Reading the Federal Land Environmental Screen: Flood, Wetlands, Habitat, Fire, Soils

An ag lender gets a loan request on a quarter section of dryland wheat. Before ordering an appraisal, the credit officer wants to know three things: is any of it in a FEMA flood zone, how much of it is prime farmland, and has it actually been farmed. The Federal Land pack answers those from federal records in one report, with the acres measured inside the tract. This guide walks through each environmental card and where its answer stops.

Where the cards live

Look up a PLSS description, open the parcel report and choose the Land tab. It opens with a disclaimer band, then a status row and four colored flags:

Gray matters. A green flag means the layer was checked and came back low or empty on the tract. A gray flag means nothing could be checked, so it is not an all-clear. The cards below the flags hold the detail. For every record in a list, the Land Report workbench at /app/report shows each layer in full.

Flood zones (FEMA NFHL)

Each row is one FEMA designation found inside the section: the zone (A, AE, AO, VE, X and so on), the subtype, whether it is in the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the base flood elevation (BFE) where FEMA publishes one, and the acres of that zone inside the section. Rows are sorted largest first, so the first row is the dominant zone, which is what the status row shows.

Read the acres, not only the zone. Features that only touch the boundary are left out. A section that is 630 acres Zone X and 10 acres Zone AE along a creek is a different loan from one that is mostly AE.

Wetlands (USFWS NWI)

Each row is one National Wetlands Inventory polygon: the wetland type, its NWI attribute code, and the acres inside the section. When mapped wetlands inside the section add up to more than 5 acres, the flag reads "404 context", a prompt that Clean Water Act Section 404 permitting may come up if the ground is disturbed. NWI is mapped from imagery. It is not a jurisdictional wetland delineation.

Critical habitat (USFWS ECOS)

Each row names the species (common and scientific name), its listing status, the habitat unit, and whether the designation is a polygon or a linear feature such as a stream reach. Any overlap turns the habitat flag orange. For renewable and pipeline siting, this card often decides whether a site moves forward or needs a consultation plan first.

Wildfire (USFS Fireshed and WRC)

The wildfire card combines two USFS datasets:

• Wildfire Risk to Communities (WRC): risk to homes and burn probability, shown as national percentiles. "84th pctl" means riskier than 84 percent of the country, not an 84 percent chance of fire. The band is High at the 80th percentile and above, Moderate from the 50th, Low below that. Housing units are listed when present.
• Fireshed: the fireshed name and its exposure class.

Read the card, not only the flag. If the WRC band on the card shows a dash and no percentile rows, no WRC score covers the tract, even though the flag row may still read Low.

Soils (NRCS SSURGO)

The soils card lists SSURGO map units inside the section, largest first, with acres for each. A unit carries its prime farmland class when it has one, and "Hydric" when the hydric rating is full. The card also counts how many listed units are prime farmland. Hydric soils are one indicator of wetland conditions, so read this card next to the wetlands card.

Crop history (USDA CDL)

The Cropland Data Layer is satellite-classified land cover. The report gives the most recent CDL year for the section: the dominant crop, its share, and the next largest classes in the mix. Business plan accounts also get a Crops tab with year-by-year CDL coverage for the tract. A tract with no crop history is usually rangeland, timber or developed land.

Orphaned wells (USGS)

The elevation card also counts USGS documented orphaned oil and gas wells inside the section, with well ID, name, operator, status and API number in the full list. An orphaned well on a tract is a plugging liability question for the buyer and the lender. To see these wells as points on the map, and the surrounding active wells, you need the Energy pack.

Worked example

The lender's tract is NWNW 14 10N 50W 6th Meridian, a 40-acre quarter-quarter in Logan County, Colorado.

1. Look it up and open the Land tab. A quarter-quarter is a stored tract, so the report covers those 40 acres, not the whole section.
2. Read the flood flag. Green Zone X means no SFHA on the tract. Red means part of it is in the SFHA, and the flood card tells you how many acres.
3. In the soils card, compare the prime farmland units and their acres with the 40 acres being financed.
4. Check the crop history card. A dominant small grain or fallow class fits a dryland wheat operation. A grassland class may mean the tract is pasture, not cropland.
5. Look at the wetlands and orphaned well lines. Either one is a question for the borrower before it is a question for the appraiser.
6. Export the PDF and file it as the pre-screen record.

What a pre-screen can and cannot tell you

It can tell you what federal agencies have mapped on the tract, in acres inside the tract, from one lookup. That is enough to decide which tracts need a closer look and what to ask a seller, borrower or consultant.

It cannot:

• Replace a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. The report does not satisfy ASTM E1527-21, and Township America is not a Qualified Environmental Professional.
• Replace a FEMA elevation certificate or a Letter of Map Amendment.
• Stand in for a wetland delineation or a jurisdictional determination.
• Replace an appraisal or a boundary survey.

Coverage also varies: some parcels return no soils or crop data. Check the gray flags and go to the NRCS or USDA source when a field matters to the decision.

FAQ

Is a WRC percentile a fire probability?

No. It is a national rank. A tract at the 90th percentile for risk to homes ranks above 90 percent of the country. It is not a 90 percent chance of a fire.

Why is my crop history only one year?

The Land tab reports the latest CDL year. Year-by-year history is in the Crops tab on the Business plan. See the pricing page for plan details.

Can I map these layers instead of reading cards?

Flood, wetlands, soils, crop history and wildfire are report-only by design. The Federal Land pack overview lists which layers have map overlays, and parcel reports covers the report and PDF.