General Permit 30/Construction of Aquatic Habitat Rehabilitation Projects: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Vicksburg/Memphis Districts) Public Notices Issuance

The Memphis and Vicksburg Districts of the United States Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) issued a March 30th Public Notice announcing the issuance of General Permit 30.

The Memphis and Vicksburg Corps Districts include portions of the State of Arkansas.

General permits typically provide standing permission for all activities that fit within the description of the permit. Some general permits require some type of authorization from or notice to the Corps District prior to starting work.

General permits may generally be issued for a category or categories of activities when:

• Those activities are substantially similar in nature and cause only minimal individual and cumulative environmental impacts.
• The general permit would result in avoiding unnecessary duplication of the regulatory control exercised by another federal, state, or local agency, provided it has been determined that the environmental consequences of the action are individually and cumulatively minimal.

The Memphis and Vicksburg Public Notice describes General Permit 30 as encompassing:

. . .  the construction of aquatic habitat rehabilitation projects in waters of the United States (U.S.) undertaken by, or constructed in cooperation with, the United States Forest Service (USFS), the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and/or the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) within the regulatory jurisdiction of the Vicksburg and Memphis Districts in the State of Arkansas.

General Permit 30 activities typically include:

• Barrier removal (such as low head dams, roadways with culverts, fords, bank to bank road crossings and other transportation crossings)
• Installation of natural and nature-based features
• Streambank stabilization
• Stream relocation
• Aquatic habitat improvement or establishment

A link to the General Permit 30 Public Notice can be found here.