The Swamp School, LLC training

This year the Swamp School is offering the option to take our USACOE Wetland Delineation and Regional Supplement Training in an accelerated 7-day program. You will be able to participate in our virtual classroom with the other students and instructor to complete the program coursework at the same pace as our weeklong traditional classroom program without the need to travel anywhere. The program includes presentations, class discussions and an in-person field workshop that is offered at a variety of locations. All you need is a local wetland, a standard PC/MAC with a reliable internet connection and a week to get it all done.

This year the Swamp School is offering the option to take our USACOE Wetland Delineation and Regional Supplement Training in an accelerated 7-day program. You will be able to participate in our virtual classroom with the other students and instructor to complete the program coursework at the same pace as our weeklong traditional classroom program without the need to travel anywhere. The program includes presentations, class discussions and an in-person field workshop that is offered at a variety of locations. All you need is a local wetland, a standard PC/MAC with a reliable internet connection and a week to get it all done.

Do you need to learn your wetland plants quickly? If so, why not join us for a couple of days in the field in Atlanta, Georgia. The class is entirely a field workshop. We will set out on the trail to identify different wetland habitats and their unique vegetative communities. The class will be led by an expert botanist who will show you the tips and tricks to quickly identify the plants that are in the area. We will also be recording the vegetation found on the US Army Corps of Engineers Regional Supplement Data forms and will review the plant math to determine if the habitat is a wetland plant community.

On April 21 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army (Army) published in the Federal Register the Navigable Waters Protection Rule that defines “waters of the United States” (WOTUS).  This 340-page rule outlines what is and what is not a jurisdictional waterbody.  It replaces all previous WOTUS definitions and becomes effective on June 22, 2020.

The 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule is the latest update to the definition of what is a jurisdictional Waters of the US. A significant part of this definition requires the user to limit their wetland delineation work to typical rainfall years. This presents several immediate problems.

The Navigable Waters Protection Rule requires that a stream or river, or other surface water channel, must be perennial or intermittent in a typical year to meet the definition of a “tributary.” To make this determination a combination of flow classifications and field data are needed to establish perennial or intermittent flow. The USGS StreamStats web application, including the Probability of Streamflow Permanence (PROSPER) tool allows users to obtain estimates of streamflow statistics for user-selected ungaged sites. The Streamflow Methodology for Identification of Intermittent and Perennial Streams and Their Origins developed by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality is also widely used to make field-based streamflow classifications and is included as part of this workshop.

The process for identifying Jurisdictional Wetlands and Waters of the US (WOTUS)has undergone major changes the last several years. We have gone from a 1986 WOTUS rule, updated to a 2015 Clean Water Rule and then back to a 2019 WOTUS rule reminiscent of the 1986 rule. Finally, concluding with the latest the Navigable Waters Protection Rule in 2020. All of this has led to a lot of confusion over what is and what is not jurisdictional under the Clean Water Act. The old rules and guidance are out. Just because the Corps may have regulated a wetland or waterbody in the past does not mean that it is regulated today.

With the Swamp School Wetland Delineation training online, you can earn your certification in 16 weeks or less. The workshop covers basic wetland training and includes the 1987 US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Wetlands Manual, and you can choose any or all of the 10 Regional Supplements to get trained on. We cover the conceptual framework of the wetland indicators as well as the regulatory context, court decisions and related laws. Students can complete the 12 modules at their own pace and can coordinate the field work with their instructor. The class concludes with a review of your field work and a final exam. Upon successful completion of the class and a grade of 80% or higher, a certificate is issued for demonstrated education experience in the Professional Wetland Scientist Certification Program, which is offered by the Society of Wetland Scientists.

The Swamp School has put together an on-demand online virtual classroom workshop that will bring you up to speed on: Regulations, wetland soils, wetland hydrology, and wetland vegetation, plus. Everything you need to know about the USACOE Regional Supplement updates.

Learning the skills to be a successful wetland delineator is an ongoing process. It is more than taking a one–week class. It requires keeping updated with the latest regulation changes, technical updates and advances in wetland science. The field skills are perishable and without frequent practice they are lost. Over the years we have heard from students about the challenges of taking a wetland delineation class, working for a few weeks in wetlands and then not having another wetland project for a couple of months. When they start the new project, they have lost their edge and feel like they are starting over. It is a lot like going to the gym for the first time. Hop on an elliptical for 15 minutes and you feel great. A few hours later the pain comes. You work through the pain and go back to the gym. After a couple of days, you have no more pain. But, if you take some time off from the gym it is as if you never been there before and the pain returns.