Happy New Year

Wishing all of our clients, subcontractors, vendors and friends a very happy new year. JCM Environmental looks forward to working with all of you this new year and making 2009 a prosperous year for all of us.

JCM will have some exciting announcements throughout 2009 as we continue to grow the business and add new services and markets.

Thank you for all of your continued support and wishing you all a happy 2009.

Wetlands Guidance (Revised)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued revised guidance on wetlands this month. This guidance was in response to the Rapanos Supreme Court Decision and revises and further clarifies the previous guidance.

The new guidance can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/pdf/CWA_Jurisdiction_Following_Rapanos120208.pdf

The new guidance clarifies the definition of Navigable Waters to expand to Waters that are navigable-in-fact or could be used for navigation. There is also a further clarification of adjacency and jurisdiction and further discussion of "significant nexus".

All of the clarifications are to the benefit of the agencies.

To see how this affects your project, please contact JCM Environmental. http://www.jcmenv.com/

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul. --George Bernard Shaw

Congrats to Benchmark Builders

We're happy and proud to congratulate Benchmark Builders as they join the growing ranks of Delaware homebuilders that are building green! Benchmark was able to get front page coverage on the 12/20/08 News Journal Real Estate section to announce that the Village of Eastridge will be green.

Located in Kent County, this active adult community will provide buyers in the Clayton area with green built homes which are planned to be certified green through the National Association Of Homebuilders Green Building program.

Great Pond Work

Our Land Management Branch grew tremendously in 2008 and made a name for themselves as the "go to" company for challenging jobs where customer service was important. Here are just a few of the comments received this year from satisfied pond clients:

In recognition of our satisfaction with the efforts of you and your staff, we unanimously voted to extend our (pond maintenance) contract with JCM for the next 2 years. Thanks again and please relay our thanks to Kevin, Joe, Wendy and others for their hard work and their cheerfulness in helping our community improve the quality of our ponds.


(The pond looks) much better than before! .....your crew was great and explained a lot to me about the growth of the algae and the treatment. The plants they planted are beginning to bloom and look nice.


I received a call from a community that is considering hiring JCM to maintain their ponds. I told them that JCM was great; they improved our pond and are professional and responsive, always promptly returning calls and doing what they say they will do.

Many thanks to the hard working Land Management crew: Dave, Kevin, Wendy, Tim, Joe and their seasonal helpers.

You can reach Dave at dave@jcmenv.com or (302) 854-9138 X801.

Congratulations Amy on Publication

Amy (Alsfeld) Nazdrowicz has had a research paper accepted for publication in "Biological Conservation" related to the effects of various factors on the success of created wetlands. You can view the article at the link below:

http://jcmenv.com/Biological%20Conservation_Alsfeld%20et%20al%20.pdf

She has also been selected to present her data and findings at the Delaware Estuary Conference in Cape May, New Jersey in January 2009.

Amy works in JCM Environmental's Sciences Branch as a project manager overseeing all wetland creation, enhancement and mitigation projects, including design, construction oversight, planting and monitoring. She can be reached at amy@jcmenv.com and more information is available at www.jcmenv.com.

Regional Wetland Delineation Manual

The Corps of Engineers will now be requiring the use of the new Coastal Plain Wetland Delineation Manual for a trial period of one year. For more information contact JCM Environmental. Also, see more information at the link below:

http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/cenap-op/regulatory/spn/spn08_Final_Regional_Supplement.pdf

Sussex Green Development

I am proud to say that JCM Environmental and Silverstock Builders were heavily involved in assisting Sussex County, Delaware in developing a Green Development Policy. This policy was adopted by the Sussex County Council on Tuesday December 16, 2008.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20081216/DW01/81216022/-1/DW

This voluntary program encourages Green Development and Building and gives incentives to builders and developers for building green and developing green. This is a win-win policy that will benefit Sussex County for many years to come.