United States Office of August 14, 1991 Environmental Protection Wetlands, Oceans, Agency and Watersheds vvEPA Side-By-Side Comparison Of The 1989 Manual And Proposed Revised Manual EJBD ARCHIVE EPA 840- K- 91- 001 Printed on Recycled Paper ------- BASING WETLANDS DETERMINATIONS ON 3 PARAMETERS - HYDROLOGY, VEGETATION, AND SOILS 1989 MANUAL: Evidence of all 3 parameters are required, BUT could assume hydrology from vegetation or soils IF area was disturbed. Could assume vegetation from soils and hydrology. Could assume soils from certain vegetation. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Independent indicators of all 3 parameters are required UNLESS the area is a disturbed wetland or the area is a specifically described exception (e.g., playa lake, prairie pothole, vernal pool, pocosin, and other special wetlands that fail the hydrophytic vegetation criterion). Exceptions are widely recognized valuable wetland types that may fail to meet one or more of the 3 criteria. Requests public comment on the listed exceptions as well as potential additions to the list, and on recommendations for identifying appropriate indicators for each wetland type listed as an exception. Requests public comment on three alternatives to identifying and delineating seasonally harder to identify wetland types that are NOT exceptions to the criteria, but may not demonstrate indicators of one or more of the 3 criteria during certain (e.g., dry) times of the year. Repository Material Permanent Collection US EPA Headquarters and Chemical Libraries EPA West Bldg Room 3340 Mailcode 3404T 1301 Constitution Ave NW Washington DC 20004 202-566-0656 ------- DURATION OF INUNDATION AND/OR SATURATION IN THE WETLAND HYDROLOGY CRITERION 1989 MANUAL: Requires inundation or saturation for one week or more during the growing season. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Requires inundation for 15 or more consecutive days, or saturation to the surface for 21 or more consecutive days during the growing season. ------- DEPTH AT WHICH SOIL SATURATION IS REQUIRED IN THE WETLAND HYDROLOGY CRITERION 1989 MANUAL: Requires saturation to the surface at some point in time during the growing season. Saturation to the surface would normally occur when, for one week or more, the water table is within: • 6 inches of the soil surface in somewhat poorly drained mineral soils, • 12 inches of the soil surface in poorly drained or very poorly drained mineral soils, or • 18 inches of the soil surface in poorly drained or very poorly drained mineral soils with low permeability (less than 6 inches per hour). The above-listed depths to the water table were intended to correspond to saturation to the surface caused by capillary action above the water table. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Requires inundation and/or saturation at the surface. 1989 Manual depths to water table as indicators of surface saturation are deleted; replaced by a test for water that can be squeezed or shaken from the surface soil to ensure that capillary action is saturating the soil at the surface. ------- TECHNICAL VALIDITY OF ACCEPTABUE INDICATORS OF WETLAND HYDROLOGY 1989 MANUAL: The list of wetland hydrology indicators included both strong and weak indicators, each of which alone could be used to meet the wetland hydrology criterion. Hydric soil characteristics alone also could be used to meet the hydrology criterion. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Eliminates hydric soil characteristics as hydrology indicators. Separates list of hydrology indicators into primary and secondary indicators. Primary indicators are more reliable and can be used alone to meet hydrology criterion. Secondary indicators are weaker and can only be used with corroborative information. This corroborative information must be of sufficient quality and extent that when taken together with secondary indicators clearly supports the presence of wetland hydrology for the necessary time, duration, and frequency. Requests public comment on the validity of secondary indicators. Removes water-stained leaves, trunks, or stems and requests public comment on including this as indicators of hydrology, their reliability as indicators of hydrology and whether they should be primary or secondary indicators. Solicits comments on the data requirements for hydrologic records (e.g., cutoff for "normal rainfall" years) to document that the wetland hydrology criterion has been met. ------- DEFINITION OF GROWING SEASON 1989 MANUAL: Used growing season zones mapped in broad bands across the country according to soil temperature regimes. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Growing season is based on local weather data, and will be from 3 weeks before the last killing frost in the Spring to 3 weeks after the first killing frost in the Fall, except for areas that experience freezing temperatures throughout the year, where appropriate local growing seasons will be applied. The local weather data will be available on a local level, e.g. the county level. Solicits comment on this definition. ------- PUBLIC INPUT TO THE REVISION PROCESS 1989 MANUAL: As an interpretation of the existing regulatory definition of wetlands, the Manual was not required to go through notice and comment rulemaking. There was no opportunity for public input on the Manual prior to its issuance or implementation. