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Basic Wetland Delineation: Register

Students and professionals just entering the field of wetland science, as well as theding a review, should attend these five-day (40-hour) on the 1987 Corps of Engineers wetland delineation method. The course covers the Clean Water Act Section 404 regulations, individual wetland parameters of vegetation, soils, and hydrology. Both routine and comprehensive methods as well as atypical situations and problem area wetlands are covered. Participants complete several wetland delineations.

Wetland Botany: Register

Designed for those professionals working with wetlands without a working knowledge of wetland vegetation. This 2-day field course will focus on both tidal and non-tidal wetland plant identification. Emphasizing key field characteristics of a select number of vascular plant families will facilitate quick assessment. While instructor-led keying and group keying will teach the necessary skills for more exacting id requirements.

Instructor: Leslie Hunter- Cario
Date: July 10-11, 2008
Location: Environmental Concern, St. Michaels, MD
Cost: $380
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM

Grasses, Sedges and Rushes: Register

Winter Woody Plant ID: Register

This 2-day course will help give the wetland professional a competitive edge in wetland delineation. Vegetation analysis is the primary criteria used to delineate wetland boundaries. Without flowers, leaves, or fruits, trees still offer significant information for identification. Winter characters of deciduous woody plants test and develop one's powers of observation in the field. Taxonomic keys and field excursions will be utilized to identify over 80 woody species. Background in botany preferred but not necessary.

Woody Plants in Winter by Core and Ammons included.

Instructor: Bill Sipple
Date: March 3-4, 2008
Location: Environmental Concern, St. Michaels, MD
Cost: $380
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM

Advanced Plant Identification: Register

Designed for professionals who already have basic plant identification training and experience, including those looking for a refresher course. Key field characteristics of a select number of vascular plant families will be covered and the identification and recognition of major plants found in both uplands and wetlands will be emphasized.

Part of the first day will be spent in the lab reviewing some key morphological characteristics associated with vascular plants and covering four difficult families of vascular plants commonly found in uplands and wetlands -- the grasses, sedges, rushes, and composites -- using live specimens. The remaining part of the first day and most of the second day will be spent in the field identifying plants at a variety of wetland and upland sites in Caroline and Talbot Counties. For the field work, the participants should be prepared to get wet and muddy for the wetland sites visited.

A Field Guide to Non-tidal Wetland Identification by Ralph Tiner is included in the tuition fee.

Newcomb's Wildflower Guide by Lawrence Newcomb  - course reference manual available for use in during the course.

Instructor: Bill Sipple
Date: August 4-5, 2008
Location:Environmental Concern Campus, St. Michaels, MD
Cost: $380
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM

Living Shoreline Course: Register

Environmental Concern (EC) developed the protocol for vegetated shoreline stabilization and shoreline erosion control in the early 1970’s. Over the last 20 years EC engineers and scientists have developed design protocols suitable to more erosive environments. Environmental Concern has, over the last 35 years, designed and constructed hundreds of shoreline habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This 2-day course will introduce participants to the practice of shoreline management by examining the design and permitting processes as well as the challenges of construction, planting and monitoring the constructed wetland. Design and construction exercises will be based on actual marsh construction projects located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Each morning will be dedicated to classroom exercises. Afternoon sessions “hands-on” in the marsh.

Instructor: Gene Slear
Date: August 20-21, 2008
Location: Environmental Concern Campus, St. Michaels, MD
Cost: $380
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM

Evaluation for Planned Wetlands: Register

The focus of the functional design will be the use of Evaluation for Planned Wetlands (EPW). EPW is a rapid procedure for assessing wetland functions. It was developed for use in comparing functions in a planned wetland with those in a wetland assessment area (e.g., impact wetland).
EPW can also be used in a variety of other contexts involving wetlands, including impact analysis during the Section 404 permit review process, inventory of wetlands within a watershed, and restoration efforts. It is a simple procedure which documents and highlights differences between wetlands based on their capacity to provide six functions: shoreline bank erosion control, sediment stabilization, water quality, wildlife, fish (tidal, non-tidal stream/river, and non-tidal pond/lake), and uniqueness/heritage. The differences between wetlands are expressed in terms of individual elements, Functional Capacity Index, and Functional Capacity Units. The EPW manual includes detailed directions on how to evaluate the wetland assessment area; to use the evaluation results to set goals for the planned wetland; and to design and evaluate the planned wetland. It also provides a method for calculating acreages for the planned wetland based upon results of the evaluation of the wetland assessment area. Supporting documentation with a literature based rationale is also provided for each of the elements used in the procedure.

