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.) 



Do the proposed revisions address concerns raised by the public? 



The 1990 public comment period and public meetings resulted in a substantial and 

 useful record of concerns and recommendations that were considered in developing the 

 proposed revisions to the Federal Manual. The 1990 public record focused the 

 agencies' review on key issues, including: the wetland hydrology criterion; concern that 

 wetlands determinations were based on less than all three of the basis parameters 

 (hydrology, vegetation, and soils), and in some cases on only one parameter; concern 

 that areas are dry at the surface (potentially all year round) are considered wetlands 

 based on the presence of water as deep as 18 inches below the surface; the definition 

 of the growing season; the assumption that facultative vegetation can indicate wetland 

 hydrology, which provided opportunities for misuse. The proposed revisions address 

 these and other concerns raised by the public. 



Do the proposed revisions change the definition of wetlands? 



No, the proposed revisions do NOT change the regulatory definition of wetlands used 

 by EPA and the Corps in implementing the Section 404 program or SCS in 

 implementing the Swampbuster program. They are intended to be consistent with the 

 regulatory definitions of wetlands in these programs. However, the agencies are 

 committed to including parts of the final Federal Manual in the Code of Federal 

 Regulations to clarify the criteria by which the definition of wetlands is interpreted. 



Is the proposed revised Federal Manual a three-parameter approach? 



Yes. Independent indicators of all three parameters are required unless the area is a 

 disturbed wetland or an area is a specifically described exception (i.e., playa lake, 

 prairie pothole, vernal pool, pocosin, or 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 three criteria during all or some part of the year. 

 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 

 such as removal of vegetation. 



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