Notice of wetland conservation act decision

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The subject property was investigated for wetland outside of the growing season which may impact the progress of the project given that wetlands are normally delineated during the growing season, which regulatory agencies typically recognize as between early May and late September.Regulatory agents may chose to refrain from making a decision based on this fact and defer it to the spring of 2010 when hydrology is typically present throughout the region. The on-site investigation shows strong evidence that no wetland is present,however.Areas that were investigated were chosen due a visual dominance of hydrophytic vegetation,mapped wetland on the NWI and a mapped hydric soil. When these areas were examined they all were lacking the necessary indicators of hydric soil. Some areas had a dominance of wetland vegetation, however. Primary hydrology indicators were not observed as can be expected due to normal seasonal fluctuations in hydrology but secondary indicators were not present either. SER believes that some of the area that harbors hydrophytic vegetation may have water at these locations for short periods of time during heavy rain events which is long enough for the establishment of adaptive hydrophyts to proliferate. The sandy soils allow the water to infiltrate quickly thus hydric soil cannot form. Some of the investigated areas are also on hill slopes which would also be a factor in water not existing there long enough to harbor wetland due to runoff. Wetland vegetation that exists at these locations is mostly reed canary grass which is very prolific and is known to thrive up slope where water can be lacking despite its status as a facultative wetland plant. DISCUSSION SER completed all on-site investigations based on the three required technical criteria as outlined by the 1987 Manual: the presence of hydric soils, a predominance of hydrophytic vegetation, and indicators of wetland hydrology in each basin. The site visit portion of the wetland delineation was completed on December 4, 2009. SER personnel examined the subject property for areas meeting jurisdictional wetland criteria during the site visit and found no jurisdictional wetland(Figure 5). Detailed soils,vegetation and hydrology data for Sample Areas 1,2, 3 and 4 are provided in the data sheets of The Technical Documentation Section. A set of full-scale figures is given in the figures section. RECOMMENDATIONS Activities which impact or potentially impact wetlands are currently regulated at several levels of government. In Minnesota, the two primary jurisdictions are covered at the state and federal levels Svoboda Ecological Resources 515 Ferndale Project No.:2009-056-03 g Denali Custom Homes