CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHORS:
Natasha DeVoe1,2
Minnesota Board of Water & Soil
Resources
One West Water Street,
Suite 200
St. Paul, MN 55107
(651) 205-4664
natasha.devoe@bwsr.state.mn.us
Workgroup Members:
Steve Eggers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Doug Norris, MN Department of Natural Resources
Mark Jacobson, Barr Engineering
Mark Gernes, MN Pollution Control Agency
Dale Krystosek, MN Board of Water & Soil Resources
Natasha DeVoe, MN Board of Water & Soil Resources
Rick Gitar, Fond du Lac Reservation
David Thill, Hennepin County
BWSR led an interagency group to develop
a new version of a tool to help assess a wetland's contribution to the diversity
and integrity of Minnesota's natural resources. It is available
to local governments, consultants, and others with a role in implementing
the Wetland Conservation Act.
The Minnesota Routine Assessment Method
(MnRAM) is a standard procedure for evaluating wetland functions and values.
MnRAM is considered a common lens through which all wetlands could fairly
be judged.
The
upgraded version of MnRAM includes a series of questions programmed into a
database for a quick picture of overall wetland ecologic health, vulnerability,
and social value. The database format will allow each local authority to sort
wetlands based on the functions deemed most desirable for a given project.
Once a wetland inventory has been completed, reference standards can be identified
and individual wetlands ranked based on a local scale for land use planning.
Changes
from Version 2.0 include scientifically referenced parameters, numeric ranking,
clear direction on office-versus-field questions, less reliance on personal
judgment and reference-based subjectivity, integrated GIS capability, comprehensive
data management, added amphibian function evaluation, improved landscape-level
evaluation (including buffer, upland soils, and upland land use), and less
emphasis on groundwater assessment. Every question was re-evaluated in light
of recent scientific knowledge as well as practicality for use in a regulatory
environment.
A policy-implementation procedure (“management
classification”) is intended as a companion document to help local planners
use the MnRAM rating information and make adjustments for local conditions.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Jeanne DiFranco
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Biological Monitoring Program
312 Canco Road
Portland, ME 04103
(207) 822-6424
Jeanne.l.difranco@maine.gov
Maine DEP began development
of a biological monitoring program for freshwater wetlands in 1998.
The wetland biomonitoring initiative has now been incorporated into
DEP’s existing water quality monitoring and assessment program.
Major program functions include conducting biological monitoring, investigating
causes and sources of impairment, developing standards and criteria, and providing
technical support to other State programs involved in regulation, planning
and resource management. Maine DEP
currently assesses aquatic macroinvertebrates as the primary taxonomic group
for the wetland biomonitoring program. DEP
is also involved in a pilot project using algal indicators of wetland condition,
which are expected to be particularly useful for developing nutrient criteria.
In addition, biomonitoring program staff are
developing a landscape-level assessment tool to predict risks from human activities.
As
of 2002, biological monitoring for wetlands, rivers and streams is coordinated
based on a 5-year rotating basin schedule.
DEP wetland monitoring staff also confer with
other water quality program staff during the site selection process in an
effort to address wetland data needs of those programs.
For example, the wetland monitoring program targeted several sites
in 2003 to compliment information collected for TMDL development in lakes
and urban streams. DEP anticipates
that this approach will allow the state to move toward integrated resource
assessments that reflect the ecological connections among wetlands and other
water bodies.
CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHORS:
Ronald G. Duckworth2, Jerry A. Cole1, Heather
A. Herrick
Duckworth-Cole, Inc.
3131D E 29th, Suite D400
Bryan, TX 77802
rondci@tca.net
(979) 776-8001
jerrydci@tca.net
and
Joseph H. Reitberger and Ralph E. Beeman,
Ph.D.
DuPont Victoria Plant
P.O. Box 2626
Victoria, TX 77902
The DuPont Victoria, Texas plant, an industrial facility producing nylon intermediates
and specialty products, is completing a $130 million improvement program
that represents over a decade of commitment to environmental stewardship.
This program includes 13 process changes to recover and recycle valuable
materials. The remaining waste streams are subjected to treatment at a biological
wastewater treatment plant (Biotreatment) that results in the recycle of
high quality water.
Following
discharge from Biotreatment, treated water is polished in a 53-acre constructed
wetland (Wetland), then returned to the Guadalupe River.
The Wetland provides valuable habitat for migratory and resident wildlife.
Unfortunately, the Wetland was invaded by nutria (Myocastor coypus), a non native aquatic rodent, and suffered significant
loss of vegetation. This paper describes the development and implementation
of a nutria control program and associated re-vegetation efforts.
An
innovative program was developed to monitor Wetland vegetation and determine
appropriate steps necessary to control the nutria population. The monitoring
program includes using color infrared aerial photographs, interpolation
with GIS software, and calculating open water area.
