§ 30.53.030. Definitions.

A.

For purposes of this Chapter, the following definitions shall apply.

1.

Wetlands shall mean all lands which are transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or where the land is periodically covered by water. Wetlands include: saltwater marshes, freshwater marshes, open or closed brackish water, marshes, swamps, mudflats, and fens. All lands having one or more of the following attributes are "wetlands":

a.

Lands which, at least periodically, support predominantly hydrophytes (plants whose habitat is water or very wet places);

b.

Lands in which the substratum is predominantly undrained hydric soil; or

c.

Lands in which the substratum is non-soil and is saturated with water or covered by water at some time during each year.

2.

Wetland Buffer shall mean lands which provide a buffer between human development activity and wetland areas and which serve to protect the environmental and functional habitat values of the wetland, and/or lands which are integrally important in supporting the full range of the wetland and adjacent upland biological community through their function as upland transitional habitat.