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Description of Selected General Terms and Acronyms <br /> Term/Acronym Description <br /> Areas that are typically saturated with surface or ground water that creates an environment supportive of wetland vegetation (i.e., swamps, <br /> marshes, bogs). The Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual (Technical Report Y-87-1) defines wetlands as areas inundated or <br /> saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a <br /> prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. For an area to be considered a jurisdictional wetland, it must <br /> meet the following criteria: more than 50 percent of the dominant plant species must be categorized as Obligate, Facultative Wetland, or <br /> Facultative on lists of plant species that occur in wetlands; the soil must be hydric; and, wetland hydrology must be present. <br /> Wetlands The federal Clean Water Act which regulates "waters of the US," also regulates wetlands, a program jointly administered by the USACE and <br /> the EPA. Waters of the U.S. are defined as: (1)waters used in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters subject to the ebb and flow <br /> of tides; (2) all interstate waters including interstate wetlands; (3) all other waters such as intrastate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent <br /> streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds, etc., which the use, <br /> degradation, or destruction could affect interstate/foreign commerce; (4) all impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the U. S., <br /> (5) tributaries of waters identified in 1 through 4 above; (6) the territorial seas; and (7) wetlands adjacent to waters identified in 1 through 6 <br /> above. Only the USACE has the authority to make a final wetlands jurisdictional determination. <br />