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: The Agencies held 4 public meetings last Summer and accepted written comments on the 1989 Manual until September 28, 1990. These comments were considered in developing the proposed revisions. The Manual will be formally proposed in the Federal Register. The position that this Manual is a technical guidance document which is not required by law to go through Administrative Procedure Act (APA) legislative rulemaking procedures has been upheld with respect to the 1989 wetlands delineation manual in Hobbs v. United States. 32 Env't Rep. Cas. (BNA) 2091 (E.D. Va. 1990), appeal pending. No. 90-1861 (4th Cir.). Nonetheless, the agencies believe that it would be appropriate and in the public interest to include parts of the final manual in the Code of Federal Regulations. When the agencies determine what portions of the manual that may be promulgated as a legislative rule, they will provide notice of specific proposed regulatory language in the FEDERAL REGISTER at least 30 days prior to the end of the public comment period. The regulatory language will be subject to the Administrative Procedure Act rulemaking process. ------- HYDROPHYTIC VEGETATION CRITERION 1989 MANUAL: Requires under normal circumstances: 1) more than 50% of the composition of the dominant species from all strata are obligate wetland, facultative wetland, and/or facultative wetland species; OR 2) the prevalence index approach (that is, under normal circumstances, a frequency analysis of all species within the community yields a prevalence index value of less than 3.0 (where OBL = 1.0, FACW = 2.0, FAC = 3.0, FACU = 4.0, and UPL = 5.0). PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Proposes the prevalence index approach -- that is, an area meets this criterion if, under normal circumstances, a frequency analysis of all species within the community yields a prevalence index value of less than 3.0 (where OBL = 1.0, FACW = 2.0, FAC = 3.0, FACU = 4.0, and UPL = 5.0). Solicits comments on including the Facultative Neutral test as part of the hydrophytic vegetation criterion in addition to the proposed prevalence index approach. Under this approach the criterion would be met if after discounting all dominant facultative (FAC) plants, the number of dominant obligate wetland (OBL) and facultative wetland (FACW) species exceeds the number of dominant facultative upland (FACU) and obligate upland (UPL) species. (Note: a number of options are presented describing circumstances under which,the prevalence index procedure would be used.) Solicits comments on variants of the FAC neutral test. ------- STATUS OF DELINEATIONS BASED ON THE 1989 FEDERAL MANUAL 1989 MANUAL: Required the use of 1989 Manual for delineation and such delineations were final. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Any landowner whose land has been delineated a wetland after the revised Manual is proposed but before the proposed revised Manual becomes final may request a new delineation following publication of the final revised Manual. However, final actions, such as permit issuances or completed enforcement actions, already taken on wetlands delineated under the 1989 manual will not generally be reopened. A landowner whose property has been identified as a wetland during a seasonal dry period or drought can request a re-evaluation in the field during the wet season of the year. The agencies are soliciting comment on the likelihood of sites being delineated during the dry season as wetland that, if the delineation had occurred during the wet season, would not have met the hydrology criterion. Should requests for re- evaluations be limited to certain cases or should all requests be granted? ------- DEFINITION OF A DISTURBED WETLAND AREA AND ITS DELINEATION PROCEDURES 1989 MANUAL: Disturbed wetland areas include situations where field indicators of one or more of the three wetland identification criteria are obliterated or not present due to recent change. For disturbed areas where vegetation is removed and no other alterations have been done, the presence of hydric soils and evidence of wetland hydrology will be used to identify wetlands. If such evidence is found, conditions are assumed to be sufficient to support hydrophytic vegetation. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Disturbed wetland areas are wetlands that met the mandatory criteria prior to disturbance and have had vegetation, soils, and/or hydrology altered such that the required evidence of the relevant indicators for the affected criteria has been removed. If a disturbed area is identified as a wetland, field personnel shall uocument the reasons for determining that the site would have been a wetland but for the disturbance. For disturbed area where the vegetation is removed and no other alterations have been done, evidence of the elimination of the hydrophytic vegetation together with the presence of hydric soils and evidence of wetland hydrology must be used to identify wetlands. ------- ALTERNATIVE APPROACH TO DELINEATION ON A SITE-SPECIFIC BASIS 1989 MANUAL: Sites are delineated individually. PROPOSED REVISED MANUAL: Sites are delineated individually. Solicits comments on alternative approaches that would allow identification of categories that can be identified and delineated rapidly and without the need for extensive documentation. 10 ------- |