BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF WETLANDS - VERMONT'S PILOT
PROJECT:
SEASONAL POOLS AND NORTHERN WHITE CEDAR SWAMPS
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Alan Quackenbush
VT Agency of Natural Resources
Vermont Department of
Environmental Conservation
Wetlands Section
1635 Main Street, Building 10
Waterbury, VT 05670
(802) 241-3287
alanq@dec.anr.state.vt.us
The overall goal of this project
has been to combine the expertise of the Vermont Non-game and Natural Heritage
Program, the Nature Conservancy, and the VT Department of Environmental Conservation
in order to: 1) gather and assess chemical, physical, and biological characteristics
of seasonal pools and northern white cedar swamps; 2) evaluate assessment methods;
3) evaluate the feasibility of utilizing these data to develop an ecologically-based
classification system of reference condition seasonal pools and cedar swamps;
4) develop biological indicators of ecological integrity that would reflect
levels of disturbance to these wetland types.
In order to address these goals, the collaborators conducted chemical, physical,
and biological sampling for seasonal pools and cedar swamps within a range of
minimally disturbed (reference) and disturbed conditions in the different biogeophysical regions of the state. Results indicated that
the seasonal pool data, with respect to macroinvertebrates,
was too variable (within pools and between pools, between separate sampling
events, and from year to year) to characterize the seasonal pools. Northern White Cedar swamps were able to be classified
into three distinct types; however, community attributes did not reflect levels
of disturbance in the surrounding landscape.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Daniel C. Redondo
Aquatic Ecologist/Project Manager
The Bioengineering Group, Inc.
18 Commercial Street
Salem, MA 01970
(978) 740-0096 x 515
dredondo@bioengineering.com
Site developments threatened
to increase impervious surfaces, degrade water quality, and increase peak
discharges into receiving wetlands in Iowa City, Iowa, and Hampden, Connecticut. The Bioengineering
Group, Inc. designed stormwater management systems
that reduced the footprint of impervious surfaces, directed runoff into wet
systems, and used natural hydrologic and biochemical processes involving soils
and native wetland plants to protect receiving wetlands. Analyses included soils and geotechnical investigations,
vegetation inventories, and the modeling of hydrologic and nutrient loading
under existing and proposed conditions. At the 30-acre Hawkeye Athletic & Recreation
Complex in Iowa,
stormwater runoff from rooftops, tennis courts, and parking
lots is directed into wet meadows and bio-filtration swales, where the processes
of infiltration and nutrient/contaminant breakdown and uptake by plants treat
the water before discharge into a wetland detention pond and, subsequently,
the downstream receiving wetland. Additionally,
the ephemeral discharge from three contributing sub-watersheds was mechanically
treated for sediment and floatable removal by separating manhole systems.
The anticipated project results include a 97%annual
reduction in TSS, 59% annual reduction in phosphorus,
and 29% reduction in nitrogen. The
17-acre Lake Whitney Water Treatment Plant in Hamden, CT, incorporates a 30,000
ft2 vegetated “green” roof and specially
graded landscapes of native grasses and forbs to maximize infiltration and
direct surface and groundwater flow into an ephemeral stream that discharges
into a constructed 3-acre pond. The
anticipated benefits include increased aquatic habitat and a reduction in
water temperature in the receiving wetland.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Edward Reiner
Senior Wetland Scientist
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1 Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CMA)
Boston, MA 02114
(617) 918-1692; Fax: (617) 918-0692
Reiner.Ed@epa.gov
Rumney
Marsh, located about 2 miles north of Logan Airport in Boston, contains approximately 1,700-acres
of salt marsh and mud flats along the Saugus and Pines Rivers. Since 1997, several local, state,
and government agencies have worked to restore the marsh. Approximately 125
acres of the marsh has been restored by fill removal, Open Marsh Water
Management, and the installation of ten self-regulating tidegates
(SRTs) which replaced conventional flap gates. The
ten SRT’s are restoring controlled tidal flows to
approximately 45 acres of salt marsh. Two additional SRT
projects affecting 50 acres of marsh are currently in the construction or
permitting phases.
Despite the
success of these projects in restoring tidal flow, improving fish and wildlife
habitat, controlling the growth of the invasive common reed (Phragmites
australis), and providing essential flood
protection, some problems remain to be corrected in order to fully achieve the
anticipated ecological restoration goals of these projects. Undersized and partly obstructed culverts
provide insufficient tidal hydrology to one marsh area. Non-compliance with
permit conditions requiring seasonal adjustment of the SRTs
and monitoring efforts threatens the success in another area.
