more garbage dump.

Concerned about Michigan’s wetland permitting process? Consider contacting your elected representatives in the Michigan Senate and the Michigan House if you want to tell them that EGLE’s permitting process needs reform. Here are some talking points:

  • The permitting process needs to comply with the federal Clean Water Act, which requires the avoidance or, if not possible, minimization of wetland destruction.
  • Wetland mitigation should not be considered in permitting, as constructed wetlands do not come close to replacing the ecological value of naturally established wetlands.
  • Before any permits are issued, independent, qualified ecologists (e.g. Michigan Natural Features Inventory)  should perform a survey and ecological evaluation.
  • The Environmental Permit Review Commission should be independent of EGLE, and the Contested Case Review Panel should be convened by an independent body, not by the Director of EGLE.
  • Every Contested Case Review Panel reviewing a permit that implicates habitat development should contain at least one ecologist.
  • EGLE should be required to open for public comment any permit application concerning the development of a significant wetland or other imperiled natural community. 
  • The balancing test currently employed by EGLE should be reformed to weigh the vanishing rarity of Michigan’s remaining wetlands (and other imperiled natural community types) much more heavily.
  • Overall, it should be much harder for a property owner to obtain a permit to destroy a wetland or other imperiled natural community type.

The opinions expressed herein are my own and do not reflect the views of any organization or employer.

Evan Rosin is an antitrust and consumer protection attorney living in Detroit. He co-founded Garden Party Collective (a non-profit focused on land stewardship and ecological education through native plant landscaping) with his wife. He currently serves on the Board of the Wayne County Conservation District.