On June 22, 2020, the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWR) went into effect purportedly to clarify the US federal government’s permitting jurisdiction of  what waters are considered “waters of the United States" (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Army led the review and revision of the definition of WOTUS consistent with an Executive Order signed on February 28, 2017, titled ‘‘Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the ‘Waters of the United States’ Rule.’’

USACE finally implemented the pending 2018 changes to the National Wetlands Wetlands Plant List (NWPL) on May 18, 2020, effective immediately. Below you'll find the eight (8) plant species being added to the NWPL and the four (4) species with at least one regional indicator status change.

These changes are now live in Ecobot!

Be sure to download the latest version from the App Store.

You can now map and name multiple wetland polygons on the fly, and use the built-in map to navigate between sampling points. Instantly generate Esri ArcGIS-ready points and polygons. With no manual effort, map features collected in the field can now be dropped directly into ArcGIS Pro or into other GIS software that can import Esri shapefile formats.

One year ago, Ecobot was excited to announce our partnership with Esri. Our combined efforts are now baring fruit with enhanced offline mapping functions and ArcGIS integrations available within Ecobot's version 2 release this week.

In today’s fast paced world, probably more than any time in history, the essence of Heraclitus philosophy that the only constant in life is change has become the reality for most of Earth’s citizens.  Between technology, communications, and speed of travel, human reality is changing faster than most individuals can comprehend or keep up with.  Change is constant.  We can’t step in the same river twice; the river changes and so do you.

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s legendary line from the original Star Wars: A New Hope, thwarted the probing questions of the stormtroopers looking for R2-D2 and C-3PO, and captured the hearts and souls of fans across the galaxy. The art of persuasion through the redirection of thought and energy can sway most minds that are not sealed against it. In these times where science-fiction is a part of our everyday lives, it can be easy to lose sight of just how easily we can be redirected by programming, marketing, and artificial intelligence. We are constantly being mined for data so we can be groomed as better customers.