Jurisdictional Determinations (JDs) are tools used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help implement Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Sections 9 and 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. JDs are used to determine what jurisdictional and/or non-jurisdictional features on in a specific geographical location.
Approved JDs (AJDs) are official determinations where there are, or where there are not, jurisdictional aquatic resources on a parcel. AJDs can be appealed.
Preliminary JDs (PJDs) can be used to determine that aquatic resources that exist on a parcel of land "may be" subject to regulatory jurisdiction. It cannot be used to determine either that there are no jurisdictional aquatic resources on a parcel (i.e. the entire parcel is dry land or includes non-jurisdictional aquatic resources), or that only a portion of the aquatic resources on a parcel are jurisdictional can be requested in order to move ahead expeditiously to obtain a Corps permit authorization where the requester determines that it is in his or her best interest to do so. PJDs cannot be appealed, but the applicant can request an AJD.