Glossary

Below is a list of terms and definitions that are used throughout the Aquatic Resources Awareness Course
for Real Estate Appraisers.

Term

Definition

Algal blooms

A rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae (typically
microscopic) in a water system. Algal blooms may occur in freshwater as
well as marine environments.

Aquaculture

The farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and
aquatic plants.

Aquatic resources

Include wetlands, streams, lakes, rivers, springs, seeps, ponds, and
groundwater.

Beach nourishment

The process of adding sand from somewhere else to an eroding shoreline
to create a new beach or widen an existing beach.

Best management
practices (BMP)

Policies, practices, procedures, or structures implemented to mitigate the
adverse environmental effects on surface water quality resulting from
development. BMPs are categorized as structural or non-structural.

Biodiversity

It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems.
This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species
variation (number of species) within an area, biome, or planet.

Biogeochemical cycling

In Earth science, a biogeochemical cycle or substance turnover or cycling
of substances is a pathway by which a chemical substance moves through
both biotic (biosphere) and abiotic (lithosphere, atmosphere, and
hydrosphere) compartments of Earth.

Biomass

Biological material derived from living or recently living organisms.


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Term

Definition

Bog

A type of wetland characterized by spongy peat deposits, acidic waters,
and a floor covered by a thick carpet of sphagnum moss. Bogs receive all
or most of their water from precipitation rather than from runoff,
groundwater or streams. As a result, bogs are low in the nutrients needed
for plant growth, a condition that is enhanced by acid forming peat
mosses.

Bottomland hardwood
forests

Bottomland hardwood forests are river swamps. They are found along
rivers and streams of the southeast and south central United States,
generally in broad floodplains. These ecosystems are commonly found
wherever streams or rivers at least occasionally cause flooding beyond
their channel confines.

Carbon sink

A carbon sink is a natural or artificial reservoir that accumulates and stores
some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period. The
process by which carbon sinks remove carbon dioxide (C02) from the
atmosphere is known as carbon sequestration.

Clean Water Act

Common name for the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which
restructured and expanded the federal government's authority for water
pollution control and consolidated authority in the Administrator of the
Environmental Protection Agency.

Compensatory mitigation

The restoration, establishment (creation), enhancement, or preservation
of aquatic resources for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable
adverse impacts which remain after all appropriate and practicable
avoidance and minimization has been achieved.

CWA

Abbreviation for the federal Clean Water Act, also known as the Federal
Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, which restructured the authority for
water pollution control and consolidated authority in the Administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency.

Discharge

The term "discharge" means any discharge of dredged or fill material.


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Term

Definition

Dredged material

Dredging is the removal of material from the bottom of lakes, rivers,
harbors and other water bodies. Most dredging is done to maintain or
deepen navigation channels, anchorages or berthing areas for the safe
passage of boats and ships.

Ecosystems services

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These
services include the production of food and water; regulating, such as the
control of climate and disease; supporting, such as nutrient cycles and
crop pollination; and cultural, such as spiritual and recreational benefits.

Emergent plant

A rooted herbaceous plant species that has parts extending
above a water surface.

Enhancement

Wetland enhancement is the rehabilitation or reestablishment of a
degraded wetland, and/or the modification of an existing wetland, which
augments specific site conditions for specific species or purposes, possibly
at the expense of other functions and other species.

Ephemeral stream

An ephemeral stream has flowing water only during, and for a short
duration after, precipitation events in a typical year. Ephemeral stream
beds are located above the water table year-round. Groundwater is not a
source of water for the stream. Runoff from rainfall is the primary source
of water for stream flow.

Establishment

The manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics
present to develop an aquatic resource that did not previously exist at an
upland site. Establishment results in a gain in aquatic resource area.

Estuarine

An estuary is a body of water formed where freshwater from rivers and
streams flows into the ocean, mixing with the seawater. Estuaries and the
lands surrounding them are places of transition from land to sea, and from
freshwater to saltwater.


