[Comment: For dates of non-regulatory
government publications, publications of recognized organizations, federal
rules and federal statutory provisions referenced in this rule, see rule
3745-1-03
of the Administrative Code.]
In addition to the definitions in rule
rules 3745-1-02
and 3745-32-01 of the Administrative Code
technical words used in rules 3745-1-50 to
3745-1-54
of the Administrative Code shall be defined as follows:
(A)
"33 C.F.R." means
Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations effective July 1,
2017.
(B)
"40 C.F.R." means Title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations effective July 1, 2017.
(A)
(C) "Alternatives
analysis" means a systematic review and evaluation of practicable alternatives
including avoidance, minimization and/or
compensatory mitigation for impacts to a wetland.
(D)
"Applicant" means
any person required to submit an application to obtain a section 401 water
quality certification or isolated wetland permit from the Ohio environmental
protection agency (Ohio EPA).
(B)
(E) "Areal cover"
means the per cent of vegetation covering any area of
vegetated wetland. Areal measurements are
those made as if the wetland were being viewed from
the air
above.
(C)
(F) "Avoidance" is the
first step in the alternatives analysis and means that the applicant must
demonstrate that alternatives
which
that fulfill the basic project purpose and have less
or no impacts to the wetland are not practicable,
so long as the alternative does not have other significant adverse
environmental consequences.
(D)
(G) "Biodiversity"
means the number of community types, different species, and genetic variants of
species found in a given area.
(E)
(H) "Bog" means a
peat-accumulating wetland that has no significant inflows or outflows and
supports acidophilic mosses
, particularly Sphagnum
spp.
Characteristic indicator species may
include, but are not limited to Calla palustris, Carex atlantica var.
capillacea, Carex echinata, Carex oligosperma, Carex trisperma, Chamaedaphne
calyculata, Decodon verticillatus, Eriphorum virginicum, Ilex mucronata, Larix
laricina, Scheuchzeria palustris, Sphagnum spp., Vaccinium macrocarpon,
Vaccinium corymbosum, Vaccinium oxycoccos, Woodwardia virginica, and Xyris
difformis.
(F)
(I) "Compensatory mitigation" refers to the final step
in the alternatives analysis and means
restoration
reestablishment
(restoration),
creation
establishment (creation),
enhancement
rehabilitation
(enhancement) or, in
exceptional
certain circumstances
,
preservation of wetlands
expressly
for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable adverse impacts which remain
after all appropriate and practicable avoidance and minimization have been
achieved.
(G) "Creation" means the
establishment of a wetland where one did not formerly exist. This would involve
wetland construction on non-hydric soils.
(H)
(J)
"Critical habitat" means
the following:
(1) The specific areas within the
geographical area currently occupied by a species, at the time it is listed in
accordance with the Endangered Species Act
( 16
U.S.C.A. section 1531 et seq., as amended) on which are found those
physical or biological features essential to the conservation of the species,
and that may require special management considerations or protection
; and
.
(2) Specific areas outside the geographical
area occupied by a species at the time it is listed in accordance with the
Endangered Species Act, upon a determination by the secretary of the department
of the interior, that such areas are essential for the conservation of the
species.
(I)
(K) "Cumulative impacts" mean the impact on the
environment which results from the incremental impact of the action when added
to other past, present, and reasonable foreseeable future actions. Cumulative
impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant actions
taking place over a period of time. Cumulative impacts shall be considered on a
watershed basis.
(J)
(L) "Direct impacts" mean effects which are caused by
the action and occur at the same time and place.
(K)
(M) "Dispersal
corridor" means
a linear
an area that is used by organisms to move from
one place of suitable habitat to another.
(L)
(N) "Endangered
species" means a native Ohio plant species listed or designated by the
ohio
Ohio
department of natural resources as endangered
or
extirpated pursuant to section
1518.01 of the Revised Code, and
animal species listed or designated as endangered
or
extirpated by the
ohio
Ohio department of natural resources pursuant to
section
1531.25 of the Revised Code; or
any plant or animal species that is native to Ohio or that migrates or is
otherwise reasonably likely to occur within the state which has been listed as
endangered pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered Species Act
, ( 16 U.S.C.A. 1531 et seq., as amended).
(M) "Enhancement" means activities
conducted in existing wetlands to improve or repair existing or natural wetland
functions and values of that wetland.
(O)
"Establishment
(creation)" means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological
characteristics present to establish a wetland where one did not formerly exist
at an upland site.
(N)
(P) "Fen" means a
carbon accumulating (peat, muck) wetland that is saturated, primarily by a
discharge of free flowing ground water during most of the year. Fens are rarely
inundated. Fens often have a sloped surface which prevents the accumulation of
stagnant or ponded water. The water of fens is usually mineral rich and has a
circumneutral pH ( 5.5 - 9.0 ). In calcareous fens, soil may be dominated by
deposits of calcium carbonate rich sediments (marl). Characteristic indicator
vegetation species may include, but are not
limited to
Potentilla fruticosa, Solidago ohioensis,
Lobelia kalmii, Cacalia plantaginea, Deschampsia cespitosa, Triglochin spp.,
Parnassia glauca, Gentianopsis spp., Rhynchospora spp., and some Eleocharis
spp.
