Guide · Wetlands

Can you build on wetlands in Florida?

Sometimes, but only with permits, and the permits get harder the more of the lot is wet. Filling a wetland in Florida needs a state Environmental Resource Permit and, where federal waters are involved, a federal dredge-and-fill permit. A wetlands map tells you how much of a lot may be wet; a formal determination from the state draws the line that counts.

Map Views · 31 October 2026 · Sources: USFWS National Wetlands Inventory, FDEP land use and cover, FDEP, Florida Statutes

Step 1: read the lot's wetland share

Start with the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI), drawn by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from aerial photos. Lay its polygons over the parcel outline and see what fraction of the lot they cover. A lot with a sliver of wetland on its back line is a different purchase from one that is wet edge to edge.

The Service is plain about what the map is not. Its Wetlands Mapper page says the data use a biological definition and should not be read as the extent of wetlands any law regulates. So the share is a warning light, not a verdict.

Step 2: check a second map

Florida has its own land cover map, built by the five water management districts with the FLUCCS classes and gathered statewide by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). It was drawn separately from NWI, and the two do not always agree. Counting parcels that are half or more wetland, by each map:

When both maps call a lot wet, take it seriously. When only one does, the field visit matters even more.

Step 3: know who permits it

1. The state permit. DEP's Environmental Resource Permit program covers almost any change to the land that affects how surface water flows, filling and dredging in wetlands included. The permit comes from DEP, a water management district or a delegated local program.
2. The federal permit. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act covers fill in federal waters. Florida ran its own 404 program from 2020, but DEP's State 404 Program page says a federal court order of 15 February 2024 took that authority away, and the program is paused until a court says otherwise. In the meantime the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers handles 404 applications. Check that page for the current status before you apply.
3. Local rules. Some counties add wetland setbacks or buffers in their own codes, and some limit what the future land use allows on wet ground.

Expect to be asked to avoid the wetland first, to minimize what you cannot avoid, and to pay for mitigation for what you fill, often by buying credits from a mitigation bank.

Step 4: get the line drawn

Florida delineates wetlands with one statewide method, set out in Chapter 62-340 of the state's rules. An owner can petition for a formal determination under section 373.421 of the Florida Statutes; once issued, it binds the agencies for up to five years, as long as conditions on the ground do not change. That, or an environmental consultant's flagged line, is what a builder can design around.

What the numbers say about vacant lots

Of 1,153,719 vacant residential lots with an outline on our map, 179,210 touch a mapped NWI wetland and 82,379 are half or more wetland. Where those lots sit varies a great deal by county:

So roughly one Volusia vacant lot in four is mostly wetland on the NWI, against fewer than one in a hundred in Marion. Counting every parcel, not just vacant ones, Monroe leads the state: 30.5% of its parcels are half or more wetland, then Liberty (16.4%) and Collier (15.7%).

A flood map will not warn you. Of Brevard's 6,990 vacant lots that are half or more wetland, 3,145 have their centre outside FEMA's 100-year floodplain. Zone X and wet ground are separate questions.

Where the map stops

• Age. NWI polygons come from aerial photos of varying years; a ditch, a fill permit or a drought can have changed the ground since.
• Small wetlands. Seasonal depressions and narrow wet strips can be too small to map at all.
• Jurisdiction. Neither map says which agency regulates a wetland, or whether a permit is needed. Only the agencies do.

On Map Views

Open a parcel and the report gives its wetland share and acres from the NWI, split by wetland class, along with the FLUCCS land cover mix, the flood zone, the soil (hydric or not) and any conservation easement. The wetlands, land cover, contours and DEP's environmental resource permit layers draw over the map or a county aerial, so you can see the permits already issued around a lot. Note what you find on the parcel and read it again at the site. For the rest of a land check, see the vacant land checklist and what flood zone AE, X or VE means.

The NWI and FLUCCS layers are shown as their agencies published them. A formal determination by DEP or the water management district, or a delineation by a qualified professional, is the authority on where a wetland begins.