The Virginia Board of Professional and Occupational Regulation (BPOR) is evaluating the elimination of the Virginia Professional Wetland Delineator (PWD) Certification Program. The Virginia Association of Wetland Professionals (VAWP) is urgently requesting that our members participate in the 30 day public comment period, which continues until 11:59PM on September 30, 2020.

Please provide your comments to BPOR here: https://townhall.virginia.gov/L/ViewNotice.cfm?gnid=1150

Please help us to defend the value of this program! We need PWDs and those who value the certification to firmly reiterate to BPOR that the two certifications are not equivalent or duplicative.  If we cannot convince BPOR that they are not duplicative, we will not be successful in maintaining the state certification.

For more information regarding the history of the Virginia PWD Program and the current risk of the program’s existence, please see the below history prepared by VAWP:

Please also see the below article from the Association of State Wetland Managers explaining the need for state programs:

Next Steps – by You!

We need PWDs and those who value the certification to firmly reiterate to BPOR that the two certifications are not equivalent or duplicative.  If we cannot convince BPOR that they are not duplicative, we will not be successful in maintaining the state certification.

To provide opportunity for the public to provide input before the final report is prepared at the end of the year, BPOR had scheduled 5 public hearings around the state.  Those were cancelled due to Covid 19 concerns, and now BPOR has opened a public comment forum for affected parties to file comments.  They have provided a very short window, as the public comment forum will close September 30.

We need for all of our members, and especially our PWDs who also have the PWS certification to file comments in support of the continuation of the PWD certification.  The PWDs who also have PWS certifications need to speak out loud and clear that the certifications are not equivalent or duplicative.  We need to enlist our members to reach out to anyone they know with both certifications.  Justin Brown requested the list of currently certified delineators in July; and was provided with the list by DPOR.  There are not email contacts for all of the PWDs, and some of the emails will be old, but there should be enough on there that are current to get a message out that we need their support in defending the certification program. 

Talking points that don’t support conclusions from BPOR

For general membership comments in support of the certification, we need for people to focus their comments confirming the four criteria for an occupation to be regulated. 

• The unregulated practice of the occupation can harm public health, safety or welfare.
• The occupation’s work has inherent qualities that distinguish it from other occupations.
• The public needs and will benefit from state assurances of competency.
• The public is not protected by other means.

The first criterion was actually the basis for the development of the certification program.  Delineations were being performed by unqualified individuals that were resulting in permitting issues and resulting in lawsuits against both the regulatory authorities and the consultants who performed the bad work.  Recommend that individuals who have had experience with bad work of un-certified delineators provide comments in this regard.  This would be a good opportunity for industry partners to provide comment on the need for certified delineators to ensure the smoothest permitting process.  If you work with industry groups who would support the continued certification of delineators, please contact them and solicit their support in submitting comments to the public forum.

The second criterion is met due to the fact that a professional wetland delineator must possess skills and technical competencies in four separate wetland areas of technical expertise – botany, soil science, hydrology, and regulation.  No national certification exists that requires competencies in all of those areas.  Recommend that commenters discuss the multiple competencies that are necessary for our occupation, which clearly differentiates it from other certifications.

The third criterion was not met according to the BPOR study because of their opinion that the “national” PWS certification was equivalent and provides those assurances, thus rendering the state certification as unnecessary.   Recommend that everyone discuss the false equivalency assumption; especially our PWDs who also have the PWS certification (or vice versa).  If the PWD truly is an equivalent certification, why would someone obtain and pay for both certifications?  In my opinion, this is going to be the issue that will decide whether the certification is allowed to continue or whether the GA does away with it, as this is the primary reason that it was deemed to be unnecessary.

The fourth criterion is met because there is no other protection for the public from the improper practice of wetland delineation.  Recommend that members discuss how the work performed by a certified delineator ensures that the work is performed by a person with the proper qualifications, AND those certified delineators are bound to perform the work under stringent ethical and professional standards.  If examples can be provided where clients support the use of PWDs to protect them from issues with permitting, this would be a good opportunity to mention those.