Author: Marc Seelinger

Rigorous Review Process Leads to Inclusion on Popular E-Commerce Marketplace

ANGIER, N.C. — The Swamp School LLC, the gold standard of training and certifications for government agencies and clients in the private sector seeking to advance their wetland careers, has achieved certification in the General Service Administration’s Advantage!® program.

Before awarding GSA Advantage!® certification, the GSA puts all commercial applicants through a rigorous vetting process that includes a lengthy application, review of pricing structures and proof of compliance with all related regulatory bodies. At the end of the process, only vendors that have a proven track record of success, compliance and timely delivery of services or products at reasonable prices earn GSA Advantage!® certification.

As part of its certification, the Swamp School is now listed on the GSA Advantage!® website, one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in the world. The website features a wide range of products and services of interest to federal, state and local government employees, tribal governments and other public and private entities. The Swamp School’s landing page on GSA Advantage!® can be accessed by visiting gsaadvantage.gov and entering the search term, “swamp school llc”. You can also use GSA Contact Number: 47QREA21D0005.

“Our GSA certification is the result of a robust screening process that took several years to complete,” said Marc Seelinger, founder, director and lead instructor of the Swamp School. “The certification assures both governmental organizations — as well as other groups and individuals — that we offer our classes at fair prices and adhere to all regulations and laws that guide our industry.”

The GSA Advantage!® shopping and ordering system provides access to thousands of contractors and millions of products and services. For government agencies seeking to minimize red tape and quickly receive the products or services they need at fair market value, a GSA certification significantly speeds up the ordering and delivery process when agencies call for proposals and award contracts.

“GSA certification means we’ve been evaluated by multiple organizations and the government, and that we’ve fully met the government’s requirements with regards to our training and programs,” Seelinger said.

According to Seelinger, the website enables users to quickly compare prices and services across the entire competitive landscape. “The GSA site automatically compares prices and other key features so organizations can quickly make big decisions and purchases,” he said. “Government officials put a priority on vendors that are speedy and efficient — they want to be able to get the job done today.”

Government employees can make purchases on GSA Advantage!® using approved codes and purchase cards. In addition, anyone may browse on GSA Advantage!® to view and compare the variety of products and services offered.

As of now, 24 approved courses and two webinar programs are available from Swamp School through the GSA Advantage!^® site. They include courses on wetland delineation and monitoring techniques, stream restoration physics, ecological risk assessment and habitat conservation. In addition, the Swamp School offers certification programs for wetland botanists, hydric soil investigators and wetland hydrologists, among others.

“Swamp School helps both government agencies and clients in the private sector to fulfill their mission and leverage the latest wetland science,” Seelinger said. “With our targeted training and classes, staff can stay current on the latest technical and regulatory changes, as well as advance their wetland careers.”

The Swamp School’s programs are based on real-world experience, Seelinger added. “The key element that differentiates us from our competition is that we have ‘been there and done that.’”

ABOUT SWAMP SCHOOL LLC

Based in Angier, North Carolina, the Swamp School offers post-secondary/college classes and webinars in wetland assessment, delineation and design, and other topics relating to the management of wetlands. The classes are designed to help environmental professionals enhance their skills and expand their business.

Find out more about the Swamp School online at swampschool.org

Note to editors: This news release is neither paid for nor sponsored, in whole or in part, by any element of the United States government. Advantage!® certification does not imply any type of endorsement of a product or service by the GSA.
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Wetland Wednesday

December 2, 2020

There is an ancient Chinese curse that seems most appropriate for 2020.  “May you live in interesting times.”  There is some debate as to whether this curse is attributable to the Chinese, but the meaning rings true.

I think it is safe to say that this year has been an interesting time.  The list of interesting topics is long and incudes a pandemic, a contested Presidential election, national protests, and mask mandates to name a few. 

The topic of wetlands regulation has also fallen to this curse.  We now have a new Waters of the US (WOTUS) definition, a new wetland plant list, new state wetland programs, and a new wetland permitting program.  The last of these I would like to focus on. 

A couple of weeks ago the public comment period for the USACOE Nationwide Permitting program had ended.  It had a whopping 534 public comments.  This is a far cry from the 1.6 million comments the Obama Administration had for its Clean Water Rule.  Ironically, the changes to these permits are as significant to the development industry as the WOTUS definitions updates where.  What is even more important about this general lack of interest in permits is that this low comment number expedites the final issuance of the new permits.

Looking into my muddy crystal ball I would expect to see these permits issued in final form before Inauguration Day in January.  The public comment period ended on November 16, 2020.  With only 534 comments to manage.  I would expect that the Corps has already finished its review of the comments and is in the process of formulating its response.  It would be reasonable to expect a pre-publication announcement within a week or two and final publication in the Federal Register on Christmas Eve.  December 24 has been a popular day to publish new wetland rules in the past.  The effective date of the new rules would probably be 30 days from publication with an outside chance that it might extend to 60 days.  Even if there is a new President seated there is nothing to stop this process once it has been published.

