As an Environmental Project Manager, I STRONGLY SUPPORT continued regulation of Certified Professional Wetland Delineators (PWD). Certification of PWDs is necessary to protect the Commonwealth and its citizens and satisfies the 4 criteria required for an occupation to be regulated.
The JLARC study based its decision on factually incorrect information – a PWS certification is not like a PWD Certification, though educational requirements are similar. A PWS can be obtained by people solely based on references and education in all sorts of areas related to wetlands ecology; whereas, a PWD is focused 100% on the specific skills needed to perform a wetlands delineation. A PWS does not even need to have such field skills for wetland delineation. If a PWS has wetland delineation experience, the PWS certification does not require a test for wetland delineation field skills. The critical distinction is that the Commonwealth's PWD program tests the field skills necessary to perform accurate wetland delineations.
The continued changing laws, regulations and manuals used to determine what a wetlands area is, and which are regulated – again points to a need to have this certification program. It also demonstrates that its rigor should be increased with continuing education requirements.
Recently (June 22, 2020), the Federal Government changed its regulations that determine which Waters of the US (WOTUS), which include wetlands, are regulated by the Federal Government. These regulations are such that now wetlands and waters regulated by the Federal Government will, in many cases, be different than what the Commonwealth of Virginia regulates. Therefore, no national level certification program could capture the specific needs of the citizens of our Commonwealth.
As the Commonwealth of Virginia will now regulate more of its wetland resources than the Federal Government, it is critical that qualified individuals have the education and field skills required to perform this work.
The expertise provided by a PWD's knowledge of botany, soil science, hydrology, and state and federal regulations is invaluable in performing accurate wetland delineations in the varied landscapes existing throughout the Commonwealth. The high-quality delineation work provided by a PWD allows for a streamlined permit review process at the local, state, and federal level with added precision in determining buffers and setbacks that further define unencumbered areas available for property owners to maximize their land use value Worse, an inaccurate delineation or poor understanding of Virginia regulations can not only be costly to the property owners, it increases the onus of regulators with limited staff and time increasing permit issuance backlogs. BPOR is seeking to reduce the overall number of regulations, but removing the professional wetland delineator certification will increase the likelihood that key infrastructure projects are delayed which decrease the attractiveness of Virginia to investors in key sectors like energy, transportation, utilities, and data centers and increases the regulatory burden on permit applicants.
Wetlands provide a variety of ecosystem functions and values which translate to real world public safety, welfare and health benefits. The practice of not accurately identifying wetlands affected the protection of water resources within the Commonwealth, resulting in negative economic impacts; loss of flood water attenuation; unregulated loss of wetlands, thus decreasing water quality, effecting the quality of drinking water supplies, and negatively impacting Eco-tourism.
In conclusion, the PWD certification is necessary for the Commonwealth of Virginia because it protects the public from inadequate delineations, avoids costly errors in development, reduces permitting backlog for regulators, and ensures protection of wetland resources and the Virginia economy. There are no other certification programs that can provide assurances of competency to perform this work. This is a certification of competency - not completion. I urge DPOR to acknowledge the value of the PWD and recommend the continuation of the Virginia Professional Wetland Delineator Certification.