40450 Federal Register / Vol. 56, No. 157 / Wednesday. August 14. 1991 / Proposed Rules 



criterion (since it, in fact, embodied the 

 wetland hydrology criterion). This, by 

 itself, was not a significant problem, 

 since hydrology was still considered. 

 Some users then erroneously translated 

 this to mean that any area mapped as a 

 hydric soil series was a wetland. 

 However, it was the clear intent of the 

 agencies that speciBc soil properties 

 derived directly from wetland hydrology 

 (e.g., significant soil saturation) would 

 be used to separate those members of 

 hydric soil series that were associated 

 with wetlands from those that were not. 

 Hydric soil mapping units include 

 significant acreage of phases of these 

 soils that were never wetland or no 

 longer meet the wetland hydrology 

 requirements of the hydric soil criterion 

 (i.e., dry phases and drained phases, 

 respectively) as well as inclusions of 

 nonhydric soils. 



By considering any mapped hydric 

 soil area as wetland, millions of former 

 wetlands (now effectively drained) 

 could be misidentified as wetland. This 

 grossly exaggerated the extent of 

 "jurisdictional wetlands" present in the 

 United States. While the presence of 

 certain plants were required to separate 

 vegetated wetlands from nonvegetated 

 wetiands, they were not used to help 

 identify the upper boundaries, although 

 they can be very useful indicators in 

 certain cases where hydrology has been 

 altered or where soil properties 

 themselves are difficult to interpret. 

 Consequently, by ignoring plant 

 composition on Uie upper end of the 

 wetland/upland gradient and by 

 erroneously using mapped boundaries of 

 hydric soil imits to delineate wetland 

 bouindaries, errors in judgment were 

 possible. 



The 1989 manual specified three 

 mandatory criteria, but did not require 

 the use of various indicators to verify 

 these criteria, although the 

 interrelationships were presented. This 

 allowed individuals to develop their 

 own indicators or ignore strong 

 indicators in determining whether a 

 particular criterion was met Clearly, the 

 criteria needed to be intricately linked 

 to a limited set of field indicators to 

 prevent their misuse. 



A series of meetings of the four 

 agencies were held during the period of 

 October 1990 through April 1991. Major 

 revisions to the 1989 manual were made 

 to correct the technically-based 

 shortcomings addressed above, reduce 

 misinterpretations and the possibility of 

 erroneous weUand determinations, and 

 better explain the manual's usage. 



Federal Wetland Definitions 



Several definitions have been 

 formulated at the Federal level to define 



"wetland" for various laws, regulations, 

 and programs. These definitions are 

 cited below with reference to their 

 guiding document along with a few 

 comments on their key elements. 



Section 404 of the Clean Water Act 



The following definition of wetland is 

 the regulatory definition used by the 

 EPA and CE for administering the 

 Section 404 permit program: 



Those areas that are inundated or 

 saturated by surface or groundwater 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 (EPA 40 CFR 

 230.3. December 24, 1980; and CE. 33 

 CFR 328.3, November 13. 1986). 



This definition emphasizes hydrology, 

 vegetation, and saturated soils. The 

 section 404 regulations also deal with 

 other "waters of the United States" such 

 as open water areas, mud flats, coral 

 reefs, rifile and pool complexes, 

 vegetated shallows, and other aquatic 

 habitats. Both EPA and CE regulations 

 (cited above) implementing this 

 definition were subject to formal 

 rulemaking public notice eind conunent 

 procedures in accordance with the 

 Administrative Procedures Act (5 U.S.C. 

 553). 



Food Security Act of 1965 (as amended) 



The following wetland definition is 

 used by the SCS for identifying 

 wetlands on agricultural land in 

 assessing farmer eligibility for U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture program 

 benefits under the "Swampbuster" 

 provision of this Act 



WeUands are defined as areas that 

 have a predominance of hydric soils and 

 that are inundated or saturated by 

 surface or ground water at a frequency 

 and dxu^tion sufficient to support, and 

 under normal circumstances do support 

 a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation 

 typically adapted for life in saturated 

 soil conditions, except lands in Alaska 

 identified as having a high potential for 

 agricultural development and a 

 predominance of permafi^st soils.* 

 (National Food Security Act Manual, 

 1988 and revised editions) 



'Special Note: The Emergency wetlands 

 Resources Act of 1986 also contains this 

 deRnition. but without the exception for 

 Alaska. 



This definition specifies hydrology, 

 hydrophytic vegetation, and hydric soils. 

 AJiy area that meets the hydric soil 

 criteria (defined by the national 

 Technical Committee for Hydric Soils) is 



considered to have a predominance of 

 hydric soils. The definition also makes a 

 geographic exclusion for Alaska, so that 

 wetlands in Alaska wnth a high potential 

 for agricultural development and a 

 predominance of permafrost soils are 

 exempt from the requirements of the 

 Food Security Act 



Fish and Wildlife Service's Wetland 

 Classification System 



The FWS in cooperation with other 

 Federal agencies. State agencies, and 

 private organizations and individuals 

 developed a wetland definition for 

 conducting an inventory of the Nation's 

 wetiands. This definition was published 

 in the FWS's publication "Classification 

 of Wetiands and Deepwater Habitats of 

 the United States" (Cowardin, et at 

 1979): 



WeUands are lands transitional 

 between terrestrial and aquatic systems 

 where the water table is usually at or 

 near the siuiace or the land is covered 

 by shallow water. For purposes of this 

 classification wetiands must have one 

 or more of the following three attributes: 

 (1) At least periodically, the land 

 supports predominantiy hydrophytes, (2) 

 the substrate is predominantiy 

 undrained hydric soil, and (3) the 

 substrate is nonsoil and is saturated ^ 



with water or covered by shallow water i 

 at some time dtiring the growing season 

 of each year. 



This definition includes both 

 vegetated and nonvegetated wetiands, 

 recognizing that some types of wetiands 

 lack vegetation (e.g., mud flats, sand 

 flats, rocky shores, gravel beaches, and 

 sand bars). The classification system 

 also defines "deepwater habitats" as 

 "permanentiy flooded lands lying below 

 the deepwater boundary of wetiands." 

 Deepwater habitats include estuarine 

 and marine aquatic beds (similar to 

 "vegetated shallows" of section 404), 

 although aquatic beds in shallow fresh 

 water are considered wetiands. Open 

 waters below extreme low water at 

 spring tides in salt and brackish tidal 

 areas and usually below 6.6 feet in 

 inland areas and freshwater tidal areas 

 are also included in deepwater habitats. 



Relationship of Wetlands Identified by 

 This Manual to "Waters of the United 

 States" 



This manual is used to identify and 

 delineate vegetated wetiands. Figure 1 

 presents a generalized landscape 

 continuum from upland to open water _ 



(deepwater habitat) showing the (^ 



relationship of the various Federal 

 wetiand definitions. Vegetated wetiands 

 as used herein means areas that, under 

 normal circumstances, usually have 



