CRITERIA : CATEGORY I (ii) - Documented high quality Natural Heritage wetland sites or high 

 quality native wetland communities which qualify as a Natural Heritage wetland sites. 



>'^B-CKiTERIA 



1) the wetland is already on record with the Washington \atura! Hcritapc Program a< .1 iM^h 

 j;ua';;\- nati\c -.sotland; or 



2) the wetland contains an example of a native wetland communitv- that satisfies all the 

 criteria for a high quality wetland, which are listed below; or 



a) there is no, or only isolated, human-caused alteration of the wetland topography tvr 

 soils; 



b) there is no human-caused alteration of the hydrology of the wetland, or does the 

 wetland appear to have recovered from the alteration; 



c) the wetland has no or low cover and frequency of non-native plant species; 



d) there is relatively little human-caused disturbance of the native vegetation, or the 

 vegetation has recovered from past; disturbance; 



e) there is no evidence of major human<aused water quality problems. 



3) the wetland is one of the five highest quality examples of this wetland type known to exist 

 in Washington. 



SOURCE OF INFORMATION 



1) Contact the Washington Natural Heritage Program by mail to determine if a Natural 

 Heritage wetland has been identified in or in the vicinity of the project. A sample letter is 

 provided in Figure 2. The Washington Natural Heritage Program maintains a data system on 

 high quality wetland systems. The data set is not complete but is well dcvclopcKi for the 

 lowlands west of the Cascade Mountains. 



Washington Natural Heritage Program 



Department of Natural Resources 



Division of Land and Water Conservation 



Mail Stop: EX-13 



Olympia, Washington 98504 



206-753-2449 



and /or 



2) site examination (see field methodology) 



JUSTIFICATION 



Despite the abundance of certain tyjjes of wetlands, extremely high quality, undisturbed 

 examples of those wetlands are rare. This subcriteria attempts to identify and to afford a high 

 level of protection to the undisturbed character of the extremely high quality wetlands 

 remaining in the State. 



DEPARTMENT OF ECOLOGY - DRAFT 1 7 



