Regulatory

The WRTC supports development and evaluation of emerging technologies, methodologies and guidance for the delineation, identification, assessment, and characterization of wetlands for Regulatory purposes, and to provide essential products to meet regulatory mandates. The Regulatory Gateway provides information regarding wetlands regulations, compliance and mitigation in support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's goal of "no net loss" of wetlands in the United States. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program supports the wetlands commitment by evaluating construction permits submitted for the Nation's wetlands by "protecting the Nation's aquatic resources, while allowing reasonable development through fair, flexible, and balanced permit decisions."

The WRTC in cooperation with the Wetland Regulatory Assistance Program (WRAP) also develops and maintains essential tools for wetland delineation including ten regional supplements to the Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual covering the nation and the National Wetland Plant List used for regulatory determinations. Further a variety of regulatory ecosystem assessment tools are available including the Hydrogeomorphic Approach to functional assessment. WRTC facilitates a variety of regulatory training opportunities for DoD staff and agency personnel focused on basic and advanced wetland delineation, basic hydric soils, wetland plant identification, fundamentals of wetland ecology, and wetland ecosystem assessment.