Photo by Hayley Farrer
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency define wetlands as follows:
Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water 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. Wetlands such as swamps and marshes are often obvious, but some wetlands are not easily recognized, often because they are dry during part of the year or “they just don't look very wet” from the roadside.
Wetlands comprise nearly 175 million acres of Alaska, about 43 percent of the state. By comparison, wetlands occupy about 5 percent of the ground within the lower 48 states. As a significant natural resource, wetlands serve important functions relating to fish and wildlife, such as food chain production, habitat, nesting spawning, rearing and resting sites for aquatic and land species. They also store flood waters, moderate flows in streams and rivers, buffer shorelines against wave action, suppress erosion, improve water quality through filtration and nutrient cycling, and store carbon.. They also provide protection of other areas from wave action and erosion; storage areas for storm and flood waters; natural recharge areas where ground and surface water are interconnected; and natural water filtration and purification functions.
Wetland boundaries are determined using the three parameter approach described in the 1987 Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual and the Alaska Regional Supplement. Field-delineated wetlands by qualified people using the manual and supplement often have very different boundaries from those exhibited on national, state and local wetland maps. If time allows, the Alaska District may conduct wetland delineations for sites up to 5 acres.
Section 404 of the Clean Water Act requires that anyone proposing to deposit dredged or fill material into “waters of the United States, including wetlands,” must receive authorization for such activities. If you intend to place dredged or fill material in a wetland or in an area that might be a wetland, contact USACE for assistance in determining if a permit is required.
Special Aquatic Sites
Special Aquatic Sites are geographic areas, large or small, possessing special ecological characteristics of productivity, habitat, wildlife protection, or other important and easily disrupted ecological values. These areas are generally recognized as significantly influencing or positively contributing to the general overall environmental health or vitality of the entire ecosystem of a region (40 CFR 230.3).
Special aquatic sites means those sites identified in subpart E:
- 230.40 Sanctuaries and refuges.
- 230.41 Wetlands.
- 230.42 Mud flats.
- 230.43 Vegetated shallows.
- 230.44 Coral reefs.
- 230.45 Riffle and pool complexes.