This past fall, regulatory experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Baltimore District (USACE) discovered over five years of methodical work spent analyzing Maryland's wetlands had garnered a USACE “Innovation of the Year” award for efforts that may reshape how the agency evaluates vulnerable ecosystems nationwide. These annual awards highlight new technology or science-driven methodologies that drive the enhanced delivery of the USACE mission.
Baltimore District’s Frank Plewa, a wetland specialist, and Zachary Fry and Jaclyn Kelleher, both regulatory specialists, sought to bring better consistency and scientific rigor to a permitting process that had long been left to the unpredictability of “best professional judgment.” This team created the Maryland Wetland Assessment Methodology, or MDWAM, as a framework to reduce the complexity of wetland ecosystems into scientifically based metrics that can be rapidly and consistently evaluated.
“When we joined the team in April 2023, they were in the process of testing the methodology across various wetlands throughout the state and making necessary adjustments to the framework,” said Fry. “It was an exciting time to get involved and required many long days in the field.”
Across the nation’s wetlands, where USACE jurisdiction over “Waters of the United States” (a legal term that defines the scope of federal authority under the Clean Water Act) balances the need to protect America’s aquatic resources while allowing reasonable development, the agency has often decided the functional loss or gain of a project on a case‑by‑case basis, leading to the public perception of inconsistent determinations.
“Currently, consultants and agencies can perform wetland delineations using the 1987 Corps Wetland Delineation Manual and its Regional Supplements to identify the presence of wetlands,” said Kelleher. “However, there is no formal method to objectively evaluate wetland functions and conditions in the State of Maryland.”
Developers, mitigation banks (a marketplace where developers can offset a project’s unavoidable impacts), and even local governments found themselves waiting for decisions that could shift dramatically from one USACE district to the next, resulting in a landscape of delayed projects, redesigns, and frustration.
“The transparency and enhanced predictability allow for mitigation and in-lieu fee program sponsors to make business decisions on appropriateness of sites and potential financial gains ahead of any Corps involvement,” wrote Wade Chandler, Baltimore District’s Regulatory Division Chief, in the nomination for this award. “[It] was developed through more than five years of field testing, collaboration with other agency partners, and peer review.”
MDWAM also provides a defensible, repeatable framework for USACE evaluations of wetland condition and function. It distinguishes wetlands not just by type but by quality, landscape position, and sensitivity, allowing the agency to assign functional values that feed directly into impact assessments, mitigation planning, and credit calculations for mitigation banks and fee programs. By doing so, it delivers the predictability that developers crave and the transparency that the public demands.
“We would love to extend our sincerest appreciation to our recently retired colleague, Frank Plewa, who was the driving force behind the development, testing and preparation of the methodology,” said Fry. “We also want to acknowledge the contributions of the Maryland Wetland Assessment Development Team for their expertise, resources, and support during the field testing and training of this methodology.”
This award-winning, field-tested effort also looks beyond Maryland, with potential for much broader adoption through only minor adjustments. MDWAM could then be deployed in other USACE districts or at the state and local level, and its development included Plewa, Fry, and Kelleher’s collaborative efforts with the USACE Institute for Water Resources, Environmental Protection Agency Region 3, U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maryland Departments of the Environment and Natural Resources, and University of Delaware.
They mined the Maryland Wetland Resources Registry and field‑tested their ideas at more than 230 sites across two ecoregions before distilling these findings into the 20 scientifically based metrics they developed for efficiency and repetition. The beta version of MDWAM rolled out in August 2024 to immediate impact.
Future efforts to streamline the permitting process also include the team’s ongoing development of a wetland calculator as a complement to the MDWAM assessment.
“This calculator will assist in determining compensatory mitigation credit requirements, or the wetland credits generated by various activities,” said Kelleher. “The wetland calculator will be integrated with the existing Maryland Stream Mitigation Framework, providing a comprehensive approach to assessing the combined impacts of stream and wetland credits for a project.”
Permit applicants now have a clear roadmap for what mitigation will be required, reducing costly redesigns and accelerating project timelines. Mitigation banks can calculate functional credits with confidence, supporting better business decisions and more reliable funding for wetland restoration. Moreover, the tool further aligns Baltimore District’s regulatory actions with the EPA/USACE 2008 rule establishing performance standards for compensatory mitigation, reinforcing the legal defensibility of its decisions.
When identifying the team’s accomplishments, Col. Francis Pera, Baltimore District Commander, called the MDWAM effort “a pivotal achievement in the Baltimore District’s Regulatory Program.”
Their recognition not only honors the technical capabilities of the tool but also signals a willingness to reward science‑driven, collaborative solutions that improve mission delivery.