The North Carolina Wetland Assessment Method (NC WAM) is the culmination of a process begun in 2003 by an interagency team of federal and state agency staff, the N.C. Wetland Functional Assessment Team (WFAT). The goal of the WFAT was to develop an accurate, consistent, rapid, observational, and scientifically based field method to determine the level of function of a wetland relative to reference condition (where appropriate) for each of 16 North Carolina general wetland types. The WFAT defined rapid as taking no more than 15 additional minutes for a trained observer to evaluate a wetland within an assessment area.
NC WAM was created to be used for project planning, alternatives analysis, compliance and enforcement, mitigation planning, and tracking functional replacement. The Director has approved the use of NC WAM to evaluate the presence of existing wetland uses.
NCWAM Documents available for download:
NCWAM User Manual and Appendices Version 5
NCWAM Dichotomous Key v5
NCWAM Field Assessment Form v5
NCWAM Toolbox (Database for storing manually entered FAF or FAF from a GPS unit):
NCWAM Toolbox User Manual
NCWAM Toolbox Database
NCWAM Toolbox Data Dictionary
NCWAM Excel Rating Calculator:
NCWAM Rating Calculator
Rating Calculator Template