Reviewed by Cindy Henderson, PE, PWS
Cypress is headquartered in Biloxi, at 772 Howard Avenue. We delineate wetlands and streams from the Gulf Coast to the Jackson metro area and prepare the reports that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) uses to verify a boundary or issue a jurisdictional determination (JD). This page covers what’s specific to Mississippi: which Corps district reviews your site, the state agencies involved, and the landscapes that drive most boundary calls. For how a delineation works step by step, see our wetland delineation services page.
Which Corps district reviews a Mississippi site
Four Corps districts share Mississippi, and their lines follow watershed divides, so the first question on any site is which basin it drains to. Based on the USACE Regulatory Areas of Responsibility data:
- Vicksburg District (CEMVK) covers the largest share of the state: the Delta, the Jackson metro area (Hinds, Madison, and Rankin Counties), and the Yazoo, Big Black, Homochitto, and Pearl River basins. Because the Pearl River drainage belongs to Vicksburg, most of Pearl River County and western Hancock County are Vicksburg sites even though they’re close to the coast.
- Mobile District (CESAM) covers the coastal counties and southeast Mississippi through the Pascagoula River basin, including Jackson, Harrison, George, Stone, Forrest, Perry, Greene, Wayne, and Jones Counties and most of Hancock and Lamar. Mobile also reviews the Tombigbee basin in east and northeast Mississippi, from Lauderdale County north through Lowndes, Oktibbeha, and Lee.
- Memphis and Nashville Districts each take a small piece of the far north: the Hatchie River drainage around Alcorn and Tippah Counties, and the Tennessee River drainage in Tishomingo County.
Many counties straddle a divide, including Pearl River, Hancock, Lamar, Simpson, Jefferson Davis, and Winston. We confirm the district from the parcel’s drainage during the desktop review, before fieldwork starts, so the report is formatted for the right office.
State agencies: MDEQ and MDMR
The Corps decides federal jurisdiction and issues Section 404 permits, but two state agencies are part of most Mississippi wetland projects.
MDEQ Section 401 water quality certification. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) certifies Corps permits that involve a discharge to waters of the United States. MDEQ issued conditioned certifications for the 2026 Nationwide Permits, so those conditions travel with any NWP used in Mississippi. Larger projects that need an Individual Permit get a project-specific certification. If the Corps finds a feature non-jurisdictional, there’s no federal permit for that feature and no 401 certification tied to it.
MDMR coastal wetlands permit. In Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson Counties, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) is the point of contact for wetland permits. Under the Coastal Wetlands Protection Act, MDMR regulates dredging, filling, and other work in tidal coastal wetlands. Under agreements with the Mobile and Vicksburg Districts, applications for wetland impacts in the three coastal counties go to MDMR through its Wetlands Permitting Portal or the Joint Application and Notification Form, and MDMR forwards them to the Corps and MDEQ. Tidal wetlands stay under MDMR’s program even where the federal answer changes.
For a side-by-side look at state certification and coastal permits across our service area, see 401 Water Quality Certification and Coastal Permits: MS, AL, LA, and FL Compared.
Mississippi landscapes and what they mean for the boundary
Delineations in Mississippi follow the 1987 Corps manual and the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Regional Supplement. Three landscapes account for most of the hard calls.
Wet pine savanna. Fire-maintained flats with grasses, sedges, and often pitcher plants, fed mostly by rainfall and a high water table. They can dry out completely in late spring and summer, and upland plants can dominate in a dry spell, so soils and hydrology indicators often carry more weight than the plant list. Bedded pine plantations add another layer: bedding reshapes the surface, and the line is drawn on what the site would show under normal circumstances.
Bottomland hardwoods. Forested floodplains along the Pascagoula, Pearl, Leaf, and Delta rivers, plus smaller creeks across the state. Surface water may be gone for months, so the delineator relies on soil profiles, drainage patterns, water marks, and drift lines to place the boundary.
Coastal marsh. Needlerush and cordgrass marsh along the Mississippi Sound and tidal bayous. In the coastal counties, the report has to address the lines each agency uses, since MDMR regulates coastal wetlands to the ordinary high water mark and the Corps’ Section 10 limit in tidal waters is mean high water.
Jurisdiction after Sackett in Mississippi
Mississippi is one of the states where the 2023 federal rule is enjoined, so jurisdiction is decided under the pre-2015 regulations as narrowed by Sackett v. EPA (2023). In practice, pine savanna wetlands and flatwood depressions separated from streams by upland are the features most likely to be found non-jurisdictional. An approved JD is often worth requesting when that answer would change the site plan or a purchase decision. MDEQ is developing a State Water Alteration Program that could cover some waters no longer federally regulated, but its rules aren’t final. For more detail on what the ruling changed, see our explainer on the Sackett v. EPA ruling. More on JDs in What Is a Jurisdictional Determination?
What drives the cost of a delineation in Mississippi
Every site is priced on its own conditions. The drivers we see most often in Mississippi:
- Acreage and shape. Long corridors, such as roads, pipelines, and rail lines, take more field time than a compact parcel of the same size.
