Annemarie, Sorry I didn't catch your post sooner, but this course should be in your summary. You might want to look at the course offered thru The Olentangy River Wetland Research Park at Ohio State University:
http://swamp.osu.edu/ShortCourse.html#course2 This is the research center of (none other than) William Mitsch, who takes part in the course. The chief instructor is Ralph Tiner, who was the principal author on the 1989 wetlands delineation manual. You can read more about him and the other instructors at that link, or search for his books on the subject at Amazon.com. I took the WTI course, and it was a fine introduction to the topic. I would have liked to take the OSU course, but I couldn't impress upon the folks here the importance of who is teaching. Anyways, some information and a few links for you: Here is the 1987 manual that is currently used: http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/permit/documents/87manual.pdf I am sorry to say that I can no longer find a download link for the 1989 manual: "Federal Manual for Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands. An Interagency Cooperative Publication" - I have an electronic copy if anyone is interested. And here is a summary of why the 1989 manual is not in use: http://www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/info/wetlands/contro3.html Here was a new one for me: a draft of the Arid West's Delineation Manual: http://www.usace.army.mil/cw/cecwo/reg/Arid%20West%20draft.pdf Plenty more relevant documents available on the web... you should read as much as possible. Wetlands regulation is a complex subject, and there are many folks out there (on both sides of the fence) who would like to "interpret" the fray for you. One of the best resources on some current issues is a special issue of the journal Wetlands on SWANCC issues: http://www.sws.org/wetlands/toc/TOCV23n3.html But now there are new issues from the recent Rapanos/Carabell Supreme Court Case (delineation verifications are currently on hold if they involve vegetated wetlands - as opposed to Section 10 or Other Waters only). A friend's response was "One step forward, and two steps back." I should also point out that MOU between USACE and NRCS (USDA) was rescinded. I do not know the details of the split, but if you are interested in performing delineations with or for them (i.e. Farm Bill issues) you may need training on their methods. Best of luck, David -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Annemarie Smith Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 6:07 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Wetland Delineation Training More than a few people emailed me to ask if I would share the responses to my inquiry on Wetland Delineation training. Here are all the responses I received. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Annemarie Smith I and several of my staff have gone through the Wetland Training Institute Course. The course gives you an adequate start and the instructors are knowledgeable and entertaining. The course is only a start though and the rest requires experience with wetland conditions in you area and in working with ACE employees to know what they expect you to do in the field (number of pits, etc) and the documentation they require in your reports. If you have taken college courses in wetlands and soils and have an ability to identify plant species the course will seem a little symplistic. In reality, all you need to learn is to apply basic science to regulations. Hydrology, GIS and GPS experience will greatly help when you start doing delineations and good project mangement skills are needed to budget projects. John [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have taken a series of courses through the continuing education program at Rutgers. I have also attended a course at Ohio State taught by Bill Mitsch and some of his colleagues. I highly recommend either or both of these. It seems to me that courses offered by commercial organizations are considerably more expensive than those at academic institutions. I wonder if the commercial programs are worth the expense. Ken Kerrick<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> As a newly full-time wetland ecologist in the natural resources consulting arena, I participated in the "Wetland Delineation (Emphasis on Soils and Hydrology)" course by Wetland Training Institute (http://www.wetlandtraining.com) in 1995. My instructors (Bob Pierce, Charlie Newling, and Blake Parker; see "Bios" on WTI's webpage) were very professional, have been in the business of wetland ecology and regulation a long time, and were very good instructors. I see that all three remain on staff, and I would again take a wetland regulatory course with these instructors. Good luck, Jason S. Kilgore [EMAIL PROTECTED] I've used Wetland Training Institute, PO Box 31, Glenwood, NM 88039 1-877-792-6482, www.wetlandtraining.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] It's a little expensive, but the instructors have a wealth of knowledge. Good luck! Caroline C. Hinkelman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline C. Hinkelman Wildlife Biologist/Environmental Specialist Advanced Project Development Office Lubbock District 135 Slaton Road Lubbock, TX 79404-5201 Office: 806-748-4410 Fax: 806-748-4312 I took the wetland delineation course through the wetland training institute (www.wetlandtraining.com) this past spring and was happy with it. the wetland training institute has a really good reputation. it was a week-long course in sacramento (but they offer courses all over the country). in contrast to that, I've heard that the richard chinn course is terrible so that may be one to avoid. hope that helps! amy langston I recently attended the Basic Wetland Delineator Training course offered by the Institute for Wetland & Environmental Education & Research. I had no prior knowledge of the subject, other than a reasonable familiarity of the hydrophytic vegetation. I found the course very educational, well presented and involved a good mix of classroom and field exercises. The Institute requires that you pass a take home exam in order to receive a certificate of training. This was a challenging exercise, but it does make you learn the material. I was very satisfied with this course and the cost is less than others that I found on the internet. I am in Florida and the instructors were knowledgeable of Piedmont and Coastal Plains areas of the Southeast. Depending on where you live, you may have different instructors, but the course syllabus is set by the Institute. I would recommend that you go to their webpage and check it out. www.wetlanded.com Good luck Rick Walker Rick Walker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
