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Is Your Wetland Delineation Meeting New Requirements?
West Chester, PA - September 9, 2010
Eastern Mountains & Piedmont Regional Supplement to the Army Corps of Engineers Delineation Manual becomes effective October 2, 2010
Wetland data must be collected on new forms using new wetland indicators for vegetation, soils, and hydrology
Wetland data collected under the old methodology will not be accepted by the US Army Corps of Engineers
Is your wetland delineator trained in the application of the regional supplements?
Brickhouse Environmental remains on the vanguard of changes in wetland policies and can be counted on to provide accurate delineations meeting current Army Corps of Engineers' requirements. The Regional Supplements to the 1987 Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual have prompted new training specific to each region to identify the likely indicators of wetland plants and hydric soils in each regional wetland regime. Because wetlands are typically transition zones between upland and open water, and because of the temporal and seasonal variability of the water table in wetlands, determining a definitive wetland boundary is no easy task. Brickhouse Environmental has completed many wetland delineations under the methodology in the 1987 Manual and has received training in the use of the expanded Regional Supplements.
The 1987 Manual was written for the entire United States and lacks regional specificity, thereby making field decisions even more difficult. For example, some highly oxygenated soils in wetlands may not exhibit any wetland indicators despite being under water for much of the growing season, and some plants that may be well suited to wetlands in one region may grow predominantly in uplands inanother region. In an effort to address regional differences, the Army Corps of Engineers has developed and is implementing Regional Supplements to the 1987 Manual.
The goal of any wetland delineation methodology is to provide field steps necessary to determine if an area meets the definition of a wetland, that is, an area inundated or saturated for periods long enough to support hydrophytic (water-loving) vegetation. The 1987 Manual requires the presence of three parameters to classify an area as a wetland: hydric soil, hydrophytic vegetation, and wetland hydrology. The Regional Supplements are divided into ten areas of similar ecology, geology, and topography and expand the data collection to make determinations more consistent and easier to interpret by Corps staff. Areas served by Brickhouse Environmental include the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain in Delaware, Maryland, southern New Jersey, and southeastern Pennsylvania; the Northcentral and Northeast in New York, northern New Jersey, and northern Pennsylvania; and the Eastern Mountains and Piedmont in most of Pennsylvania.
For information about the new approach to wetland delineations, please call us. |
