The American Land Title Association (ALTA) and the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) have published revised “Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys” with an effective date of February 23, 2016. Included in the new standards is a revision to Table A, Optional Survey Responsibilities and Specifications, addressing the location of delineated wetlands.

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On April 1, Virginia’s State Water Control Board approved the proposed changes to the Virginia Water Protection (VWP) Individual and General Permit regulations. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) updated the regulations through considerable efforts with stakeholders, including WSSI staff, to make program adjustments that bring the regulations in line with the changes that wetlands permitting has experienced since Virginia established the program in 2000. Changes on the horizon deal with permit timing, impact compensation, and construction monitoring, among other topics. The new regulations will be effective August 2, 2016 – and DEQ cannot issue permits under the new regulations before then.

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On January 22, 2016, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) published a proposed regulation in the Maryland Register. The advertised effective date of this regulation was March 28, 2016. However, based on discussions with MDNR as recently as mid-April, the details of this regulation are still being sorted out and therefore it has not yet been implemented. This regulation proposes to add the northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis) to the list of threatened species. Additionally, it proposes to designate the little brown myotis (bat) (Myotis lucifugus) and the tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) as "protected".

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On March 2, 2016, Mike Rolband testified before the Maryland House Environment and Transportation Committee in favor of House Bill (HB) 797. He also provided guidance to the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) on various technical aspects of the bill. This bill aims to improve the ecological performance of wetland mitigation and reduce the wetland permit review timeframe in Maryland by 50% – making them comparable to Virginia. The resulting bill has passed the General Assembly and was signed by the Governor on May 19, 2016. As noted in Field Notes Volume 23, No. 7, “When states lack viable in lieu fee (ILF) and mitigation banking programs, we see that their wetland permit processes take twice as long¹ compared to the states where those programs are functional.”

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Ceres, a biotechnology company located in Manassas, Virginia, has created a lyme antigen test that is more sensitive and specific compared to existing Lyme testing methods. The test is the first of its kind for detecting Lyme as it is a ‘direct test’ – meaning it directly tests for the presence of the organism (i.e., antigens) that causes Lyme (Borrelia burgdorferi) (Bb).

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On March 19th, 276 kids, with parents and siblings in tow, braved the cold and rain for the 6th Annual Reston Kids' Trout Fishing Day in Reston, Virginia. The event, sponsored by Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI), Reston Association, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Northern Virginia Trout Unlimited, and the Wildlife Foundation of Virginia, provided a venue for children ages 2-12 to spend a day outdoors and, for some, the opportunity to catch their first fish.

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The 8th International Acid Sulfate Soils Conference will be held July 17-23 at the University of Maryland. The conference will include technical sessions, as well as tours and excursions to sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Maryland and Virginia.

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