Huffman and Associates, Inc., Moss Beach, California

In order to understand whether previous wetland delineations conducted at the Moss Beach site followed the protocol set forth within the 1987 Corps Manual (and various memorandums) a review of the past wetland delineation was performed. During the review, a field study that included a hydrologic study was conducted to evaluate wetland hydrology under normal circumstances. This evaluation would indicate if the wetlands were subject to Corps jurisdiction. H&C conducted four specific tasks to define normal wetland hydrologic conditions. The tasks included: 

• determination of what defined normal wetland hydrologic conditions by the Corps regulatory definition in terms of the quintessential year and the total number of consecutive days that a given location must be either flooded, ponded and/or saturated

• determination of what constitutes the Corps’ frequently flooded (or 2-year return interval) wetland criteria for the Moss Beach area

• determination of how saturated a soil must be to effect anaerobic conditions  

• hydrologic modeling. Using analysis from in-situ soils cores, H&C, Inc. determined whether the soils found within the ‘wetland’ area can saturate to effect anaerobic conditions under the Corps’ normal 2-year hydrologic condition and the 1998 hydrologic year when the site was delineated