Wetland delineation? There's an app for that

The land of 10,000 lakes — and more than 10 million acres of wetlands — is a fitting home for a startup with a wetlands app.

St. Paul-based BioApp drew on plenty of experience surveying peatlands, sloughs, streams and ponds for its new mobile app. Aimed at wetland professionals, BioApp streamlines the wetland delineation surveys required under state and federal law before earth can move for most development projects, said BioApp co-founder Scott Milburn.

Milburn's main job is running the St. Paul consultancy Midwest Natural Resources; he and employee Bennett Grider co-own BioApp. They've been marketing the app for a few months now.

They're competing with a handful of other tools, including one from the much larger Ecobot Inc., a venture-backed software company in North Carolina with about 1,500 users. Milburn and Grider say their BioApp, which costs $75 per month, is cheaper and easier to use. They have about 100 subscriptions so far.

BioApp grew out of a tool Midwest Natural Resources developed for its own use.

"When we started working with other people, everyone who saw it was like, 'Wow I wish I had something like this,'" said Grider, a 26-year-old field biologist/software developer at Midwest Natural Resources.

So Grider got to work.

"I have a pretty long history of programming and building my own little side projects," said Grider, who works from his home office in Coon Rapids. One was an app to identify sedges and rushes more quickly.

Wetland surveys are complicated, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual runs 143 pages, plus hefty supplements. Investigations involve entering myriad details about the vegetation, soil and hydrology of a piece of land, running multiple calculations and completing detailed government forms.

The app simplifies the process. For example, it contains drop-down menus of regional plants to select, makes real-time calculations and integrates photos. It also suggests indicators that, for instance, help a user quickly determine whether a soil is hydric.

It's getting some attention. Ted McCaslin, lead environmental planner for transportation at HR Green Inc., said he's tried out the new app but hasn't used it on a job yet. "Looks like good stuff," he said.