The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers neglected to apply for a mandatory permit before it leveled 43 acres of wildlife habitat in the Sepulveda Basin and filled in a pond used by migrant birds.

Last month, Army Corps officials cut down the area, which for about 30 years had been a designated wildlife preserve but was recently reclassified as a "vegetation management area." Local environmentalists are angry over the felled preserve (Greenwire, Jan. 16).

The agency must offer an explanation for its actions by Feb. 11, the board said. The basin is an engineered flood-control zone for the Los Angeles River, and the Army Corps must also comment on its decision to potentially allow sediment to seep into the river.

"The corps did not notify us before it proceeded to destroy wetlands, and that is a great concern to us," said Maria Mehranian, chairwoman of the water quality control board. "The federal Clean Water Act requires anyone working in wetlands to obtain a permit from us. They failed to do so."

At the same time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating possible endangered species protection violations related to the incident.

Col. Mark Toy, chief of the Army Corps' Los Angeles District, was unavailable for comment on the order from the water board. But spokesman Jay Field said, "We are working with the Regional Water Quality Control Board to provide information we believe will address any concerns" (Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 16). -- WW