Wetlands

Wetland Delineation, Permits & Mitigation

Delineation per U.S. Army Corps of Engineers  Wetlands Delineation Manual (1987), and Regional Supplements.

Since 1985, we have successfully defended hundreds of our wetland delineations with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through Jurisdictional Determination (“JD”) approvals.

• Pre-acquisition wetland assessments, as part of “due diligence”
• Non-JD presence/absence reports
• Jurisdictional Determination (“JD” for Army Corps 5-year acceptance) Reports require data forms, captioned photos, photo & data points on plan.
• Wetland Mitigation (Replacement) Design, Permitting, Construction, Monitoring
• General Permits, Joint Permits, Small Projects Permits, Dam Permits
• Studies for Threatened and Endangered Species

Carelessly placing a wetland flag 20 feet to the right or left could make the difference between a 30-day simple permit and a 2-year expensive permit!   Your wetland delineator must stay fluent and current in local, state, and federal regulations and permits.

If wetlands are to be impacted, it is essential to distinguish between wetlands and “other waters” (ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, ditches), because the permit thresholds for linear and areal impacts vary for each kind of resource.

A higher level of skill is required to defend tight boundaries for intricate wetland delineations!  Anyone with plastic flagging in their pocket can loosely define a conservatively safe, oversized, wetland.  This may be adequate for site plans on tracts with surplus space.  Consulting with a Certified Professional Soil Scientist to define the limits of hydric soil indicators could prevent you from giving up more buildable land than necessary, or needlessly processing permits.