Wetland Delineations involves field determinations of the wetland boundaries on a site by review of the soils, vegetation, and hydrology on the site,  in general accordance with the 1987 COE Wetlands Delineation Manual.

Wetland boundaries are flagged, documented, and depicted on a site map. When no alternatives to avoiding the wetland areas exist, Environmental Control Opportunities, LLC provides assistance in completing the permit applications and designing mitigation plans.

Wetland mitigation is the replacement of wetland functions through the creation or restoration of wetlands.  The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has defined mitigation in its regulations at 40 CFR 1508.20 to include:

avoiding impacts, minimizing impacts, rectifying impacts, reducing impacts over time, and compensating for impacts.

Or, simply put, striving to achieve the goal of "no overall net loss" to wetlands.

Mitigation provides one avenue for preserving wetland areas by requiring developers to purchase "credits" when developing an area that will negatively impact a designated wetland.  A project may require a certain number of credits before building permits can even be issued.  The purpose of mitigation is to ensure that when one wetland area is altered, another wetland area is enhanced and preserved, thus ensuring "no overall net loss" of our country's wetland areas.

If you have land that qualifies as a "wetland," we would like to encourage you to look into protecting that land for the benefit of our environment and future generations.