Hunting
and trapping methods were developed that provided effective population control
without using firearms. Records of control efforts are maintained and analyzed
to facilitate cost-effective program management.
Re-vegetation
efforts have taken place despite continued nutria activity. Numerous measures
including replanting, nutria exclosures, and water level adjustment have
been implemented.
The
Wetland has successfully reestablished vegetation in most impacted areas.
While some remaining areas are still in the re-growth process, the Wetland
is again a lush habitat for wildlife.
MITIGATION EVALUATIONS
AND RESTORATION PERFORMANCE - OHIO
MITIGATION STUDY
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHORS:
M. Siobhan Fennessy
Biology Department
Kenyon College
Gambier, OH 43022
(740) 427-5455
fennessym@kenyon.edu
Hydrological and ecosystem
processes were measured in a population of natural (n=8) and restored wetlands
(n=8), and were used to establish the links between biological and functional
characteristics in wetlands. Four ecosystem response variables were measured
including biomass production, decomposition rates, plant tissue nutrient accumulation,
and estimates of nutrient cycling rates. Rates of biomass accumulation and decomposition
were significantly higher in the natural wetlands (p<0.10).
Decomposition rates were strongly correlated both with water levels and
plant tissue nitrogen concentrations. Both
soil nitrogen and carbon were extremely low in restored wetlands as compared
to natural sites. Hydrological characteristics,
such as mean water levels and the average time of root zone saturation,
were also markedly different in the two types of wetlands. Nutrient budgets indicate that restored wetlands
are not retaining nutrients or exchanging them between ecosystem components
to the degree that natural wetlands are, and indicate that current restoration
practices create severe soil nutrient limitations that then propagate throughout
the ecosystem. These data also provide
empirical evidence that measures of biotic integrity, such as the plant-based,
Floristic Quality Assessment Index can be linked quantitatively to biogeochemical
measures of the ecosystem.
CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHORS:
M. Siobhan Fennessy1,2
Biology Department
Kenyon College
Gambier, OH 43022
(740) 427-5455
fennessym@kenyon.edu
Amy D. Jacobs
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
Water Resources Division/Watershed
Assessment Section
Dover, DE 19904
and
Mary E. Kentula
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Health and Environmental Effects
Research Laboratory
Western Ecology Division
Corvallis, OR
97333
We
analyzed 40 wetland rapid assessment methods developed for a variety of purposes
(including informing regulatory decisions and local land use planning) for their
use in the assessment of ecological integrity or ecosystem condition. Four criteria
were used to screen methods: 1) the method can be used to measure condition,
2) it is truly rapid, 3) it is a site-level assessment, and 4) the method can
be verified. Based on our analysis we selected four methods for evaluation relative
to a conceptual model describing the core elements of a wetland assessment method
and for testing in the field. An additional seven methods were kept for ideas
on indicators, scoring or regionalization. The model depicts the relationship
between the wetlands being evaluated and the core elements of a rapid assessment
method including both universal indicators of soil, hydrology, and biotic communities
and regional wetland indicators. The 4 methods selected for field-testing also
recognize that landscape setting, particularly characteristics of the buffer
area surrounding the site, is important to maintain wetland integrity. We identified
six key areas to address when adapting existing methods or developing new methods
to assess condition: definition of the assessment area, wetland classification,
assessment of function versus condition, scoring, inclusion of "value added
metrics", and validation with comprehensive ecological data. Rapid assessment
methods can assist States implement wetland monitoring and assessment programs
by reducing the time needed to sample a site and increasing the number of sites
that can be visited.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Christine
Feurt
Coordinator,Coastal Training Program
Wells National Estuarine
Research Reserve
342 Laudholm Farm Road
Wells, Maine 04090
(207) 646-1555, Ext. 111; Fax: (207) 646-2930
cfeurt@wellsnerr.org
This paper presents the results of an innovative collaborative
effort to facilitate social learning and adaptive management among practitioners,
researchers and policy makers involved with salt marsh restoration in the
Gulf of Maine.
The experience of having a scientifically designed wetland
restoration project derailed by politics, public disapproval or shifting institutional
priorities suggests that there is more to wetland management than science.
Interagency and inter-jurisdictional conflict surrounding wetland restoration
purposes, priorities and methods can be a barrier to otherwise shared goals
of wetland conservation and protection.
A partnership consisting of the Wells National Estuarine
Research Reserve, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Gulf of Maine Council for the Marine Environment, Maine and New Hampshire Coastal Programs, and Maine Sea Grant
collaborated to facilitate discussion of salt marsh
restoration techniques applicable to the Gulf of Maine. Scientists,
managers, regulators and policy makers from across New England participated in a facilitated design charette/field
experience in a New Hampshire salt marsh, addressing the question “What are the
opportunities and/or constraints of ditch plugging and panne creation as they
relate to salt marsh restoration in New England?”
