USDA Goes Underwater: Hydric Soils Database Dives Deeper for Wetland Mapping
Published Date: 3/25/2026
Notice
Summary
The USDA is updating how it picks hydric soils for its national database by including underwater soils that were missed before. This change affects landowners, farmers, and environmental planners by giving a clearer picture of wet soils, but it won’t change much about the total wet soil area. You can share your thoughts by April 24, 2026, and no big costs or disruptions are expected.
Analyzed Economic Effects
1 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Subaqueous Soils Added to Hydric List
The USDA updated the hydric soils selection criteria to add subaqueous soils by including the taxonomic subgroup Wassents. This change gives landowners, farmers, and environmental planners a clearer picture of wet soils, is described as an insignificant change in acreage of hydric soils, and stakeholders may submit comments by April 24, 2026.
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