Bud Needham

Principal, Needham, Jernigan and Associates, Wilmington, NC

Wetlands Definition (legal definition)

3 parameter approach developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers

Vegetation

Soils

Hydrology

Human alteration of wetlands is evident everywhere.

Carolina Bays are altered by drainage, forestry, and agriculture

Roads cut through large swamps like the Green Swamp in Brunswick County alter the hydrology

Water table is very important to wetland definition

In a pine plantation of Loblolly pine with occasional sweetgum and redmaple

With a water table at 11 inches below the ground, it is a wetland and has all the functions of a wetland such as water storage, recharge, filtration and habitats

With a water table at 13 inches below the ground, it is defined as an upland and is not important in any wetland functional sense and can be developed

Adjacency vs. isolated

Adjacency means bordering, contiguous or neighboring

Wetlands "adjacent to waters of the U.S." require a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers before they can be developed.

Wetlands "isolated" and therefore, not "adjacent" to US waters do not require a permit for development.

Wetlands can be developed. 27 of the 33 pages of the wetlands law (Clean Water Act) refer to ways in which you may get a permit. (enforcement, nationwide permits, 404 definitions, etc.)

Clean Water Act terms associated with wetlands:

To develop a wetland, the development "must be water dependent activity"

"Significant" What does this word mean? Kind of wishy, washy word.

Alternate analysis refers to development that must be "less damaging"

Development must "avoid wetland impacts to the maximum extent possible"

Problems with wetland development standards:

Lagoons behind Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beaches are labeled "ORW" [Outstanding Resource Waters]

By law, marinas cannot be built in ORW waters

A marina is defined as an area in which 10 or more boats are docked

34 marinas are found in the ORW cited above.

If 34 marinas can be found there, they must not be major polluters.

Activities not regulated by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act

Cutting trees

Mowing

Herbicide use

Burning

Sedimentation