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# PERC Proposes Licensing Contractors as Path to Wetlands Protection After Sackett Ruling
- URL: https://www.the406.news/perc-proposes-licensing-contractors-as-path-to-wetlands-protection-after-sackett-ruling/
- Published: 2026-10-15T21:03:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T21:03:17.000Z
- Description: A new piece from the Property and Environment Research Center argues states should license contractors rather than regulate individual parcels to preserve wetlands in the wake of the Supreme Court's Sackett v. EPA decision.
- Author: Samuel Von Worthington
- Tags: Conservation, #zone-bozeman, #ai-assisted, #bridger-edit, #dedupe-d49e88cd15ce01ee

A policy piece published by the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) argues that states have a practical new path to wetlands conservation following the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA — one that shifts the regulatory focus from individual parcels of land to the contractors who work on them.

What this means for you

Montana:Montana has direct exposure here. PERC is headquartered in Bozeman, and Montana has significant wetlands acreage — particularly in river corridors, prairie potholes, and agricultural drainages — that lost federal Clean Water Act coverage under Sackett. How Montana chooses to fill that gap, if at all, is an open policy question at the state legislature and DEQ level.

Gallatin County:PERC is based in Bozeman; the research and policy proposals originating there routinely influence state and federal land-use debates affecting Gallatin County's fast-developing landscape.

The piece, authored by Kat Dwyer, proposes that states license contractors as a way to create conservation incentives, rather than relying on the parcel-by-parcel permitting framework the Sackett decision effectively curtailed. The core argument: if the contractors doing earthmoving, development, or drainage work are professionally licensed and accountable for wetlands outcomes, the market does more of the regulatory heavy lifting.

The Supreme Court's Sackett ruling narrowed the federal definition of "waters of the United States," stripping Clean Water Act protections from many wetlands that lack a continuous surface connection to navigable waters. The decision left a significant regulatory gap at the federal level and pushed the question of what happens to those wetlands squarely to state governments.

PERC, a Bozeman-based research organization, focuses on market-oriented approaches to environmental problems — the contractor-licensing model fits squarely within that framework. Rather than requiring landowners to navigate permit processes for every affected parcel, the approach would hold licensed professionals responsible for protecting wetlands as a condition of their license, potentially creating both a financial incentive and a professional reputation stake in getting it right.

The full piece is available through PERC's website. Details on the specific licensing mechanisms proposed, which states are being targeted, and any pending legislative activity were not available from the source excerpt provided to the406.news.