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Term

Definition

Fens

Fens, are peat-forming wetlands that receive nutrients from sources other
than precipitation: usually from upslope sources through drainage from
surrounding mineral soils and from groundwater movement. Fens differ
from bogs because they are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels.

Fill material

Any material placed in an area to increase surface elevation.

General permit

General permits are permits issued to authorize similar minor activities by
one or more applicants.

Groins

A wall or jetty built out over a riverbank or seashore to control erosion.

Habitat

The environment occupied by individuals of a particular species,
population, or community.

Hydric soil

A soil that is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during the
growing season to develop anaerobic conditions that favor the growth and
regeneration of hydrophytic vegetation. Hydric soils that occur in areas
having positive indicators of hydrophytic vegetation and wetland
hydrology are wetland soils.

Hydrology

Hydrology is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and quality
of water on Earth and other planets.

Hydrophytes

A plant that grows only in water or very moist soils.

Individual permit

Individual permits are authorizations issued directly to an applicant

In-lieu fee

A type of mitigation that can be used to compensate for unavoidable
impacts to wetlands. In this approach to mitigation, a permittee pays a fee
to a third party instead of conducting project-specific mitigation or buying
credits from a wetland mitigation bank.


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Term

Definition

Intermittent stream

An intermittent stream has flowing water during certain times of the year,
when groundwater provides water for stream flow. During dry periods,
intermittent streams may not have flowing water. Runoff from rainfall is a
supplemental source of water for stream flow.

Invertebrates

Species of animals that do not have a spinal column. Familiar examples of
invertebrates include insects, crabs, lobsters and their kin, snails, clams,
octopuses and their kin, starfish, sea-urchins and their kin, and worms.

Isolated wetlands

Wetlands that are not contiguous, bordering or neighboring
with respect to other Waters of the US are jurisdictional^ "isolated"

Jetties

A structure such as a pier, that projects into a body of water to influence
the current or tide or to protect a harbor or shoreline from storms or
erosion.

Jurisdictional
determination

A determination of which wetlands are regulated under section 404 of the
Clean Water Act or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act or under a
State law.

Lakes

Usually a large body of water surrounded by land.

Mangrove swamps

A coastal marine swamp of tropical or subtropical regions dominated by
mangrove trees.

Marsh

Marshes are defined as wetlands frequently or continually inundated with
water, characterized by emergent soft-stemmed vegetation adapted to
saturated soil conditions. There are many different kinds of marshes,
ranging from the prairie potholes to the Everglades, coastal to inland,
freshwater to saltwater. All types receive most of their water from surface
water, and many marshes are also fed by groundwater. Nutrients are
plentiful and the pH is usually neutral leading to an abundance of plant
and animal life.


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Term

Definition

Mitigation

Compensatory mitigation is required to replace the loss of wetland and
aquatic resource functions in the watershed. Compensatory mitigation
refers to the restoration, establishment, enhancement, or in certain
circumstances preservation of wetlands, streams or other aquatic
resources for the purpose of offsetting unavoidable adverse impacts.

Mitigation banking

A wetlands mitigation bank is a wetland area that has been restored,
established, enhanced or reserved, which is then set aside to compensate
for future conversions of wetlands for development activities. Permittees,
upon approval of regulatory agencies, can purchase credits from a
mitigation bank to meet their requirements for compensatory mitigation.
The value of these "credits" is determined by quantifying the wetland
functions or acres restored or created. The bank sponsor is ultimately
responsible for the success of the project. Mitigation banking is performed
"off-site," meaning it is at a location not on or immediately adjacent to the
site of impacts, but within the same watershed.

Nationwide permit

Nationwide permit is a general permit that authorizes activities across the
country, unless a district or division commander revokes the nationwide
permit in a state or other geographic region.

Navigable

Navigable waters of the United States are those waters that are subject to
the ebb and flow of the tide and/or are presently used, or have been used
in the past, or may be susceptible for use to transport interstate or foreign
commerce. A determination of navigability, once made, applies laterally
over the entire surface of the water body, and is not extinguished by later
actions or events which impede or destroy navigable capacity.

