Medina County Soil And Water Conservation District

This National Action Plan outlines the strategy for implementing the Hydrogeomorphic Approach (HGM Approach) for assessing wetland functions through the development of regional guidebooks. The plan, developed by a National Interagency Implementation Team comprising multiple federal agencies, aims to provide a standardized tool for consistently assessing wetland functions across the United States. Key objectives include developing sufficient regional guidebooks to address 80 percent of the permit workload requiring wetland function assessments, ensuring quality control, and providing training and outreach. The HGM Approach classifies wetlands based on hydrogeomorphic characteristics, uses reference wetlands to establish functional ranges, and employs a relative index of function to increase accuracy and replicability in wetland assessments.