THE WETLAND EVALUATION TECHNIQUE (WET): A TECHNIQUE FOR ASSESSING

PURPOSE; This technical note provides a brief overview of a technique for assessing functions and values of wetlands. The Wetland Evaluation Technique (WET) version 2.0 (Adamus et al. 1987) represents a revision of a technique developed for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) (Adamus 1983). WET 1s Intended to address regulatory and environmental planning needs for multifunc-tion assessment of wetland areas. It consists of documentation to Implement the technique and software to aid 1n data analysis. BACKGROUND: In 1981 the US Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station was assigned responsibility for developing a technique to assess wetland functions and values for regulatory and planning needs. Numerous techniques were reviewed (Lonard et al. 1984) and a survey of Corps ' needs was conducted (Forsythe, Cla1ra1n, and Smith 1985). A technique developed by the FHWA was selected as the method most capable of examining many different wetland func-tions and values and meeting the Corps ' time and manpower constraints for assessment. This technique has been revised and published as an operational draft for testing and subsequent further revision