USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has finalized some changes to how it determines whether land is highly erodible or a wetland, in the process “clarifying how wetland hydrology is identified for farmed wetlands and farmed wetland pasture,” the service reported recently. A final rule published in the Federal Register includes new language to clarify how NRCS considers the “best-drained condition for wetland hydrology in keeping with the definition of prior converted cropland.” The rule also adds a requirement from the 2018 farm bill that USDA “make a reasonable effort” to include the affected farmer or landowner when investigating on-site whether a wetland determination was violated. Responding to criticism of maps used between 1990 and 1996, NRCS said determinations made after Nov. 28, 1990, and before July 3, 1996, “are certified wetland determinations” if they were made using one of two separate forms, “the person was notified that the determination had been certified, and the map document was of sufficient quality to determine ineligibility for program benefits.”
