Frequently Asked Questions

As professionals, we take into consideration the current climatic conditions. Therefore when performing our work during unseasonably dry or wet times, we rely more heavily on the soils and larger plant species. Lucky for us, the soils do not convert to wetland ( or hydric) soils without prolonged anaerobic conditions which take many years. Therefore, we can accurately delineate wetlands year around and under abnormal precipitation conditions.

Wetlands aren’t always obvious and are often areas that never have any surface water. Many wetlands are areas that have seasonal below surface soil inundation through ground water fluctuations that support certain plants. By examining the soils, hydrology, and plant composition, trained professionals can make the wetland determinations.

These permits, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, are often required for projects that propose to impact jurisdictional wetlands or streams. Nationwide Permits cover common activities with minimal impact, while Individual Permits are for larger or more complex projects. The permitting process can involve coordination with various federal and state agencies and may require mitigation for unavoidable impacts.

For total project Impacts to “Jurisdictional Waters of the U.S.” that are less than 0.50 acres, Nationwide Permit Coverage can be acquired. This is the most common and fastest permitting option. For projects where impacts to “Jurisdictional Waters of the U.S.” exceed 0.50 acres, a Standard (or sometimes called “Individual”) permit will be required and the timeline and cost are significantly increased.

Nationwide Permit Coverage is usually obtained within 60 days of the permit application being accepted by the USACE. However, there can be requests for additional information like Cultural Resource Surveys or Threatened and Endangered Species Surveys that significantly lengthen this process and therefore we encourage applicants to as allow us to submit their information well in advance of construction.

These vary depending on the workload of the USACE and many other factors including public comments and project complexity, but they generally take a year or longer to obtain. Therefore we encourage clients to work with us and their engineer to minimize impacts which starts with a wetland and stream delineation early in the project planning process.

Mitigation is usually acquired through purchasing credits from a mitigation bank, but can be acquired through onsite restoration activities on really large projects.

The wetland mappers serve a different purpose than an actual infield wetland delineation. They use historical aerial photography and do not use the US Army Corps of Engineers methods which determine where federally regulated “Waters of the US” are located. They are not a replacement for in field wetland delineations. We often find no wetlands where the online resources show wetlands and jurisdictional wetlands in areas not shown using this online resource.

Wetlands and floodplains are very different. We commonly find wetlands that are outside of the “floodplain” and delineate a lot of  “floodplains” that contain no wetlands. Floodplain is a designation given to areas that may see surface water as a result of large precipitation events. Wetlands are areas where the soils, usually from groundwater only, inundate the upper profile and create hydric soil conditions that promote water treatment and certain plant compositions. You can easily have wetlands and no floodplain or floodplain, but no wetlands.