WAC 173-22-030
Definitions. As used herein, the
following words have the following meanings:
(1) "Associated wetlands" means those wetlands which are
in proximity to and either influence or are influenced by
tidal waters or a lake or stream subject to the Shoreline
Management Act;
(2) "Atypical situation" as used herein, refers to areas
in which one or more parameters (vegetation, soil, and/or
hydrology) have been sufficiently altered by recent human
activities or natural events to preclude the presence of
wetland indicators of the parameter. Recent refers to the
period of time since legal jurisdiction of an applicable law
or regulation took effect;
(3) "Duration (inundation/soil saturation)" means the
length of time during which water stands at or above the soil
surface (inundation), or during which the soil is saturated.
As used herein, duration refers to a period during the growing
season;
(4) "Flood plain" is synonymous with one hundred-year
flood plain and means that land area susceptible to being
inundated by stream derived waters with a one percent chance
of being equaled or exceeded in any given year. The limit of
this area shall be based upon flood ordinance regulation maps
or a reasonable method which meets the objectives of the act;
(5) "Floodway" has the meaning provided in RCW 90.58.030;
(6) "Growing season" means the portion of the year when
soil temperatures at 19.7 inches below the soil surface are
higher than biologic zero (5°C);
(7) "Hydrophytic vegetation" means the sum total of
macrophytic plant life growing in water or on a substrate that
is at least periodically deficient in oxygen as a result of
excessive water content. When hydrophytic vegetation comprises
a community where indicators of hydric soils and wetland
hydrology also occur, the area has wetland vegetation;
(8) "Hydric soil" means soil that formed under conditions
of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the
growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper
part;
(9) "Lake" means a body of standing water in a depression
of land or expanded part of a river, including reservoirs, of
twenty acres or greater in total area. A lake is bounded by
the ordinary high water mark or, where a stream enters a lake,
the extension of the elevation of the lake's ordinary high
water mark within the stream;
(10) "Long duration" means a period of inundation from a
single event that ranges from seven days to one month.
(11) "Ordinary high water mark" on all lakes, streams,
and tidal water is that mark that will be found by examining
the bed and banks and ascertaining where the presence and
action of waters are so common and usual, and so long
continued in all ordinary years, as to mark upon the soil a
character distinct from that of the abutting upland, in
respect to vegetation as that condition exists on June 1,
1971, as it may naturally change thereafter, or as it may
change thereafter in accordance with permits issued by a local
government or the department. The following criteria clarify
this mark on tidal waters, lakes, and streams:
(a) Tidal waters.
(i) In high energy environments where the action of waves
or currents is sufficient to prevent vegetation establishment
below mean higher high tide, the ordinary high water mark is
coincident with the line of vegetation. Where there is no
vegetative cover for less than one hundred feet parallel to
the shoreline, the ordinary high water mark is the average
tidal elevation of the adjacent lines of vegetation. Where
the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, it is the
elevation of mean higher high tide;
(ii) In low energy environments where the action of waves
and currents is not sufficient to prevent vegetation
establishment below mean higher high tide, the ordinary high
water mark is coincident with the landward limit of salt
tolerant vegetation. "Salt tolerant vegetation" means
vegetation which is tolerant of interstitial soil salinities
greater than or equal to 0.5 parts per thousand;
(b) Lakes. Where the ordinary high water mark cannot be
found, it shall be the line of mean high water;
(c) Streams. Where the ordinary high water mark cannot
be found, it shall be the line of mean high water. For
braided streams, the ordinary high water mark is found on the
banks forming the outer limits of the depression within which
the braiding occurs;
(12) "Prevalent vegetation" means the plant community or
communities that occur in an area during a given period. The
prevalent vegetation is characterized by the dominant
macrophytic species that comprise the plant community;
(13) "River delta" means those lands formed as an
aggradational feature by stratified clay, silt, sand and
gravel deposited at the mouths of streams where they enter a
quieter body of water. The upstream extent of a river delta
is that limit where it no longer forms distributary channels;
(14) "Shorelands" or "shoreland areas" means those lands
extending landward for two hundred feet in all directions as
measured on a horizontal plane from the ordinary high water
mark; floodways and contiguous flood plain areas landward two
hundred feet from such floodways; and all wetlands and river
deltas associated with the streams, lakes, and tidal waters
which are subject to the provisions of this chapter; the same
to be designated as to location by the department of ecology. Any county or city may determine that portion of a one
hundred-year flood plain to be included in its master program
as long as such portion includes, as a minimum, the floodway
and the adjacent land extending landward two hundred feet
therefrom;
(15) A "stream" is a naturally occurring body of periodic
or continuously flowing water where:
(a) The mean annual flow is greater than twenty cubic
feet per second; and
(b) The water is contained within a channel. A channel
is an open conduit either naturally or artificially created. This definition does not include artificially created
irrigation, return flow, or stockwatering channels;
(16) "Tidal water" includes marine and estuarine waters
bounded by the ordinary high water mark. Where a stream
enters the tidal water, the tidal water is bounded by the
extension of the elevation of the marine ordinary high water
mark within the stream;
(17) "Typically adapted" is a term that refers to a
species being normally or commonly suited to a given set of
environmental conditions, due to some feature of its
morphology, physiology, or reproduction;
(18) "Very long duration" means a period of inundation
from a single event that is greater than one month.
(19) "Wetlands" or "wetland areas" means areas that are
inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a
frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under
normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar
areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands
intentionally created from nonwetland sites, including, but
not limited to, irrigation and drainage ditches, grass-lined
swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment
facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those
wetlands created after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally
created as a result of the construction of a road, street, or
highway. Wetlands may include those artificial wetlands
intentionally created from nonwetland areas to mitigate the
conversion of wetlands; and
(20) The definitions set forth in chapter 90.58 RCW shall
also apply as used herein.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 90.58.030 (3)(e), 90.58.045,90.58.065
, 90.58.140(9), 90.58.143, 90.58.147, 90.58.200,90.58.355
, 90.58.390, 90.58.515, 43.21K.080, 71.09.250,71.09.342
, 77.55.181, 89.08.460, chapters 70.105D, 80.50 RCW. 07-02-086 (Order 05-12), § 173-22-030, filed 1/2/07, effective
2/2/07. Statutory Authority: RCW 90.58.140(3) and[90.58].200
. 97-04-076 (Order 96-12), § 173-22-030, filed
2/5/97, effective 3/8/97. Statutory Authority: Chapter 90.58 RCW. 86-12-011 (Order 86-06), § 173-22-030, filed 5/23/86. Statutory Authority: RCW 90.58.030 (2)(f), 90.58.120, and90.58.200
. 80-08-086 (Order DE 80-22), § 173-22-030, filed
7/2/80; Order DE 73-11, § 173-22-030, filed 7/20/73; Order DE
72-15, § 173-22-030, filed 6/30/72.]