090728-A-DW629-027
CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Norfolk District regulators Dave Knepper and Audrey Cotnoir compare notes during a wetland delineation, which is the process of determining the boundary between wetlands and uplands (or non-wetlands) through examination of vegetation, soils and hydrology. The District's 52-person regulatory staff processes more than 3,000 federal permit requests a year and covers all of the Com.onwealth's 42,767 square miles. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory Program gets its federal permitting authority from three sources: the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899 (the oldest federal environmental law in the United States), the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (often referred to as the "Clean Water Act") and the 1972 Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act. U.S. Army photo/Mark W. Haviland.

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Tags: Wetlands
Photo by: Mark W. Haviland |  VIRIN: 090728-A-DW629-027.JPG