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Upper
Perennial Riverine subsystem consisting of regions with
a high gradient, fast water velocity, no tidal influence, and
a constant flow of at least some water throughout the year.
USACE United States Army Corps of
Engineers. Branch of the United States Army given the responsibility
of managing civil projects and administering Section 404 of
the Clean Water Act.
USDA United States Department of Agriculture.
Federal agency given responsibility concerning agricultural
issues. The parent agency of the Natural Resource Conservation
Service.
USEPA United States Environmental
Protection Agency. Federal agency given the responsibility of
protecting the environment and human health. Has jurisdiction
over all sections of the Clean Water Act.
USF&WS United States Fish and Wildlife
Service. Agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior given
the responsibility of managing and protecting the nation's wildlife
resources.
W Wetlands. USDA/NRCS classification
of wetlands subject to NFSA restrictions. Those areas that meet
wetland criteria under natural conditions and have typically
not been manipulated by altering hydrology and/or removing woody
vegetation. Wetlands includes areas that have been abandoned.
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Wetland
1). An area that is both part land and part water. 2). Land
that has a predominance of hydric soils and that is inundated
or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration
sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does
support, a prevalence of hydrophytic vegetation typically adapted
for life in saturated soil conditions.
Wetland Creation The act of
creating or establishing a wetland in an area where one did
not historically exist.
Wetland Enhancement Any practice
which improves the overall quality of any of a currently existing
wetland's characteristics.
Wetland Restoration The act of returning a disturbed
or severely altered wetland to a state similar to its pre-existing
condition.
WRP Wetland Reserve Program. A voluntary,
incentive-based, federal program established in the Food Securities
Act with the goal of protecting and restoring wetlands and their
functions on agricultural lands. |
Definitions
and Descriptions for the Cowardin Classification System
SYSTEMS
LACUSTRINE:
Deepwater habitats with all the following characteristics:
1. Situated
in a topographic depression or damned river channel.
2. Lacking
trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent mosses, or lichens with
greater than 30% areal coverage.
3. Total
area exceeds 20 acres. Areas less than 20 acres may be included in the
lacustrine system if an active wave formed or bedrock shoreline makes
up all or part of the boundary, or if water is greater than 6.6 feet in
the deepest part of the basin at low water.
PALUSTRINE
:Area dominated by trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent
mosses, or lichens. Areas lacking such vegetation are also included if
they have all of the following characteristics :
1. Area
less than 20 acres ( 8 hectares).
2. No active
wave formed or bedrock shoreline.
3. Water
depth in deepest part of basin less than 6.6 feet ( 2 meters ) at low
water. May be situated at the edge of a lake or river or in river floodplain.
RIVERINE:
Wetland and deepwater habitats contained within a channel with
periodically or continuously moving water.
SUBSYSTEMS
Intermittent:
Flowing water present only part of the year. When water is not
flowing, it may remain in isolated pools or surface water may be present.
Limnetic:
deep water (greater than 6.6 feet).
Littoral:
from shore to a depth of 6.6 feet.
Lower
Perennial: Water velocity slow, but some water flows throughout
the year. Gradient is low. The substrate consists of sand and mud. Oxygen
deficits may occur.
Upper
Perennial: Gradient high, water velocity fast. Water flows throughout
the year. Substrate consists of rock, cobble, gravel, and sand. Dissolved
oxygen content high.
CLASSES
Aquatic
Bed: This includes wetlands and deepwater habitats dominated
by plants that grow principally on or below the surface of the water for
most of the growing season in most years.
Emergent:
Vegetation includes erect, rooted herbaceous hydrophytes representing
more than 30% of the areal cover.
Persistent:
Vegetation remains upright and visible throughout the year.
Non-persistent:
Vegetation dies back and is not visible during the non-growing season.
Forested:
Woody vegetation that is 6m tall or taller covering 30% or more of the
area.
Open
Water: Non-vegetated areas less than 20 acres that are covered
by water less than6.6 ft (2m) deep. This includes ponds, borrow pits,
small reservoirs, and open water areas within a marsh or swamp.
Rock
Bottom: Areas with stone, boulder, or bedrock cover 75% or more,
vegetative cover <30%, and permanently flooded.
Rocky
Shore: Areas with 75% or more bedrock, stones, or boulders, vegetative
cover <30%, and not permanently flooded.
Scrub-Shrub:
Characterized by woody vegetation less than 20 ft (6m) covering 30 % or
more of the area.
Stream
Bed: Areas where channel is completely dry at low water periods
and vegetative cover <30%.
Unconsolidated
Bottom: Wetlands in which the substrate is at least 25% particles
smaller than stones, vegetative cover < 30 %, and permanently flooded.
Unconsolidated
Shore: Areas with less than 75% coverage of bedrock, stone, or
boulders, vegetative cover < 30%, and not permanently flooded.
MODIFIERS
WATER
REGIME
Artificially
flooded: Flooding controlled by pumps or siphons in combination
with dikes or dams.
Intermittently
exposed: Surface water throughout the year except in extreme
droughts.
Intermittently
exposed/permanent: See definitions for intermittently exposed
and permanently flooded.
Intermittently
flooded: Substrate usually exposed, variable presence of surface
water without detectable seasonal periodicity.
Permanently
flooded: Surface water throughout the year in all years.
Saturated:
Substrate saturated to the surface for extended periods during
the growing season but surface water seldom present.
Seasonally
flooded: Surface water for extended periods in growing season
but not at the end of the growing season.
Semipermanently
flooded: Surface water throughout the growing season in most
years.
Temporarily
Flooded: Surface water for only brief periods during the growing
season with the water table well below the soil surface for most of the
season.
SPECIAL
MODIFIER
Artificial
substrate: Substrates placed by humans.
Beaver:
Created by beaver activity.
Diked/Impounded:
Barrier obstructs inflow (dike) or outflow (impoundment) of water.
Excavated:
Lies in a basin or channel excavated by humans.
Farmed:
Altered for the production of crops but hydrophytes could reestablish.
Partially
drained/ditched: Artificially drained but can still support hydrophytes.
Spoil:
Refuse material removed from an excavation.
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