Streams
When considering environmental risks, more than the water actually passing through your land is a concern. Its source and destination affect your environmental risk. Streams are features indicating where water flow, either permanent or intermittent, exists in either a channel or bed. Stream information is reported in feet for the combined length of all streams within the report area as well as by stream type.

Rivers are not listed as a stream in this report.  They are shown separately under the heading "Rivers, Ponds and Lakes."

Stream type definitions:

• Perennial Stream is a continuously flowing stream
• Intermittent Stream is a occasionally flowing stream
• Canal or Ditch is a man-made channel conveying water
• Other Stream is an unclassified stream

The report does not contain the names and attributes of the streams that are in the viewing area. If you are interested in obtaining specific stream information

• Return to the window called "Map Room" that contains the aerial photo of the land;

• Click on the button "feature info" in the upper left hand area of the screen;

• Move the curser and click on any portion of the stream of interest, a new box will appear that probably gives no information and says the active layer is "roads and highways."

• Left mouse click on the downward arrow to the right of the "active layer" selection box, highlight Rivers and Streams with your mouse and press the left mouse button again. The attributes of the stream should appear in a table.

• If the table of stream attributes does not appear, move the mouse over the stream segment again and left mouse click on it. If you click directly on the stream segment, the table should appear.

• If you want to get attribute information for another stream, merely move the mouse over the stream segment of interest and left mouse click on it. The table should change with the attributes of the newly selected stream.

Legal Importance: EPA CAFO Rule specifies that an animal feeding operation that has a stream passing through its production facilities and allowing direct contact between water and animals is a potential concentrated animal feeding operation subject to needing an operating permit.

Rivers, Ponds, and Lakes
Rivers, Ponds, and Lakes are water bodies, or water features represented as areas. This is a result of the way that rivers are characterized on digital maps. They have not only length but also width, giving them area. Both public and private ponds and lakes are reported. Water body information is reported in acres for the combined area of all water features within the report area as well as by water body type.

Water body type definitions used on the report

• River = A natural stream of water that can be navigated.
• Pond and Lake = A considerable inland body of standing water.
• Swamp = Wet spongy land saturated and sometimes partially or intermittently covered with water.

If you are interested in obtaining specific river information

• Return to the window called "Map Room" that contains the aerial photo of the land;

• Click on the button "feature info" in the upper left hand area of the screen;

• Move the curser and click on any portion of the river of interest, a new box will appear that probably gives no information and says the active layer is "roads and highways."

• Left mouse click on the downward arrow to the right of the "active layer" selection box, highlight Rivers and Streams or WaterBodies with your mouse and press the left mouse button again. The attributes of the stream should appear in a table.

• If the table of river attributes does not appear, move the mouse over the river segment again and left mouse click on it. If you click directly on the river segment, the table should appear.

• If you want to get attribute information for another river, merely move the mouse over the river segment of interest and left mouse click on it. The table should change with the attributes of the newly selected river.

Wetlands
A wetland is a tract of land containing enough soil moisture to support certain types of water tolerant vegetation. Lands that fit this description can vary from permanently flooded sloughs to areas that have only saturated soils during part of the year. Wetlands have many ecological functions, such as removing sediments and pollutants from surface waters, and reducing flood severity by slowly releasing excess water back into the stream waters, and reducing flood severity by slowly releasing excess water back into the stream or water table. Wetlands are biologically rich, with a great diversity of plants and animals not found in drier habitats. They provide excellent homes to all kinds of waterfowl, amphibians, shorebirds, and songbirds. Wetlands along streams and rivers are important as fish spawning and rearing areas. Managed wetlands provide critical habitat for many migratory birds, and benefit greatly from vegetation and water level management. Missouri Department of Conservation biologists can also provide individual management recommendation to wetland owners.

The wetlands reported here are from the National Wetlands Inventory developed by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). It lists wetlands by types. The following types of watersheds are present in Missouri.

• Inland Aquatic Bed = Includes wetlands and deepwater habitats dominated by plants that grow principally on or below the surface of the water for most of the growing season in most years.
• Inland Forested Wetland = nontidal wetlands dominated by trees 20 feet tall or taller,
• Inland Shrub Swamp = nontidal wetlands dominated by woody vegetation less than 20 feet tall. The species include true shrubs, young trees (saplings), and trees or shrubs that are small or stunted because of environmental conditions.
• Lower Perennial River = a river characterized by a low gradient and slow water velocity. Water flows throughout the year.  The substrate consists mainly of sand and mud." The floodplain is well developed. Oxygen deficits may sometimes occur.
• Upper Perennial River = a river characterized by a high gradient and fast water velocity. Water flows throughout the year. The substrate consists of rock, cobbles, or gravel with occasional patches of sand. There is very little floodplain development.
• Intermittent River = a river channel contain flowing water only part of the year, but may contain isolated pools when the flow stops
• Lake (Shallow) = wetlands and deepwater habitats that are 1) situated in a topographic depression or a dammed river channel; 2) lacking trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent mosses or lichens with greater than 30% area coverage; and 3) total area exceeds 20 acres.
• Pond = wetlands and deepwater habitats that are 1) situated in a topographic depression or a dammed river channel; 2) lacking trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent mosses or lichens with greater than 30% area coverage; and 3) total area less than 20 acres.

The Missouri Department of Conservation has several publications and programs relating to wetlands. Missouri Wetlands and Their Management is a comprehensive guide to wetlands. The MDC Private Landowners Assistance Program is designed to help Missouri landowners achieve their land use MDC Private Land Assistance objectives in ways that enhance the conservation of Missouri's natural resources.

The presence of wetlands does create some legal obligations of the landowners. For example, farm program payments are withheld from farmers who convert wetlands. Various federal agencies, including the US Army Corp of Engineers and the US Environmental Protection Agency, have regulations affecting the management of wetlands.

Government agencies that have assistance programs to manage wetlands include:

• NRCS wetland reserve program
• Missouri Department of Conservation

Participation in some wetland management plans require that the landowner give a temporary or permanent easement on the land. Ohio State University has a publication on Conservation Easements.

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