Cacalia plantaginea, Carex flava, Carex
sterilis, Carex stricta, Dasiphora fruticosa, Deschampsia caespitosa,
Eleocharis rostellata, Eriophorum viridicarinatum, Gentianopsis spp., Lobelia
kalmii, Oligoneuron ohioense, Parnassia glauca, Rhamnus alnifolia, Rhynchospora
capillacea, Salix candida, Salix myricoides, Salix serissima, Tofieldia
glutinosa, Triglochin maritimum, Triglochin palustre, and Zygadenus elegans
var. glaucus.
(Q)
"Field Manual for the Amphibian Index of Biotic
Integrity for Wetlands" (Ohio EPA, 2011) is available on Ohio EPA's website at:
http://epa.ohio.gov/dsw/401/ ecology.aspx#149364495-reports. This document may
also be obtained by writing to: "Ohio EPA, Division of Surface Water, PO Box
1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049."
(O)
(R) "Forested wetland"
means a wetland class characterized by woody vegetation that is twenty feet
tall or taller.
(P)
(S) "Floodplain" means the relatively level land next
to a stream or river channel that is periodically submerged by flood waters. It
is composed of alluvium deposited by the present stream or river when it
floods.
(Q)
(T) "Function" means
the
physical, chemical, and biological processes occurring in
, or because of, the presence of a wetland that
contribute to a larger ecological condition such as water quality improvement,
flood control
and/or
or biodiversity maintenance.
(R)
(U)
"Ground water discharge" means water flowing out of a ground water zone. In
regards to wetlands, ground water discharge occurs when water flows from a
ground water zone to a wetland.
(S)
(V) "Ground water
recharge" means water flow into a ground water zone. In regards to wetlands,
ground water recharge occurs when water flows from a wetland to a ground water
zone.
(T)
(W) "Hydrologically isolated wetlands" means those
wetlands which
;
:
(1) Have no surface
water connection to a surface water of the state
;
.
(2) Are outside of, and not contiguous to,
any one hundred-year "floodplain" as that term is defined in this rule
; and
.
(3) Have no contiguous hydric soil between
the wetland and any surface water of the state.
(U)
(X)
"Indirect impacts" means effects which are caused by the project
and that occur farther removed in distance from
the project, but are still reasonably foreseeable. Indirect impacts may include
related effects on air and water and other natural systems, including
ecosystems, and other adverse environmental impacts that may be a consequence
of the project.
(V)
(Y) "In-kind" means
compensatory mitigation of wetland losses by restoring or
creating a forested wetland for a forested wetland and a non-forested wetland
for a non-forested wetland.
a wetland of a
similar structural and functional type to the impacted wetland.
(Z)
"In-lieu fee
program" means a program that has been approved in accordance with
33 C.F.R. Part
332.8, involving the reestablishment
(restoration), establishment (creation), rehabilitation (enhancement), or
preservation of aquatic resources through funds paid to a governmental or
non-profit natural resources management entity to satisfy compensatory
mitigation requirements.
(AA)
"Long term protection" means compensatory mitigation
that is protected with a legal instrument such as an environmental covenant,
conservation easement, or deed restriction. In the event a legal instrument is
not a viable option based on land ownership or lease agreements where
compensatory mitigation has occurred, the applicant must clearly demonstrate
operational control to sustain and preserve the compensatory mitigation project
after performance standards are met and monitoring requirements have been
fulfilled.
(W)
(BB) "Minimization" refers to a step in the
alternatives analysis and means that unavoidable impacts are reduced to the
maximum extent practicable.
(X)
(CC) "Mitigation bank"
means a site
that has been approved in accordance with
33 C.F.R. Part
332.8, where
wetlands
aquatic
resources have been
restored
reestablished (restored),
created
established
(created),
enhanced
rehabilitated (enhanced) or
, in exceptional circumstances, preserved expressly
for the purpose of providing compensatory mitigation
generally in advance of authorizing
for authorized impacts.
(Y) "Mitigation bank service area"
means the designated area where a mitigation bank can reasonably be expected to
provide appropriate compensation for impacts to wetlands and other aquatic
resources.
(Z)
(DD) "Mitigation
ratio" means the rate at which wetland units (e.g., acres) will be
restored
reestablished (restored),
created
established
(created),
enhanced
rehabilitated (enhanced) or preserved to provide for
compensation of unavoidable wetland losses.
(AA)
(EE) "Native species"
means a species which, by scientific evidence, was present in Ohio just prior
to European exploration and settlement.
(BB)
(FF) "Non-native
species" means a species which, by scientific evidence, was not present in Ohio
just prior to European exploration and settlement.
(CC)
(GG) "Nuisance
organisms" means organisms that are
primarily vegetative organisms, that generally are non-native and have
opportunistic growth patterns, and that
displace more diverse assemblages.
(HH)
"Ohio Rapid
Assessment Method" (ORAM) version 5.0 (Ohio EPA, February 1, 2001) is available
on Ohio EPA's website at:
http://epa.ohio.gov/dsw/401/ecology.aspx#149364493-ohio-rapid-assessment-method-oram.
