Course 11244 - Federal Wetland Delineation for Land Surveyors: Understanding the 1987 Corps Manual - Free PDF Download

Wetlands frequently control how land may be developed, surveyed, permitted, and conveyed. For professional
land surveyors, understanding wetlands is not an abstract environmental exercise—it directly affects boundary
location, improvement layout, regulated setbacks, acreage computations, and project feasibility. This
correspondence course provides Florida land surveyors with a structured, field-oriented understanding of federal
wetland delineation as conducted under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 1987 Wetlands Delineation Manual, the
technical foundation of Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting.
The course explains how wetlands are identified and delineated using the Corps’ multiparameter approach, which
requires (except where noted) positive evidence of hydrophytic vegetation, hydric soils, and wetland hydrology.
Emphasis is placed on why this approach exists, how it is applied in practice, and how wetland determinations are
made in a defensible and technically supportable manner. Special attention is given to the relationship between
federal wetland delineation and Florida surveying practice, including the need for surveyors to recognize the
distinction between federal and state wetland methodologies.