Wetlands - Questions and Answers (show/hide all)

• What are wetlands?

  Wetlands are commonly referred to as swamps, marshes, or bogs. However, many wetlands in New Jersey are forested and do not fit the classic picture of a swamp or marsh. Previously misunderstood as wastelands, wetlands are now being recognized for their vital ecological and socioeconomic contributions.

  New Jersey protects wetlands under the New Jersey Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, N.J.S.A. 13:9B. This law also protects transition areas or "buffers" around freshwater wetlands. New Jersey also protects coastal wetlands under a different law. See the pamphlet entitled Guide to New Jersey's Coastal Permitting Program if you are in a coastal area and think you may have coastal wetlands on your property.

• What if my land contains freshwater wetlands?

  If your land contains freshwater wetlands, you are very limited in what you may do in the wetlands. The Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act requires DEP to regulate virtually all activities proposed in the wetland, including cutting of vegetation, dredging, excavation or removal of soil, drainage or disturbance of the water level, filling or discharge of any materials, driving of pilings, and placing of obstructions.

  The most common type of freshwater wetlands permit is a general permit. General permits cover a limited number of very minor activities, such as:

  • Repair of existing structures
  • Short roads or driveways
  • Docks
  • Utility lines
  • Stream bank stabilization
  .
  • Septic system repair

  If your activity is not eligible for authorization under a general permit, DEP may, in very limited circumstances, issue an individual freshwater wetlands permit. Individual permits require an extensive alternatives analysis and are therefore much less common than general permits.

• What about "Zones/Buffers"?

  If you want to pursue activities in an area within 150 feet of a wetland, you may be in a transition area (sometimes called a zone or buffer) and you may need a DEP transition area waiver. A transition area is a strip of land bordering the wetlands. The width of the transition area may vary from 150 feet down to nothing, depending on the value of the particular wetland. For example, a wetland containing endangered species habitat would require a 150 foot wide transition area, whereas a small wetland in a ditch might not require any transition area at all. Most freshwater wetlands require a 50?foot transition area.

  There are many small activities that can be pursued in a transition area under general permits, like the general permits discussed above, for activities in freshwater wetlands. In addition, in some cases the transition area's shape may be altered to allow an activity, without diminishing its total size. This is called transition area averaging.

• What's so good about wetlands?

  Many of us grew up thinking wetlands should be drained for farming or filled in for development. But wetlands contribute to the social, economic, and environmental health of our nation in many ways:

  Wetlands protect drinking water by filtering out chemicals, pollutants, and sediments that would otherwise clog and contaminate our waters.

  Wetlands soak up runoff from heavy rains and snow melts, providing natural flood control. Wetlands release stored flood waters during droughts.

  Wetlands provide critical habitats for a major portion of the State's fish and wildlife, including endangered, commercial and recreational species.

  Wetlands provide high quality open space for recreation and tourism. Many of these values were not widely appreciated until the 1970s and 1980s. By then, more than half of the nation's wetlands were destroyed. The New Jersey freshwater wetlands program protects freshwater wetlands, and upland areas within 150 feet of wetlands (sometimes called “zones or buffers"), from development which will impair the wetlands' ability to provide the values listed above.

Category 1 Waters ? Questions and Answers

• What is a Category 1 Water?

  Category 1 waters are defined in the existing Surface Water Quality Standards rules at N.J.A.C. 7:9B?1.4 as waters protected from any measurable changes in water quality because of their exceptional ecological significance, exceptional recreational significance, exceptional water supply significance, or exceptional fisheries resources. Category 1 waters have more stringent anti?degradation requirements than Category Two waters.

• What is the purpose of the Category 1 designation?

  The Category 1 designation provides additional protection to water bodies that helps prevent water quality degradation and discourage development where it would impair or destroy natural resources and water quality. The maintenance of water quality is important to residents, particularly to the many communities that depend on surface waters for drinking water supplies, recreation, fishing, and shellfish harvesting.

  To date, the Department has designated over 4,552 stream miles and 12,374 acres of lakes and reservoirs as Category One waters. Most of these designations were made in 1985 to include surface waters located within state and federal parks, wildlife management areas, and trout production waters. Since 1985, only streams upgraded to freshwater?trout production (FW2?TP) were designated as Category One waters.

• How do Category 1 Waters affect property owners?

  If a property owner is planning new construction in the vicinity of a water body which is given the Category 1 Water designation, then it is important to determine the distance of the proposed construction in relation to the waterway.

• What is a Category 1 Zone or Buffer?

  Buffers are vegetated areas adjacent to waterways that provide protection to New Jersey’s water quality. These special areas are established and protected through various rules and may vary in width.

  300 foot buffer or Special Water Resource Protection Area (SWRPA) is required for all “Major Development” (1/4 acre increase in impervious surface or 1 acre of disturbance), that is adjacent to a waterway that is designated as C1 or to an upstream tributary within the same HUC 14 AND that is mapped on either the County Soil Survey or the USGS Quad map.

  All disturbances in the SWRPA must be approved by the Department of Environmental Protection in a DLUR permit or by the Division of Watershed Management, when no DLUR permit is required. Development in the SWRPA is permitted in limited circumstances, for example, for a project that involves: a linear development, a unique hardship, or disturbance of the outer 150 feet of the SWRPA that is already disturbed only if the overall functional value of the SWRPA is maintained or improved.

Stormwater Management rules, Surface Water Quality Standards, Flood Hazard Area Control Act Rules (opens in a new window)

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