Wetlands Day is observed on February 2 to recognize and celebrate the importance of wetlands to the world, and the diversity of life that they support.

What constitutes jurisdictional waters of the U.S. has been difficult to navigate over the past seven years due to three different defining rules. On December 30, 2022, the agencies announced the final “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States'” rule. On January 18, 2023, the rule was published in the Federal Register; the rule will be effective on March 20, 2023. The agencies’ final rule reportedly establishes a clear and reasonable definition of “waters of the United States” and reduces the uncertainty from constantly changing regulatory definitions. For more information see: https://www.epa.gov/wotus/revising-definition-waters-united-states.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reclassified the northern long-eared bat as Endangered, effective January 30, 2023. If a project requires federal action and has the potential to affect suitable habitat for the northern long-eared bat, coordination with the USFWS will be required. At this time, coordination is expected to result in either a time of year restriction (TOYR) of April 1 to November 15 (no tree clearing during this time), or a presence/absence survey will have to be performed with a negative result for the northern long-eared bat (and other federally listed bat species) for the TOYR restriction to be lifted.

Triad’s wetland delineation capabilities have recently been enhanced with a subscription to the Ecobot cloud and mobile platform that reduces data collection time and minimizes post-processing allowing wetland determination data forms to be prepared faster and with fewer errors. In addition, Triad recently obtained a Trimble® Catalyst™, a revolutionary GNSS receiver, for accurately mapping wetlands more cost-effectively than traditional methods.