This paper is an analysis of the lessons learned from
the collaborative process that resulted in the “Barriers and Bridges to Salt
Marsh Restoration Charette”. A summary of the charette experience, including
implications for interagency cooperation, project design, monitoring protocols,
research gaps and suggestions for continued collaboration will be presented.
CONTACT1/PRENTERS2/AUTHORS:
Megan K. Gahl1
Terry R. Morley2
Aram JK Calhoun
University of Maine
Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental
Sciences
5722 Deering Hall
Orono, Me 04469-5722
(207) 581-2935
megan_gahl@umit.maine.edu
We are gaining an understanding of
regulatory accomplishment and failure within state and municipal borders,
though biological units (e.g., watersheds) are not always contained in these
political boundaries. We completed a spatial and temporal review of wetland
permitting trends within the biological boundaries of the Casco Bay Watershed
to address landscape scale patterns in wetland alteration. Wetland permits
approved by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection from 1995-2001
were reviewed and impact sites located on a watershed map. We tracked acreage
of development type, wetland type impacted, mitigation requirements, and monitoring
efforts. Commercial and residential development were
the most frequent cause of wetland loss. Most development occurred in coastal
areas of the watershed. The majority of mitigation effort was through preservation
of forested and mixed wetlands. Monitoring of mitigation and development was
limited to pre-permitting site visits. Despite the stricter tenets of the State of
Maine 1995 Natural Resources Protection
Act (NRPA), wetland loss continues within the Casco Bay Watershed. To address
cumulative impacts and to encourage evaluation of permit approvals within
biological boundaries, we suggest using spatial location of wetland impacts
during permit review. Such spatial information can be used to prioritize and
design conservation efforts for many levels of resource planning. Political
borders can be viewed in the context of biological boundaries and impact maps
provide a visual depiction of cumulative habitat change. The goal of this
research is to produce practical tools for regulatory agencies to track collective
effects of allowed permitting on individual wetlands and watersheds.
NH
ROUTE 101 WETLAND MITIGATION
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Al Garlo
Normandeau
Associates, Inc.
25 Nashua
Road
Bedford, NH 03110
603-472-5191
agarlo@normandeau.com
During 1994-1997 the New Hampshire
Department of Transportation (NHDOT) created 100 acres of wetlands on a gravel
mined site in Brentwood, New Hampshire to mitigate the same area of impacts
of the Route 101 improvement, a 17 mile stretch which included approximately
5 miles of new highway right of way. Over
1.2 million cubic yards of material was excavated to create several, groundwater
fed wetland basins. The excavated material
was used on the nearby new road bed and the topsoil from the impacted wetlands
and forested uplands was spread on the mitigation site. Within the forested
wetland zone, mound-and-pool microtopography similar to that found in natural
red maple swamps was constructed. The mitigation design focused primarily
on in-kind replacement of forested wetlands, however,
portions of the site also included emergent marsh, aquatic bed and open water
habitats to enhance diversity. Islands were also incorporated in the design
to increase the interspersion of habitats making it more attractive to a wider
variety of wildlife. As the largest constructed wetland project of its type
in New England, the Brentwood site has been the subject of University of New Hampshire sponsored research projects, required
post-construction monitoring and was included in the Army Corps New England
District study on the effectiveness of compensatory mitigation projects.
Methods of judging success are discussed including establishment of
hydrology and vegetation diversity commonly found in Northeastern wetlands.
A visit to this site is included in the field trip offering of this conference.
FIJI
MANGROVE: DATABASE DEVELOPMENT AND UPCOMING ISSUES
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Timoci Gaunavinaka
National Coordinator
Fiji Wetland Working Group & Fiji Mangrove Database Developer
Conservation Unit
Department of Environment
3rd Floor, FFA House
Gladstone Road, Suva
Fiji Islans
(679) 3311699; Fax: (679) 3312879
gaunavinaka@yahoo.com
Wetlands plays a significant role in the livelihood of Fiji’s population.
They produce resources that are consumed in the rural areas and also provide
much of those that are sold to urban markets and outlets. Despite their importance,
wetlands are becoming a vulnerable eco-system at the receiving end from both
natural and human-induced impacts.
Fiji has more
than 40,000 hectares of mangroves. Our coral reefs are extensive and it includes
the Great Astrolabe Reef (3rd largest coral reef system in the
world). The bulk of the inland areas of Fiji’s Volcanic group of islands are covered with rivers, streams
and lakes. The economic, ecological and cultural values of these wetland areas
are tremendous and its usage demands good management for the sustainable livelihood
of our people.
Natural disasters
like hurricanes, cyclones and tidal waves have caused extensive damage to
coral reefs and at many places initiating coastal erosion. But the less dramatic,
day to day impacts of human activities have far reaching consequences than
many of us can ever imagined.