February 11, 2025
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The United States Army Corps of Engineers published a January 28th Federal Register notice announcing the availability of the 2024 National Wetland Plant List (“NWPL”). See 90 Fed. Reg. 8285.
The Corps developed a 2024 NWPL as part of an interagency effort with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources and Conservation Service.
The NWPL is used to determine whether the hydrophytic vegetation factor is met when conducting wetland delineations under the Clean Water Act and the Wetland Conservation Provisions of the Food Security Act.
Wetlands are a subset of the Clean Water Act Waters of the United States. The three criteria required to be addressed in the Corps and other agencies’ delineation of wetlands are:
- Wetland plants (hydrophytic vegetation).
- Wetland soil (hydric soil).
- Adequate water (wetland hydrology).
During a wetland delineation, a project area is surveyed to determine whether the three criteria are present.
The federal notice provides the opportunity to comment on the draft changes to the wetland indicator status ratings for
- Alnus incana.
- Amaranthus tuberculatus.
A copy of the Federal Register notice can be found here.
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