Instructor: Marc Seelinger
Date: October 6-8
Location: Environmental Concern
Cost: $600
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM

Maryland Wetland Permit Writing: Register

Wetland permitting requirements can present unexpected challenges. Challenges that delay a development project or dictate costly changes to the project design. Ignoring wetlands permit requirements can lead to significant penalties and time consuming restoration obligations. Environmental Concern has 36 years of hands on experience working with the state of Maryland’s permitting program. The course examines the permitting process in detail.

1. Introduction to Permit Writing
2. Purpose – review of the importance of functions and values of wetlands    
3. Authority – enforcement
4. Requirements – impacts to wetlands, analysis of alternatives, mitigation considerations
5. Permit Application Process – a case study approach

Instructor: Gene Slear
Date: June 25, 2008
Location: Environmental Concern
Cost: $200
Time: 8:30AM-5:00PM


Instructor Biography:

Royal Gardner

Dean Gardner's areas of teaching and research include environmental and international law. An executive editor of the Boston College Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif, he graduated magna cum laude from Boston College Law School. He then clerked for Chief Judge Francis J. Boyle of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. From 1989 to 1993, he served in the Army General Counsel's office as the Department of the Army's principal wetland attorney, advising the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) on legal and policy issues related to the Corps of Engineers' administration of the Clean Water Act section 404 program. From 1993 until he joined the Stetson faculty in 1994, Dean Gardner worked for the Department of Defense, where he participated in negotiating international agreements with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus to facilitate the dismantlement of the former Soviet Union's nuclear weapons. In 1999-2001, Dean Gardner was appointed to the National Research Council's Committee on Mitigating Wetland Losses. In November 2002, he served as a member of the United States delegation to the Eighth Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention, held in Valencia, Spain. He is currently the Vice Chair of the United States National Ramsar Committee and a Vice Chair of the American Bar Association's Committee on Water Quality and Wetlands.


Albert McCullough, III, P.E.

Albert McCullough is President of Sustainable Science, LLC. He has extensive experience in the characterization of subsurface conditions, has performed ecological assessments that involved over 250 wetland delineations, and has published several articles on wetland hydrology. Mr. McCullough has used his subsurface and hydraulic/hydrologic expertise as the lead designer on several wetland projects, most notably a 206 acre wetland mitigation bank in the New Jersey Hackensack Meadowlands and a 67 acre bog restoration project for The Nature Conservancy in northeastern Tennessee. He received his wetland delineator certification from the Baltimore District of the Army Corps of Engineers and holds Professional Engineer licenses in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, DC.

William S. Sipple

William S. Sipple is a wetland ecologist and the principal in W. S. Sipple Wetland & Environmental Training & Consulting, a small company he established after retiring from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2003. At EPA, he was an ecologist in the Agency’s Wetland Division in Washington, D.C. from 1979- 2003. From 1971-1979, he worked for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in Annapolis in a tidal wetland program. He has lead numerous field trips in the mid-Atlantic Region since 1971 and has taught various wetland delineation and plant identification courses in the private sector at Johns Hopkins University, Towson University, the Humboldt Field Research Institute in Steuben, ME, the Institute for Wetland & Environmental Education & Research in Laverett, MA, Environmental Concern, Inc. in St. Michaels, MD, the Northern Virginia Community College in Woodbridge, VA, and at the Graduate School, U. S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. His graduate training was in regional planning at the University of Pennsylvania and plant ecology at the University of Maryland. He has published a number of scientific articles in various peer-reviewed journals and is also a dedicated journal keeper (over 50 years) and writer, which has resulted in extensive field journals and two books: Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist (1991) and Days Afield: Exploring Wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay Region (1999).


Marc Seelinger, PWS

Mr. Seelinger is a Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) certified by the Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS). He is also listed as a Certified Wetland Delineator by the US Army Corps of Engineers – Baltimore District. He has over 20 years experience with wetland delineations, functional assessments, stream restoration, mitigation design, watershed planning, BMP design and storm water planning. He holds several storm water BMP certifications from the States of Maryland, Delaware and North Carolina.

Mr. Seelinger is co-owner of Cill Ide Native Plant Nursery. This nursery specializes in the propagation of native wetland plant species for use in various ecological restoration projects. He is also the principle instructor at The Swamp School. The Swamp School is an educational outreach of the nursery. He teaches a number of wetland related classes including wetland delineation, wetland design, wetland functional assessment and watershed planning.


Leslie Hunter-Cario

Leslie Hunter-Cario is the Nursery Manager at Environmental Concern Inc., and has been with the organization for over eight years. She directs the wetland plant nursery, with duties related to the propagation and production of wetland plants, nutrient management, and site consultation. When time allows, Leslie teaches horticulture and botany related courses for the Education Department, and gives talks and tours for special audiences . Leslie holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and is a Certified Professional Horticulturist through the Maryland Nursery and Landscape Association.