Table A, Item 19

Had it called for several times.
There are engineering firms and other companies in most areas that provide the services of deliniating wetland areas in the field. They will come out and flag off the wet land areas in the field for you.
Some areas have state agencies that have wetland maps available.
This item on the checklist is an "extra charge" item. They will not mark the areas for free, so that cost must be passed along to the numbnuts that checked that item. Usually when you tell them the cost, they erase that item.

Is there any special qualification for the person marking the wetlands? Is there anything from preventing a surveyor to do it?

I think being a wetland has a lot more to do with what vegetation grows there than on water levels, so appropriate training is needed.

Getting certified in some states is a major undertaking involving an appropriate college degree, specialized training, and work experience, etc.
Washington state:
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/professional.html

Some states might have lower standards, and merely require some training courses.

It could be useful for a surveyor to obtain this qualification if there is a lot of such work around the area.

i have used this website:

http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/Wetlands-Mapper.html

from the U.S. fish and wildlife service.

I have been getting this request more regularly lately.

I first try not to do it by emailing the below paragraph:

“In regards to Item 19, we do not provide this type of service. You will need to contract with an environmental scientist to determine the wetlands that may or may not be on site. If they find wetlands on the site, then we would be more than happy to locate their markers, provided you provide us with their report so we can reference it on our survey.”

If they still insist, then I will add this to my proposal:

“CONSULTANT will use the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory map to address ALTA Table A Item 19. Any additional information/delineation (e.g. Corps of Engineers jurisdictional wetlands, State and Local Government jurisdictional wetlands) will be provided by CLIENT.”

I use the same website that twkoh uses for the delineation.

Miguel A. Escobar, LSLS, RPLS

Here's what Curt Sumner covered regarding that at the ALTA workshop at the Maryland Fall conference this year:

ALTA/ACSM
AN EVER-EVOLVING STANDARD
CURT SUMNER, LS
October 11, 2013
MSS 2013 Fall Conference

Items of Interest After 2011 Standards Became Effective (continued):

Related to:
Table A, Item 19 Wetlands

Issue:
There seems to be a misconception among those who order ALTA/ACSM surveys that Licensed Surveyors can automatically perform wetland delineations.
Response from Gary Kent, NSPS ALTA/ACSM Committee Chair:
We need to modify the language of this item to more clearly reflect what was intended. What it was TRYING to say was simply this: If someone who is qualified to delineate wetlands has been out on the property and has marked their opinion of where the wetlands are, and if the client would like the surveyor to locate those delineation marks and show them on the survey, then they should check this item.
Unless surveyors have the necessary expertise to perform wetland delineation, they can make no comments, nor offer opinions as to whether the delineations actually represent a wetland; he or she is simply showing the marks on the survey. In fact, the marks should be identified either on the survey, or with a note as to the source (i.e., who set them, if known). It appears, however, that those persons selecting Table A item 19 somehow think the surveyor is going to miraculously turn into a wetlands biologist. That was not the intent, and very, very few surveyors would be qualified to delineate wetlands anyway.
The way the item is currently written, when someone checks off Item 19, the surveyor has clarify ahead of time what he or she is going to do as a result.

> Is there any special qualification for the person marking the wetlands? Is there anything from preventing a surveyor to do it?

I think this varies by state, check with you Dept. of Natural Resources or the Federal DEQ to point you in the right direction. Very few of the wetland guys here are Engineers.
Could be another source of income. As others have said, it is about plants, not water. The state here has offered a one day class in the past to get "certified". I hope to take it some day to be able to offer this service to clients. I have located enough "wetland" to already know that every wetland expert is going to come up with a different answer (worse than Surveyors).
We located wetlands on a future lakefront development (over 1000 feet of lake) and the client did not like it. He had us pull all the wetland flagging and hired another wetland person to do it. Then he used the one that suited his development the best and there where big differences.