This document may also be obtained by writing to: "Ohio EPA, Division of
Surface Water, PO Box 1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049."
(DD) "Off-site mitigation" means
wetland restoration, creation, enhancement or preservation occurring farther
than one mile from the project boundary but within the same
watershed.
(EE)
(II) "Old-growth
forests" means forests characterized by, but not limited to, the following
characteristics: overstory canopy trees of great age (exceeding at least fifty
per cent of a projected maximum attainable age for a species); little or no
evidence of human-caused understory disturbance during the past eighty to one
hundred years; an all-aged structure and multilayered canopies; aggregations of
canopy trees interspersed with canopy gaps; and significant numbers of standing
dead snags and downed logs.
(FF) "On-site mitigation" means
wetland restoration, creation, enhancement or preservation occurring within one
mile of the project boundary but within the same watershed.
(JJ)
"Permittee" means any person who has been issued a section
401 water quality certification or isolated wetland permit by the Ohio
EPA.
(GG)
(KK) "Practicable" means available and capable of
being done after taking into consideration cost, existing technology and
logistics in light of overall and basic project purposes. For the purposes of
this definition
,
:
(1) "Available"
means an alternative which is obtainable for the purpose of the project
;
.
(2) "Basic project purpose" means the generic
function of the project
; and
.
(3)
"Overall project purpose" means the basic project purpose plus consideration of
costs and technical and logistical feasibility.
(HH)
(LL)
"Preservation" means
protection of
the removal of a threat to, or preventing the decline
of ecologically important
wetlands in
perpetuity
aquatic resources through the
implementation of appropriate legal mechanisms to prevent harm to the wetland.
Preservation may include protection of adjacent upland areas as necessary to
ensure protection of the wetland.
(II)
(MM) "Public need"
means an activity or project that provides important tangible and intangible
gains to society, that satisfies the expressed or observed needs of the public
where accrued benefits significantly outweigh reasonably foreseeable
detriments.
(JJ)
(NN)
"Restoration"
"Reestablishment" (restoration) means the
re-establishment of a previously existing wetland at
a site where it has ceased to exist.
manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological
characteristics of a site with the goal of returning natural or historic
functions to a former or degraded aquatic resource.
(OO)
"Rehabilitation
(enhancement)" means the manipulation of the physical, chemical, or biological
characteristics of existing wetlands to heighten, intensify, or improve
existing or historic natural functions of a wetland.
(PP)
"Service area"
means the geographic area within which impacts can be mitigated at a specific
mitigation bank or an in-lieu fee program, as designated in its
instrument.
(QQ)
"Services" means the benefits that human populations
receive from functions that occur in wetlands.
(KK)
(RR) "Substrate"
means solid material, such as soil, on or within which organisms can
live.
(LL)
(SS) "Threatened species" means: a native Ohio plant
species listed or designated by the
ohio
Ohio department
of natural resources as threatened with extirpation pursuant to section
1518.01 of the Revised Code; or
an animal species listed or designated as threatened with statewide extinction
by the
ohio
Ohio department of natural resources pursuant to
section
1531.25 of the Revised Code; or
a species that appears on the threatened species registry, as defined in rule
3745-1-05 of the
Administrative Code; or any plant or animal species that is native to Ohio or
that migrates or is otherwise reasonably likely to occur within the state and
which has been listed as threatened pursuant to section 4 of the Endangered
Species Act
( 16 U.S.C.A. 1531 et seq., as
amended).
(TT)
"Upland buffer" means land surrounding the
jurisdictional edge of a wetland that consists of upland prairie, old field,
shrub, or forest vegetation that is maintained in a natural state through
passive or active management. This does not include lawns, mowed roadsides,
fields where crops are grown or animals pastured, and other similar land
uses.
(UU)
"Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity for Wetlands,"
version 1.5 (Ohio EPA, 2015) is available on Ohio EPA's website at:
http://epa.ohio.gov/dsw/401/ ecology.aspx#149364495-reports. This document may
also be obtained by writing to: "Ohio EPA, Division of Surface Water, PO Box
1049, Columbus, Ohio 43216-1049."
(MM)
(VV) "Vernal pools"
means shallow, temporarily flooded, depressional forested or forest edge
wetlands, that are typically dry for most of the summer and fall. These
wetlands are generally inundated in the late winter and spring when they are
subject to a burst of biological activity, including amphibian breeding. When
flooded, vernal pools are often comprised of areas of open water that are not
densely vegetated. They also tend to accumulate organic (woody)
debris.
(NN)
(WW) "Watershed" means a common surface drainage area
corresponding to one from the list of thirty-seven adapted from the forty-four
cataloging units as depicted on the hydrologic unit map of Ohio, U.S.
geological survey, 1988, and as described in paragraph
(F)(2)
(G) of
rule
3745-1-54
of the Administrative Code or as otherwise shown on
map number 1 found in
appendix 1 to rule
3745-1-54
of the Administrative Code. Watersheds are limited to those parts of the
cataloging units that geographically lie within the borders of the state of
Ohio.