The comments themselves are fairly substantive.  I have reviewed many of them based upon who the commentor was.  From this I can briefly summarize the comments on a more wholesale basis.

To start there were very few seminar comments.  These are comments that are basically, “I like/dislike this new rules.”  Insert name here.  Most of the comments from individuals were genuine people with a specific concern. 

The government agency comments can be lumped into one general category.  They do not like to mess with the status quo.  At issue is the elimination of the 300-foot stream impact limit.  This has been replaced with a 0.5-acre threshold limit.  Their main concern relates to how to translate this into the various state permitting and mitigation rules.  One concern brought up by the NC Department of Mitigation Management poses an interesting dilemma.  They have over $400 million dollars’ worth of unencumbered stream restoration credits that are based upon a linear footage program.  The change to acreage creates significant bookkeeping problems.  It will be interesting to see how the Corps responds to that one.

There is also an issue with Statewide Programmatic Permits.  Well, there is no longer an issue with these permits as they would no longer exist.  Several state agencies had queried on this topic.

The private sector development groups have concerns about increasing the permit threshold limits.  Groups like the National Homebuilders would like to see these thresholds increase.

The environmental groups are generally opposed to these permits.  This stems largely from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) issues that caused some of the 2017 permits to be rescinded.  It is not entirely clear how the Corps satisfied its NEPA compliance in the permit regulations.  However, I expect we will see more data show up in the regulation docket as time goes on.  The biggest issue identified relates to endangered and threatened (E&T) species impacts associated with these permits.  The E&T species impacts associated with the issuance of these permits is not well documented either way.  One would assume that any impact to a wetland would negatively impact E&T species if present.

All of the wetland programs that have been modified under the Trump Administration have been done through the issuance of regulations as opposed to executive orders.  Even the National Wetland Plant list was published in the Federal Register as a regulation.  Consequently, it would be very difficult for a new Administration to delete these new permit rules.  It took three years for the Clean Water Rule to be replaced and that was largely because it had not yet been nationally implemented due to numerous court challenges.

So, in summary, get ready for a whole new set of Nationwide Wetland Permits coming your way this spring.

The good news is 2021 on the Chinese calendar is the year of the Ox.  It should come as no surprise that 2020 was the year of the Rat.  The Ox should have come in first in the Great Race, but the Rat cheated.  Read into that what you will.  The Ox is also associated with Yang so good times are coming!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and best wishes for a prosperous and productive New Year!

 – Marc

Wetland Wednesday

October 7, 2020

One of the biggest challenges new wetland delineators face is how to sort through all of the hydric soil indicators.  There about 100 of them and it is easy to get lost.  To help you manage this we have developed a key system that gets you to the right indicators by asking a few focused questions.

To start, the user needs to understand how the indicators are arranged.  They are grouped based upon particle size and component materials.  The size classes have been identified by the USDA as sand, silt and clay.  In addition there is non-texture related soil indicator grouping that can overlap with mineral soils as well as organic soils.

The “A” group is to be used for All Soils regardless of texture class.  This group includes all of the organic soil indicators.  However, there are some indicators that have nothing to do with the soil texture.  An example of this is the hydrogen sulfide (A4) indicator.  If you smell rotten eggs in the soil within 12 inches you pass this indicator.

The other “A” indicators mostly focus on the amount of organic matter in the soil.  The more organic matter in the soil indicates a low level of decomposition that is usually due to a high amount of water at the surface.  So the first question on our key is, “Do we have a lot of organic matter?”

The next question separates the sand from the loam soils.  If there is a lot of sand, then you have the sand “S” indicators.    If the soil is predominantly silt or clay, then we are looking at a “F” indicator.

The “S” indicators include factors that are related to high organic matter.  They also have redoximorphic features like oxidized rhizospheres and gleyed matrix colors.

The “F” indicators are focused on your Munsell Soil Color Chart.  Redox concentrations and depletions are key features of this group.  There is also a major focus on the soil color value.  There is a major divide between dark surface layers and the other colors.  This is reflective of values less than or equal to 3.

There are some general ground rules for soil colors.  In most cases the predominate color (matrix) should have a chroma less than or equal to 2.  However, there are many exceptions to this.  Most of these exceptions relate to the landform the soil is found in.

To start our key, begin with texture.  Is it an A, S or F soil?  Second, is the soil chroma less than or equal to 2?  If not, are there landform exceptions?  Finally, what is the soil color value?  Is it greater than 3 or less than or equal to 3?  This opens up those tricky dark surface layer indicators.

This month we are offering are hydric soil indicator webinar that includes a nice graphical key.  You can find our more about this webinar here.