Non-tidal wetland

A non-tidal wetland is a wetland that is not subject to the ebb and flow of
tidal waters. Non-tidal wetlands contiguous to tidal waters are located
landward of the high tide line (i.e., spring high tide line).


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Term

Definition

Ordinary High Water
Mark (or Cyclical High
Tide Mark)

An ordinary high water mark is a line on the shore established by the
fluctuations of water and indicated by physical characteristics, or by other
appropriate means that consider the characteristics of the surrounding
areas.

Palustrine

Palustrine systems include any inland wetland dominated by trees, shrubs,
or persistent emergent vegetation, which lacks flowing water, contains
ocean-derived salts in concentrations of less than 0.05%, and is non-tidal.

Perennial stream

A perennial stream has flowing water year-round during a typical year. The
water table is located above the stream bed for most of the year.
Groundwater is the primary source of water for stream flow. Runoff from
rainfall is a supplemental source of water for stream flow.

Physiographic region

Geographic region in which climate and geology have given rise to an array
of landforms different from those of the surrounding regions.

Pine savannahs

A type of ecosystem dominated by a canopy of tall, longleaf pines. The
terrain is flat to gently rolling with a sandy soil and high water table.
Commonly found along the south eastern coastal plains.

Playa lakes

Playa lakes are round hollows in the ground in the Southern High Plains of
the United States. They are ephemeral, meaning that they are only present
at certain times of the year.

Pocosins

A type of palustrine wetland with deep, acidic, sandy, peat soils.
Groundwater saturates the soil except during brief seasonal dry spells and
during prolonged droughts.

Pollutant

A substance that makes land, water, and air dirty and not safe or suitable
use...something that causes pollution.

Pollution

The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
biological, and radiological integrity of water.


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Term

Definition

Ponds

A small body of still water formed naturally or by hallowing or by
embankment.

Prairie potholes

Prairie potholes are depressional wetlands (primarily freshwater marshes)
found most often in the Upper Midwest region of the US.

Preservation

The removal of a threat to, or preventing the decline of, aquatic resources
by an action in or near those aquatic resources. This term includes
activities commonly associated with the protection and maintenance of
aquatic resources through the implementation of appropriate legal and
physical mechanisms. Preservation does not result in a gain of aquatic
resource area or functions.

Re-establishment

The manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of
a site with the goal of returning natural/historic functions to a former
aquatic resource. Re-establishment results in rebuilding a former aquatic
resource and results in a gain in aquatic resource area.

Rehabilitation

The manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of
a site with the goal of repairing natural/historic functions to a degraded
aquatic resource. Rehabilitation results in a gain in aquatic resource
function, but does not result in a gain in aquatic resource area.

Restoration

The manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of
a site with the goal of returning natural/historic functions to a former or
degraded aquatic resource. For the purpose of tracking net gains in
aquatic resource area, restoration is divided into two categories: re-
establishment and rehabilitation.


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Term

Definition

Riffle and pool complexes

Riffle and pool complexes sometimes characterize steep gradient sections
of streams. Such stream sections are recognizable by their hydraulic
characteristics. The rapid movement of water over a course substrate in
riffles results in a rough flow, a turbulent surface, and high dissolved
oxygen levels in the water. Pools are deeper areas associated with riffles.
A slower stream velocity, a streaming flow, a smooth surface, and a finer
substrate characterize pools.

Riparian

Riparian areas are lands adjacent to streams, lakes, and estuarine-marine
shorelines. Riparian areas are transitional between terrestrial and aquatic
ecosystems, through which surface and subsurface hydrology connects
water bodies with their adjacent uplands. Riparian areas provide a variety
of ecological functions and services and help improve or maintain local
water quality.

Rivers

A large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or
another such stream.

Root zone

The part of the plant that is below the soil and the area surrounding it.

Salt marsh

Saltwater wetlands that occur along many coasts.

