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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Overview of Final National Ordinary High Water Mark Field Delineation Manual for Rives and Streams

INSTRUCTORS Gabrielle C. L. David, Ph.D.

COURSE DESCRIPTION Abstract:
Ordinary High Water Mark (OHWM) delineation has long been a part of identifying aquatic resources that may be subject to federal jurisdiction under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Sections 9 and 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. With nearly 70,000 regulatory actions executed by USACE every year, it is essential that regulators and other practitioners have tools for rapid, efficient, consistent, and accurate decision-making. USACE, along with its federal and academic partners, released the final version of the National OHWM Field Delineation Manual for Rivers and Streams in January 2025, as well as a 2-page data sheet and field procedure. The development and publication of this manual and associated data sheet and field procedure was a multi-year effort that engaged stakeholders and public by garnering feedback through release of interim version in December 2022. The national OHWM manual provides a scientifically based rapid framework to support OHWM identification in a consistent, robust, repeatable, and defensible way, which can be used not only by USACE, but other federal, state, local, and Tribal partners involved in managing these resources. Use of the National OHWM Manual as a technical resource will result in timely and more predictable identification and delineation of the OHWM across the Nation.

Speaker's Bio:
Gabrielle David is a research physical scientist specializing in fluvial geomorphology in the Remote Sensing/GIS Center of Expertise at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). Dr. David leads applied research projects on stream systems in support of the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Regulatory Program through the ERDC-led Wetland Regulatory Assistance Program (WRAP). WRAP accelerates and enhances USACE Regulatory decisions by developing rapid decision support tools and integrating sound science and technical concepts into the USACE decision-making process. Dr. David supports WRAP and Regulatory through development of innovative tools and technical resources, and by providing scientific reasoning for regulatory decisions. In particular, Dr. David chairs the National Technical Committee for OHWM and leads projects on improving methods and tools used for assessing streams. Prior to her time at ERDC-CRREL, Dr. David was a visiting assistant professor at Boston College and Bowdoin College, where she taught courses in rivers and water resources. Currently, she teaches regional courses on field identification of the OHWM. Dr. David received her BS in Environmental Geology from The College of William and Mary and her MS and PhD in Geosciences from Colorado State University.

Course Duration: 60 minutes
Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE Introduction to OHWM national manual (5 mins) Presentation broken up based on goals of what is found in national manual: Goal 1: understand OHWM (10 mins) Goal 2: Weight-of-evidence (10 mins) Goal 3: Introduce field form (5 mins) Goal 4: Understand landscape-considerations (10 mins) Goal 5: Case studies (10 mins) Q&A (15 mins)

COURSE CONTACT

Jason T Tucker
6245 Dawes Lane, CINCINNATI, OH 45230
jttucker14@gmail.com
P: 6145816402
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