(a)Except as provided in subsection (b), a
person proposing a wetland activity in a state regulated wetland must
obtain a permit under this chapter to authorize the wetland activity.
(b)A permit is not required for the following wetland activities:
(1)The discharge of dirt, sand, rock, stone, concrete, or other
inert fill materials in a de minimis amount.
(2)A wetland activity at a surface coal mine for which the
department of natural resources has approved a plan to:
(A)minimize, to the extent practical using best technology
currently available, disturbances and adverse effects on fish and
wildlife;
(B)otherwise effectuate environmental values; and
(C)enhance those values where practicable.
(3)Any activity listed under Section 404(f) of the Clean Water
Act, including:
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(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a
person proposing a wetland activity in a state regulated wetland must
obtain a permit under this chapter to authorize the wetland activity.
(b) A permit is not required for the following wetland activities:
(1) The discharge of dirt, sand, rock, stone, concrete, or other
inert fill materials in a de minimis amount.
(2) A wetland activity at a surface coal mine for which the
department of natural resources has approved a plan to:
(A) minimize, to the extent practical using best technology
currently available, disturbances and adverse effects on fish and
wildlife;
(B) otherwise effectuate environmental values; and
(C) enhance those values where practicable.
(3) Any activity listed under Section 404(f) of the Clean Water
Act, including:
(A) normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities, such
as plowing, seeding, cultivating, minor drainage, harvesting for
the production of food, fiber, and forest products, or upland soil
and water conservation practices;
(B) maintenance, including emergency reconstruction of
recently damaged parts, of currently serviceable structures such
as dikes, dams, levees, groins, riprap, breakwaters, causeways,
and bridge abutments or approaches, and transportation
structures;
(C) construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds or
irrigation ditches, or the maintenance of drainage ditches;
(D) construction of temporary sedimentation basins on a
construction site that does not include placement of fill material
into the navigable waters; and
(E) construction or maintenance of farm roads or forest roads,
or temporary roads for moving mining equipment, where the
roads are constructed and maintained, in accordance with best
management practices, to assure that:
(i) flow and circulation patterns and chemical and biological
characteristics of the navigable waters are not impaired;
(ii) the reach of the navigable waters is not reduced; and
(iii) any adverse effect on the aquatic environment will be
otherwise minimized.
(4) The maintenance or reconstruction (as defined in IC 36-9-27-2) of a regulated drain in accordance with IC 36-9-27-29(2) as long as the work takes place within the current
easement, and the reconstruction does not substantially change
the characteristics of the drain to perform the function for which
it was designed and constructed.
(5) Wetland activities in an exempt isolated wetland, as defined
in IC 13-11-2-74.5.
(6) Dredge and fill activities in an ephemeral stream, as defined
in IC 13-11-2-72.4.
(7) The activities of a forestry operation that are:
(A) conducted in compliance with the Indiana Logging and
Forestry Best Management Practices Field Guide published by
the department of natural resources; and
(B) confined to a waterway that has a watershed not greater
than ten (10) square miles.
A state permit will be required if there are permanent negative
impacts to isolated wetlands outside of a waterway or the
activities conducted fail to comply with the Indiana Logging and
Forestry Best Management Practices Field Guide.
(c) The conversion of cropland, as defined in IC 13-11-2-48.5, to
housing does not require a permit under this chapter if the cropland has
been used for agricultural purposes:
(1) in the five (5) years immediately preceding the development;
or
(2) in the ten (10) years immediately preceding the development,
if the United States Army Corps of Engineers has issued a
jurisdictional determination confirming that the cropland does not
contain wetlands subject to federal jurisdiction under Section 404
of the Clean Water Act.
After receiving a jurisdictional determination described in subdivision
(2) from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the department
shall notify the person proposing the wetland activity that the
development of the cropland used for agricultural purposes in the
immediately preceding ten (10) years is exempt from the permit
requirement of subsection (a) under subdivision (2).