4.9 Google
We submit your delineation to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and obtain the official call on whether your wetlands are federally regulated under Clean Water Act Section 404
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(888) 405-1742Once your wetland delineation report is prepared, we package it and submit it to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers district that covers your site — the request that formally puts your property in front of the agency for a Jurisdictional Determination under Clean Water Act Section 404.
The Corps reviews the delineation, verifies conditions at the site, and may request additional information. We track the submittal and respond on your behalf throughout the review — which typically runs about 45 to 60 days.
The Corps issues its determination — No Wetland Found, federally regulated under Corps jurisdiction, or isolated and possibly regulated locally. You learn exactly what is regulated and what Section 404 permitting, if any, follows before you commit to a site plan.
Wetland due diligence runs in sequence — each step escalates only if the one before it warrants it. A desktop Screen flags possible wetlands anywhere in the lower 48; a Confirmation, Delineation, and Jurisdictional Determination are field-based and serve Northern Illinois and the Midwest.
"We were running up against some deadlines, and they jumped through hoops to get everything completed on time."
"The A3E team did a great job on our Phase 1 report. They were quick, thorough and professional."
"They were able to give me all of the information that I needed. Highly recommend A3 Environmental."
We manage the USACE review
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A wetland delineation maps the boundary; a Jurisdictional Determination (JD) answers the question that boundary raises: is the wetland federally regulated, and do I need a permit to touch it? That call is not the consultant's to make — it belongs to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), which decides whether wetlands are jurisdictional under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. A3 Environmental prepares the delineation, submits it to the Corps, and works the review through to the agency's official position, so you have the regulatory answer in hand before you commit to a site plan.
The Corps is the agency that determines whether wetlands are federally jurisdictional under Clean Water Act Section 404. Some wetlands are also regulated locally — in the Chicago area, county stormwater agencies may assert their own jurisdiction, and local rules can be more stringent than the federal standard, but never more lax. A determination tells you which authorities apply to your property, which is what actually drives permitting, mitigation, and design decisions.
The Corps can issue an Approved JD — its definitive ruling on which features on the site are jurisdictional — or, at the applicant's request, a Preliminary JD that simply assumes jurisdiction so permitting can proceed without waiting on a final call. Either way, the practical outcomes are the three a property owner cares about: No Wetland Found, federally regulated (subject to Corps jurisdiction and a Section 404 permit), or isolated (outside federal jurisdiction but possibly regulated locally). We help you choose the determination type that fits your timeline and development plans before the delineation is submitted.
After your delineation report is ready, we package and submit it to the Army Corps district covering your site, then manage the review — responding to requests for information and tracking the file through site verification. The Corps' turnaround typically runs about 45 to 60 days, though it varies with the district's workload and site complexity. Because the effort depends on those factors, A3 Environmental prices Jurisdictional Determinations on a time-and-material basis and scopes the work to your specific project up front. We serve Northern Illinois and the Midwest — roughly within a two-hour radius of Naperville, and we travel for the right job — backed by a 4.9★ Google rating since 2015.
