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

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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.
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.
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