Screen a pre-excavation site for wetlands using USFWS's National Wetlands Inventory mapper/services
domain: fws.gov · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
For interactive review, use the Wetlands Mapper at fws.gov/program/national-wetlands-inventory/wetlands-mapper; for automation, consume the underlying REST/WMS services directly.
Connect to the OGC-compliant REST service at https://fwspublicservices.wim.usgs.gov/wetlandsmapservice/rest (Wetlands, Data_Source, WetlandsRaster, Wetlands_Status, Riparian layers) for programmatic queries.
Alternatively use the WMS GetCapabilities endpoints under .../wetlandsmapservice/services/<Layer>/MapServer/WMSServer if your GIS stack prefers WMS over REST.
Note the refresh cadence — NWI layers update biannually — and re-check capabilities/metadata rather than caching indefinitely for active permitting decisions.
Treat NWI as a screening tool only: cross-reference any indicated wetland against a field delineation or USACE jurisdictional determination before relying on it for permit compliance.
Known gotchas
NWI mapper data is not a jurisdictional wetland determination — it flags likely wetland/deepwater habitat for planning; USACE (not USFWS) makes the legal Clean Water Act jurisdictional call.
The service is hosted on a USGS domain (fwspublicservices.wim.usgs.gov) even though it's an FWS program — don't assume the endpoint host matches the agency name when building integrations.
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