Tools, Forms, Guidance, and Links for Wetland Delineators

• Washington Wetland Rating Systems
• Data Forms: Delineation and Rating
• WSDOT Delineation Guidance
• Vegetation Tools
• Soil Tools
• Hydrology Tools
• Classification Methods
• Functions Assessments

Delineation Methods: Approved for Washington State

• Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual (pdf 1.3 mb). Must be used with appropriate regional supplements.
• Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast Regional Supplement , Version 2.0, 2010 (pdf 5.9 mb). Required in Land Resource Regions (LRR) A and LRR E.
• Arid West Regional Supplement Version 2.0, 2008 (pdf 4.7 mb). Required in LRR B.
• Use this map of LRR areas to determine which regional supplement to use: Major Land Resource Areas  (NRCS Agriculture Handbook 296) (pdf 622 kb).
• Washington State Wetlands Identification and Delineation Manual (pdf 1.9 mb) (1997). No longer required or supported by Washington State Department of Ecology. Use only if required by local critical areas ordinance.

Washington Wetland Rating Systems: Rapid Functional Assessment Method

• Washington State Wetland Rating System for Western Washington Revised  (pdf 4.3 mb) (Annotated, updated July 2006).
• Washington State Wetland Rating System for Eastern Washington Revised (pdf 3.5 mb) (Annotated, updated March 2007).
• Use this map to determine which Rating System to use: Boundary Between Eastern and Western Washington (pdf 59 kb).

Data Forms: Delineation and Rating

WSDOT uses the following customized fill-in data forms:

• Arid West Region Supplement Wetland Determination Data Form (doc 246 kb) (modified by WSDOT).
• Western Mountains, Valleys and Coasts Region Supplement Wetland Determination Data Form (doc 255 kb) (modified by WSDOT).
• Washington State Wetland Delineation Data Form (185 kb) No longer required or supported by Washington State Department of Ecology. Submit with regional supplement forms only if required by local critical areas ordinance.
• Washington State Wetland Rating System short form for Western Washington Revised Updated (doc 397 kb) (Version 2, July 2006) (modified by WSDOT, includes updated WDFW Priority Habitat definitions, October 2008).
• Washington State Wetland Rating System short form for Eastern Washington Revised Updated (doc 406 kb) (Version 2, July 2006) (modified by WSDOT, includes updated WDFW Priority Habitat definitions, October 2008).

WSDOT Delineation Guidance

• Wetland and Stream Assessment Report Template (doc 457 kb)
• Generic Scope of Work for Delineation (doc 74 kb)
• WSDOT Guidance on Delineating Wetlands, Streams, and Buffers adjacent to road prisms (pdf 72 kb)
• WSDOT Guidance on Cut Slopes and Wetlands (pdf 240 kb)
• WSDOT Guidance on Buffers Across Roadways (pdf 19 kb)
• WSDOT and Isolated Wetlands (pdf 58 kb)
• WSDOT Wetlands Guidance on Cultural Resources (pdf 32 kb)
• WSDOT Sensitive Areas Naming Convention (pdf 12 kb)

Other Guidance for Washington

• Corps Summary on Roadside Ditches and the Talent Decision  (pdf 13 kb)
• Talent Decision Full text from 9th Circuit Court of Appeals  (pdf 48 kb)
• Department of Ecology’s Guidance on Buffer Widths  (pdf 201 kb)

Vegetation Tools

• National Wetland Plant List web page (NWPL) (Corps of Engineers)
• For plants commonly found in WA, WSDOT uses simple codes instead of the full scientific name to record field data.  A plant code list (pdf 291 kb) ( WSDOT 2012) in field notebook format provides the scientific and common names, origin, and the indicator status of based on the NWPL (June 2012).   
• WSDOT developed a corresponding auto-text macro for Microsoft Word (WSDOT 2012) that inserts the same information from the plant codes. Installation instructions, the plant codes and the macro file “Autotext_Plants.dotm” can be obtained from the public FTP server (or the WSDOT internal FTP server ).     

Soil Tools

• Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States (Version 7.0; NRCS 2010)
• Soil Surveys Online USDA-NRCS web page, available for most areas
• National Hydric Soils Lists  USDA-NRCS web page
• Official Soil Series Descriptions  USDA-NRCS web page
• Field Book for Sampling and Describing Soils (pdf 5.3 mb) (Version 2.0; NRCS 2002)
• NRCS Washington state  web page

Hydrology Tools

• The Regional Supplements recommend using the methods described in Chapter 19  of the USDA NRCS Part 650 Engineering Field Handbook to determine if antecedent precipitation is normal. 
• The University of Washington web page provides precipitation data from  1996-2008 with graphs. 
• The U. S. Geological Survey StreamStats in Washington Interactive Map can be used to determine the area of a watershed upstream of a given point. This map is useful for many functional assessment methods, including question D 3.3 in the Western Washington Rating System.  Instructions on using the Interactive Map are available from the User Instructions link in the green box on the Stream Stats page. Selecting a site and delineating a watershed is the 4th topic on the User Instructions page. The tool becomes available at scales of 1:24000 and greater, and your Pop-up blocker needs to be turned off.
• WSDOT installs shallow groundwater monitoring wells in accordance with the guidance available in the Wetlands Regulatory Assistance Program Technical Notes  Corps of Engineers web page:

            -Noble, C. 2006. "Water Table Monitoring Project Design" 
            -U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. 2005. "Technical Standard 
                for Water-Table Monitoring of Potential Wetland Sites" 
            -Sprecher, S. W. 2000. "Installing Monitoring Wells/Piezometers 
                in Wetlands"

• Real-time streamflow data for Washington USGS web page. 

Classification Methods 

• Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States (Cowardin et al. 1979) is available from a US Geological Survey web page.
• National Wetland Inventory web page (NWI).
• A Hydrogeomorphic Classification for Wetlands (pdf 5.5 mb) (Brinson 1993).

Functions Characterization/Assessment

Optional methods to evaluate functions. Other methods may also be appropriate for use.

• Wetland Functions Characterization Tool for Linear Projects (pdf 119 kb) (WSDOT 2000) Highly subjective tool based on best professional judgment with no validation (BPJ tool) .
• Summary of Functions and Values Form (doc 32 kb) Table summarizing wetland functions for the BPJ tool.
• Ecology's Washington State Wetland Function Assessment Method HGM-based functional assessment with western and eastern Washington models. Rarely used because of need for detailed data inputs.

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