- Vegetation and access. Open, recently burned savanna is quick to walk. Titi and gallberry thickets, flooded bottoms, and tidal marsh slow the crew down and may need boats or ATVs.
- Land use history. Bedded plantations, ditched farmland, and old fill need more sample points to support the line.
- Season. Savannas and bottomlands are easiest to read during the growing season, and droughts or high water can add field days.
- Agency path. A site in the coastal counties that needs a coastal wetlands permit, or a site that straddles the Mobile and Vicksburg Districts, takes more coordination.
- Corps verification and survey. A Corps site visit, a JD request, or tying the line to a licensed survey all add effort.
The Corps doesn’t charge a fee to verify a delineation or issue a JD. Agency fees come later, with permits.
When the delineation leads to a permit
If wetlands can’t be avoided, the delineation becomes the base for the permit. Smaller impacts often fit a Nationwide Permit; larger ones need an Individual Permit (see What Is a 404 Permit?). Most Mississippi permits that involve wetland fill also need compensatory mitigation, often through mitigation bank credits from banks in the same service area.
Cypress wetland projects in Mississippi
- Little Biloxi River Mitigation Bank, Harrison County: 180-acre wetland delineation for The Conservation Fund, plus design, permitting, monitoring, and construction for the bank.
- Texas Flat Mitigation Bank, Hancock County: design, permitting, monitoring, and construction engineering and inspection for Soterra LLC’s 1,985-acre bank on a former pine plantation.
- Turtleskin Creek Mitigation Bank (Soterra LLC), Hancock County: about 2,740-acre wetland delineation, with endangered species surveys, wetland function and stream assessments, permitting, and restoration planning.
- Cook Road Extension (I-10 Connector), Jackson County: wetland delineation, wetland and stream assessment, and permit preparation for Jackson County, leading to a Mobile District Individual Permit for 7.7 acres of wetland fill and 885 linear feet of stream impacts.
- Weeks Bayou, Ocean Springs: marsh and shoreline restoration design and permitting for the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain, funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
- Mississippi Coastal Preserves: master plan development, environmental risk modeling, and shoreline loss and sea-level rise modeling with SLAMM for MDMR.
Working in Alabama, Florida, or Louisiana? See our pages for Alabama, Florida, and Louisiana.
Mississippi wetland delineation FAQ
Do I need a wetland delineation before applying for a permit in Mississippi?
If your project may place fill in wetlands or streams, yes. The Mobile or Vicksburg District needs mapped boundaries to evaluate the permit, and in Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson Counties MDMR needs them for the coastal wetlands permit. A delineation report submitted with the application, or a JD, provides that boundary.
If I’m certain I have wetlands, can I do the delineation and permitting concurrently?
Yes, and combining them usually saves time and money. When you’re confident wetlands are present, we can delineate the site and prepare the permit application together, and the Corps typically processes a delineation faster when it comes with a permit application.
Which Corps district handles my site, Mobile or Vicksburg?
It depends on which watershed the site drains to. Vicksburg covers most of the state, including the Jackson metro area and the Pearl River basin. Mobile covers the coastal counties, the Pascagoula basin in southeast Mississippi, and the Tombigbee basin in the east. Sites near a divide, such as in Pearl River, Hancock, and Lamar Counties, need to be checked parcel by parcel.
Who regulates wetlands in Mississippi?
The Corps regulates waters of the United States. MDEQ certifies Corps permits under Section 401. In the three coastal counties, MDMR regulates tidal coastal wetlands and is the point of contact for wetland permit applications.
Do I need an MDMR permit on the Mississippi Gulf Coast?
Work in tidal coastal wetlands or water bottoms in Hancock, Harrison, or Jackson County generally needs an MDMR coastal wetlands permit. Applications for wetland impacts in those counties go through MDMR, which forwards them to the Corps and MDEQ.
What does a wetland delineation cost in Mississippi?
It depends on the site. The main drivers are acreage and shape, vegetation and access, past clearing or bedding, the season, whether the site is in the coastal counties or near a district line, and whether you need Corps verification, a JD, or a licensed survey. Send us the location, approximate acreage, and what you plan to build, and we’ll scope it.
Do you work in Jackson and north Mississippi as well as the coast?
Yes. Our headquarters is in Biloxi, and we delineate sites statewide, including the Jackson metro area in the Vicksburg District. Our 200-mile corridor delineation for CN from Mobile, Alabama, to Jackson, Mississippi, crossed both districts.
Request a wetland delineation in Mississippi
Tell us where the parcel is, how large it is, and what you plan to build. We’ll tell you which district reviews it, which state permits may apply, and whether a delineation, a JD, or both make sense.
Contact Cypress or call 228-596-1580. Headquarters: 772 Howard Avenue, Biloxi, MS. Other offices: 150 Government Street, Suite 950-1000, Mobile, AL, and 13 Palafox Place, Pensacola, FL. Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.