As used herein, the following words have the following
meanings:
(1) "Associated wetlands"
means those wetlands which are in proximity to and either influence or are
influenced by tidal waters or a lake or stream subject to the Shoreline
Management Act;
(2) "Flood plain"
is synonymous with one hundred-year flood plain and means that land area
susceptible to inundation with a one percent chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year. The limit of this area shall be based upon flood
ordinance regulation maps or a reasonable method which meets the objectives of
the act;
(3) "Floodway" has the
meaning provided in
RCW
90.58.030;
(4) "Lake" means a body of standing water in
a depression of land or expanded part of a river, including reservoirs, of
twenty acres or greater in total area. A lake is bounded by the ordinary high
water mark or, where a stream enters a lake, the extension of the elevation of
the lake's ordinary high water mark within the stream;
(5) "Ordinary high water mark" on all lakes,
streams, and tidal water is that mark that will be found by examining the bed
and banks and ascertaining where the presence and action of waters are so
common and usual, and so long continued in all ordinary years, as to mark upon
the soil a character distinct from that of the abutting upland, in respect to
vegetation as that condition exists on June 1, 1971, as it may naturally change
thereafter, or as it may change thereafter in accordance with permits issued by
a local government or the department. The following criteria clarify this mark
on tidal waters, lakes, and streams:
(a) Tidal
waters.
(i) In high energy environments where
the action of waves or currents is sufficient to prevent vegetation
establishment below mean higher high tide, the ordinary high water mark is
coincident with the line of vegetation. Where there is no vegetative cover for
less than one hundred feet parallel to the shoreline, the ordinary high water
mark is the average tidal elevation of the adjacent lines of vegetation. Where
the ordinary high water mark cannot be found, it is the elevation of mean
higher high tide;
(ii) In low
energy environments where the action of waves and currents is not sufficient to
prevent vegetation establishment below mean higher high tide, the ordinary high
water mark is coincident with the landward limit of salt tolerant vegetation.
"Salt tolerant vegetation" means vegetation which is tolerant of interstitial
soil salinities greater than or equal to 0.5 parts per thousand;
(b) Lakes. Where the ordinary high
water mark cannot be found, it shall be the line of mean high water;
(c) Streams. Where the ordinary high water
mark cannot be found, it shall be the line of mean high water. For braided
streams, the ordinary high water mark is found on the banks forming the outer
limits of the depression within which the braiding occurs;
(6) "River delta" means those lands formed as
an aggradational feature by stratified clay, silt, sand and gravel deposited at
the mouths of streams where they enter a quieter body of water. The upstream
extent of a river delta is that limit where it no longer forms distributary
channels;
(7) "Shorelands" or
"shoreland areas" means those lands extending landward for two hundred feet in
all directions as measured on a horizontal plane from the ordinary high water
mark; floodways and contiguous flood plain areas landward two hundred feet from
such floodways; and all wetlands and river deltas associated with the streams,
lakes, and tidal waters which are subject to the provisions of this chapter;
the same to be designated as to location by the department of ecology. Any
county or city may determine that portion of a one hundred-year flood plain to
be included in its master program as long as such portion includes, as a
minimum, the floodway and the adjacent land extending landward two hundred feet
therefrom;
(8) A "stream" is a
naturally occurring body of periodic or continuously flowing water where:
(a) The mean annual flow is greater than
twenty cubic feet per second; and
(b) The water is contained within a channel.
A channel is an open conduit either naturally or artificially created. This
definition does not include artificially created irrigation, return flow, or
stock watering channels;
(9) "Tidal water" includes marine and
estuarine waters bounded by the ordinary high water mark. Where a stream enters
the tidal water, the tidal water is bounded by the extension of the elevation
of the marine ordinary high water mark within the stream;
(10) "Wetlands" or "wetland areas" means
areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency
and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do
support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated
soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar
areas. Wetlands do not include those artificial wetlands intentionally created
from nonwetland sites, including, but not limited to, irrigation and drainage
ditches, grass-lined swales, canals, detention facilities, wastewater treatment
facilities, farm ponds, and landscape amenities, or those wetlands created
after July 1, 1990, that were unintentionally created as a result of the
construction of a road, street, or highway. Wetlands may include those
artificial wetlands intentionally created from nonwetland areas to mitigate the
conversion of wetlands; and
(11)
The definitions set forth in chapter 90.58 RCW shall also apply as used
herein.