Scrub/shrub wetland

Wetland type that includes areas dominated by woody vegetation less
than 6 m (20 feet) tall. The species include true shrubs, young trees, and
trees or shrubs that are small or stunted because of the environmental
conditions.

Silviculture

Silviculture is the practice of controlling the establishment, growth,
composition, health, and quality of forests to meet diverse needs and
values.


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Term

Definition

Stream bed

The substrate of the stream channel between the ordinary high water
marks. The substrate may be bedrock or inorganic particles that range in
size from clay to boulders. Wetlands contiguous to the stream bed, but
outside of the ordinary high water marks, are not considered part of the
stream bed.

Streams

A small narrow river.

Swamps

A swamp is any wetland dominated by woody plants.

Territorial seas

The belt of the seas measured from the line of ordinary low water along
that portion of the coast that is in direct contact with the open sea and
extending seaward a distance of 3 miles.

Tidal wetland

Tidal wetland is a wetland (i.e., water of the United States) that is
inundated by tidal waters. Tidal waters rise and fall in a predictable and
measurable rhythm or cycle due to the gravitational pulls of the moon and
sun. Tidal waters end where the rise and fall of the water surface can no
longer be practically measured in a predictable rhythm due to masking by
other waters, wind, or other effects. Tidal wetlands are located
channelward of the high tide line.

Traditional navigable
waters

Waters defined as navigable before passage of the CWA and their
tributaries, including interstate waters, intrastate lakes, rivers, and
streams used for recreational or other purposes; and intrastate lakes,
rivers, and streams from which fish or shellfish are taken and sold in
interstate commerce.

Treatment as state

Several federal environmental laws authorize EPA to treat eligible
federally-recognized Indian tribe in the same manner as a state for
implementing and managing certain environmental programs.


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Term

Definition

Upland

As used herein, any area that does not qualify as a wetland because the
associated hydrologic regime is not sufficiently wet to elicit development
of vegetation, soils, and/or hydrologic characteristics associated with
wetlands. Such areas occurring within floodplains are more appropriately
termed nonwetlands.

Vegetated shallows

Vegetated shallows are special aquatic sites under the 404(b)(1)
Guidelines. They are areas that are permanently inundated and under
normal circumstances have rooted aquatic vegetation, such as seagrasses
in marine and estuarine systems and a variety of vascular rooted plants in
freshwater systems.

Vegetated shallows

They are areas that are permanently inundated and under normal
circumstances have rooted aquatic vegetation, such as seagrasses in
marine and estuarine systems and a variety of vascular rooted plants in
freshwater systems.

Vernal pools

Vernal pools are seasonal depressional wetlands that occur under the
Mediterranean climate conditions of the West Coast and in glaciated areas
of northeastern and midwestern states. They are covered by shallow
water for variable periods from winter to spring, but may be completely
dry for most of the summer and fall. These wetlands range in size from
small puddles to shallow lakes and are usually found in a gently sloping
plain of grassland.

Water quality standards

Water Quality Standards are the foundation of the water quality-based
pollution control program mandated by the Clean Water Act. Water
Quality Standards define the goals for a water body by designating its uses,
setting criteria to protect those uses, and establishing provisions such as
antidegradation policies to protect water bodies from pollutants.


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Term

Definition

Waters of the United
States

Waters used in or supporting interstate or foreign commerce or
recreation, waters used for interstate or foreign industrial purposes,
interstate waters and wetlands, the territorial sea, and the tributaries of
and wetlands adjacent to those waters. This term is often used to describe
those waters falling under the jurisdiction of the CWA.

Wet meadow

Wet meadows are a type of marsh that commonly occurs in poorly drained
areas such as shallow lake basins, low-lying farmland, and the land
between shallow marshes and upland areas. Some wet meadows are
found high in the mountains on poorly drained soil.

Wetland

Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at
a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal
circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for
life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps,
marshes, bogs, and similar areas.

Wetland delineation

The procedure used to identify and delineate wetlands.


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