THE FEDERAL MANUAL 



What is the 1989 Federal Manual? 



In January 1989, EPA, the Corps, FWS and Department of Agricuhure Soil 

 Conservation Service (SCS) agreed to use one approach for delineating areas under the 

 jurisdiction of Section 404 and Swampbuster. The four agencies adopted a single 

 manual, referred to as the "Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating 

 Jurisdictional Wetlands" (the 1989 Federal Manual), which established a national 

 standard for identifying and delineating vegetated wetlands. The purpose of the 1989 

 Federal Manual is to establish standard Federal technical criteria for identifying and 

 delineating vegetated wetlands under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and the 

 "Swampbuster" provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended. The 1989 

 Federal Manual uses three categories of evidence (three parameters) to determine 

 whether or not the technical criteria are met. These are: wetland hydrology, hydric soil 

 characteristics, and hydrophytic vegetation. 



The 1989 Federal Manual provides guidance on how to collect and use field indicators 

 (such as free water, silt marks, wetland dependent plant species and organic soils) of 

 these parameters to accurately identify and delineate wetlands. 



Should the Federal Manual be solely relied on to identify and delineate jurisdictional 

 wetlands? 



No. The Federal Manual provides mandatory technical criteria for the identification 

 and delineation of wetlands, and vnW be used to identify wetlands that are potentially 

 subject to the jurisdiction of Section 404 of the Clean Water Act or the "Swampbuster" 

 provisions of the Food Security Act of 1985, as amended. However, wetland 

 jurisdictional determinations for regulatory purposes are based on other legal and policy 

 criteria in addition to the Federal Manual's technical criteria (e.g., regulatory guidance 

 on normal circumstances as it pertains to prior converted croplands). Therefore, the 

 appropriate agency policy should be consulted in conjunction with the Federal Manual 

 when identifying and delineating jurisdictional wetlands. 



THE 1989 FEDERAL MANUAL REVISION PROCESS 



Why is the 1989 Federal Manual being revised? What was the goal of the Federal 

 Manual revision process? 



The goal of revising the 1989 Federal Manual is to improve the Federal Manual's 

 ability to properly identify wetlands and to minimize the potential for erroneous 

 wetlands determinations. When the 1989 Federal Manual was adopted, it was 



