U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jurisdictional Determination (JD) Form Instructional Guidebook

• Author: Margaret 'Peggy' Strand/Lowell Rothschild
• Pages: 517-671

Page 517

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

JURISDICTIONAL DETERMINATION FORM

INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDEBOOK

This document contains instructions to aid field staff in completing the Approved

Jurisdictional Determination Form (“JD form”). This document is intended to be used

as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Regulatory National Standard Operating

Procedures for conducting an approved jurisdictional determination (JD) and

documenting practices to support an approved JD until this document is further

revised and reissued.1

Caribbean Sea, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

This document was prepared jointly by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the

Environmental Protection Agency.

1The CWA provisions and regulations described in this document contain legally binding requirements.

This guidance does not substitute for those provisions or regulations, nor is it a regulation itself. It does not

impose legally binding requirements on EPA, the Corps, or the regulated community, and may not apply to

a particular situation depending on the circumstances. Any decisions regarding a particular water will be

based on the applicable statutes, regulations, and case law. Therefore, interested persons are free to raise

questions about the appropriateness of the application of this guidance to a particular situation, and EPA

and/or the Corps will consider whether or not the recommendations or interpretations of this guidance are

appropriate in that situation based on the statutes, regulations, and case law.

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jurisdictional Determination (JD) Form Instructional Guidebook Page 519

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

I. BACKGROUND 5

II. CWA JURISDICTION 15

A. Example Photos of Different Aquatic Resources 16

B. Identifying the Reach Relevant to the

Significant Nexus Determination for Non-RPW

and Their Adjacent Wetlands 40

III. GENERAL JD FORM INSTRUCTIONS 47

A. Supporting Documentation 47

B. Coordination 48

IV. DETAILED JD FORM INSTRUCTIONS 49

Section I: Background Information 49

Section II: Summary of Findings 50

Section III: CWA Analysis 51

Section IV: Data Sources 60

FIGURES:

1: a. Tributary Analysis 8

b. Combined Non-Wetland Waters and

Adjacent Wetlands Analysis 9

c. Isolated Waters 10

2: JD Coordination Process for Reporting NWPs 11

3: JD Coordination Process for Other Approved Actions 13

PHOTOS:

1-8: Traditional Navigable Waters (TNWs) 17

9-12: Wetlands Adjacent to TNWs 20

13-18: Relatively Permanent Waters (RPWs) 21

19-29 Non-RPWs 23

30-33: Wetlands Directly Abutting RPWs 26

34-36: Wetlands Adjacent To But Not Directly

Abutting RPWs 28

37-40: Wetlands Adjacent to Non-RPWs 29

41-42: Impoundments 31

43-48: Isolated Waters 32