Sec. 1. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), a person proposing a wetland activity in a state regulated wetland must obtain a permit under this chapter to authorize the wetland activity.

     (b) A permit is not required for the following wetland activities:

(1) The discharge of dirt, sand, rock, stone, concrete, or other inert fill materials in a de minimis amount.

(2) A wetland activity at a surface coal mine for which the department of natural resources has approved a plan to:

(A) minimize, to the extent practical using best technology currently available, disturbances and adverse effects on fish and wildlife;

(B) otherwise effectuate environmental values; and

(C) enhance those values where practicable.

(3) Any activity listed under Section 404(f) of the Clean Water Act, including:

(A) normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities, such as plowing, seeding, cultivating, minor drainage, harvesting for the production of food, fiber, and forest products, or upland soil and water conservation practices;

(B) maintenance, including emergency reconstruction of recently damaged parts, of currently serviceable structures such as dikes, dams, levees, groins, riprap, breakwaters, causeways, and bridge abutments or approaches, and transportation structures;

(C) construction or maintenance of farm or stock ponds or irrigation ditches, or the maintenance of drainage ditches;

(D) construction of temporary sedimentation basins on a construction site that does not include placement of fill material into the navigable waters; and

(E) construction or maintenance of farm roads or forest roads, or temporary roads for moving mining equipment, where the roads are constructed and maintained, in accordance with best management practices, to assure that:

(i) flow and circulation patterns and chemical and biological characteristics of the navigable waters are not impaired;

(ii) the reach of the navigable waters is not reduced; and

(iii) any adverse effect on the aquatic environment will be otherwise minimized.

(4) The maintenance or reconstruction (as defined in IC 36-9-27-2) of a regulated drain in accordance with IC 36-9-27-29(2) as long as the work takes place within the current easement, and the reconstruction does not substantially change the characteristics of the drain to perform the function for which it was designed and constructed.

(5) Wetland activities in an exempt isolated wetland, as defined in IC 13-11-2-74.5.

(6) Dredge and fill activities in an ephemeral stream, as defined in IC 13-11-2-72.4.

(7) Dredge and fill activities in a Class II wetland that:

(A) is located within the boundaries of a municipality; and

(B) has an area, as delineated, of not more than three-fourths (3/4) acre.

(8) The activities of a forestry operation that are:

(A) conducted in compliance with the Indiana Logging and Forestry Best Management Practices Field Guide published by the department of natural resources; and

(B) confined to a waterway that has a watershed not greater than ten (10) square miles.

A state permit will be required if there are permanent negative impacts to isolated wetlands outside of a waterway or the activities conducted fail to comply with the Indiana Logging and Forestry Best Management Practices Field Guide.

     (c) If a conflict arises between:

(1) the provision in subsection (b)(7) under which dredge and fill activities in a Class II wetland with an area, as delineated, of not more than three-fourths (3/4) acre do not require a permit; and

(2) the provision in section 3(a) of this chapter under which a wetland activity in a Class II wetland with an area, as delineated, of more than three-eighths (3/8) acre require an individual permit;

the exemption in subsection (b)(7) controls.

     (d) The development of cropland, as defined in IC 13-11-2-48.5, does not require a permit under this chapter if the cropland has been used for agricultural purposes:

(1) in the five (5) years immediately preceding the development; or

(2) in the ten (10) years immediately preceding the development, if the United States Army Corps of Engineers has issued a jurisdictional determination confirming that the cropland does not contain wetlands subject to federal jurisdiction under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act.

After receiving a jurisdictional determination described in subdivision (2) from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, the department shall notify the person proposing the wetland activity that the development of the cropland used for agricultural purposes in the immediately preceding ten (10) years is exempt from the permit requirement of subsection (a) under subdivision (2).

As added by P.L.282-2003, SEC.38. Amended by P.L.166-2020, SEC.1; P.L.160-2021, SEC.7; P.L.247-2023, SEC.3.