{"data":{"id":"us-de/7-del.-c.-6606","jurisdiction":"us-de","citation":"7 Del. C. § 6606","heading":"Exemptions [For application of this section, see 85 Del. Laws, c. 351, § 4].","body":"(a) Any of the following activities are exempt from any permit requirements or any other regulation under this chapter:\n(1) Farming on any lands upon which, in the prior 10 years on a rolling basis, normal activities have been conducted either\na. For the farming and production of agricultural crops; or\nb. Manifesting an intent to farm the land for the production of agricultural crops, including but not limited to, activities such as plowing, seeding, clearing, irrigation installation, haying, grazing of domestic animals and free ranging livestock or poultry, cultivating, and harvesting;\nprovided that such activity is part of an established and ongoing operation for the farming and production of agricultural crops.\n(2) Silvicultural activities permitted by the Delaware Department of Agriculture, including but not limited to the harvesting of timber, the construction of roads and trails for forest management purposes, and the preparation of property for reforestation;\n(3) Conservation practices on lands that are engaged in programs through the United States Department of Agriculture, United States Department of the Interior, Delaware Department of Agriculture, a Delaware Conservation District, or similar natural resource conservation programs approved by the Department, for taking land or lands out of production and implementing conservation practices during the contract term;\n(4) Hunting, fishing, trapping, and duck blinds;\n(5) Wildlife nesting structures;\n(6) Mosquito control activities authorized by the Department;\n(7) Construction of drainage ditches, tax ditches, swales and other drainage features created from uplands to assist with drainage or stormwater management. Maintenance of constructed drainage ditches, tax ditches, swales and other drainage features created from uplands to assist with drainage or stormwater management in upland areas are also exempted;\n(8) Artificial ponds and borrow pits, including stormwater management ponds unless they are constructed in line with an intermittent or perennial stream or a jurisdictional wetland;\n(9) Construction of directional aids to navigation;\n(10) The placing of boundary stakes;\n(11) Foot bridges.\n(12) Normal residential gardening and lawn and landscape maintenance.\n(b) Any of the following activities are conditionally exempt as set forth below:\n(1) In nontidal wetlands that do not qualify as exceptional value wetlands, any activity that would be allowed under a nationwide permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers and in effect in Delaware, provided that a water quality certification has been received from the Department where necessary.\n(2) Any activity in tidal wetlands, undertaken by the Department or a federal agency, or a nonprofit acting on behalf of the Department or a federal agency, for a voluntary wetland habitat restoration project, that would be allowed under a nationwide permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers and in effect in Delaware.\n(3) Nontidal wetlands equal to or less than a contiguous 0.50 acres in extent, on 1 parcel or multiple parcels, shall be exempted out of any further regulation under this chapter after submission to the Department of a certification, from a professional certified by the Department, that the wetlands do not qualify as “unique wetlands” as defined in § 6603 of this title, or as “high function wetlands” as defined in regulations. For purposes of this exemption, any measurement of high function shall be made independently of whether the parcel supports, or could support, any flora or fauna listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq. or listed as endangered pursuant to § 601 of this title. The process for professional certification, and the protocol to identify a high function wetland for the specific purposes of this exemption, shall be established by the Department through regulations.\n(4) Work performed by any state, county, municipal government or conservation district, or their designated contractor, when that work occurs in nontidal wetlands in the Delaware Atlantic Coastal Plain Province with a contributing drainage area of less than 800 acres.\n(5) Maintenance, reconstruction or retrofitting work performed by or with the assistance of any state, county, municipal government or conservation district when that work occurs in any nontidal wetlands. Such maintenance, reconstruction or retrofitting work shall comply with the standards and specifications associated with best management practices in the Delaware Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook, 1989 or as revised.\n(6) Any work in agricultural drainage ditches created from uplands that are designed according to reasonable drainage standards, when performed by or with the assistance of any state, county, municipal government or conservation district.\n(7) Creation or maintenance of ponds constructed in uplands when those ponds are constructed or maintained by or with the assistance of any state, county, municipal government or conservation district.\n(8) Wetland walkways are exempt where:\na. Federal authorization is not needed, and the length is less than or equal to 300 feet in nontidal wetlands that do not qualify as exception value wetlands; or\nb. Federal authorization is not needed, and the length is less than or equal to 150 feet in tidal wetlands that do not qualify as exception value wetlands.","path":["Title 7. Conservation","Natural Resources","CHAPTER 66. Wetlands Stewardship [For application of this chapter, see 85 Del. Laws, c. 351, § 4]"],"source_url":"https://delcode.delaware.gov/title7/c066/index.html#6606","current_through":"2026-08-10 (85 Del. Laws, c. 421, 424)","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T23:02:09Z","sha256":"5abf50866b5e9d3fd229c4383ee0107354134f8e76ef409b7a2f7a16866ba48b","source_id":"us-de","stale":true,"prev":"us-de/7-del.-c.-6605","next":"us-de/7-del.-c.-6607"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}