DISCLAIMER
This abstract
was prepared by Edward Reiner as part of his official
duties for the U.S. EPA. However, it has not been reviewed from a policy standpoint,
and it does not necessarily express any official position of the EPA.
CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHORS:
Martha Craig Rheinhardt1
Vine Associates, Inc.
18 Beach Street, P.O. Box 555
Monument Beach, MA 02553
(508) 743-0390; Fax: (508) 743-0391
mrheinhardt@vineassociates.net
and
Geoffrey Andrews2
Wetlands Preservation, Inc.
47 Newton Road
Plaistow, NH 03865
(603) 382-3435; (603) 382-3492
Wetlands
Preservation
Compensatory
mitigation is usually required for projects with wetland impacts. Wildlife
habitat enhancement is typically one component of such requirements in Massachusetts. In a compensatory wetland mitigation
of a riverine floodplain, reference data collected
from nearby, unaltered wetland ecosystems were used to guide the creation
of wildlife habitat structure and plant species composition. Volume of fine
and coarse down (dead) wood, snag density, tip-up
mound size and density, and leaf litter cover were the detrital
and structural components measured. Living biomass measurements were made
of sedge tussock density, tree basal area, density and composition, shrub
density and composition, and herbaceous cover and composition. Structural
and detrital biomass data were used to create microtopography and organic substrate. Vegetation data provided
the basis for the mitigation planting plan. Planting density ranged from 60
to 160 stems per acre for individual tree species, and from 200 to 400 stems
per acres for shrub species. After
two growing seasons, planted woody vegetation is well-established with low
mortality. The ground layer, however, became dominated by purple loosestrife,
which was manually removed. The mitigation areas now provide habitat for a
suite of avian and mammalian species. The site will be monitored for another
three years, with the control of invasive species being a major focus of adaptive
maintenance. This mitigation approach showed that reference data is useful
for developing mitigation goals within the context of a site’s potential by
providing a framework for creating habitat structure and for assessing the
success of compensatory mitigation over time.
LANDSCAPE SCALE
ASSESSMENT OF SOILS AND HYDROLOGY:
PRINCIPLES
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Jimmie
Richardson
Professor
and Chair
Soils
Science Department
North Dakota State University
103
Walster Hall
Fargo, ND
(701) 231-8903
Jimmie.Richardson@ndsu.nodak.edu
Very often
looking at landscape scale information is necessary for an understanding of
spatial and temporal water. Surface features and soil morphology usually yield
clues to long-term water and nutrient cycles. A unifying principle or statement
for basic assessment is that a scientist can identify the water as a functional
part IN landscapes by viewing soil morphology and frequently but not always
by viewing sediments as a function of flow ON the landscape. Even in landscapes
with extremely widely fluctuating water and climatic conditions, environmental
monitoring and assessment, delineation, and valuation, soil morphology and
landscape analysis works well. The
categories for landscape assessment include data from the landscape, soil
profile and stratigrapy, wells or piezometers,
and selected laboratory data.
LANDSCAPE
SCALE ASSESSMENT OF SOILS AND HYDROLOGY:
EXAMPLES
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Jimmie
Richardson
Professor
and Chair
Soils
Science Department
North Dakota State University
103
Walster Hall
Fargo, ND
(701) 231-8903
Jimmie.Richardson@ndsu.nodak.edu
The
EPA funded a study titled “Environmental monitoring and assessment” for wetlands.
One of the lessons from the study was that the landscape around a wetland
was key to the health of that wetland. A few years
ago in federal court case (U.S. Government vs. Johanson Bros.), wetland boundaries and landscape drainage
was an issue in a farmed area with drained prairie wetlands. Without vegetation
only hydric soil indicators could be used to determine
wetlands and non-wetlands. In Day County South Dakota, a land ownership issue
arises from hayfields and wetlands that have become walleye lakes during the
current pluvial climate cycle. In the Hamden Slough NWR, permits for blocking
some drainage ways was held up because of the problem of seepage that was
know to occur from wetlands. The seepage results from the presence of underground
aquifers, which have altered flow patterns after restoration.
In the same refuge, restoration success was limited because of high
P in wetlands with a cropland history.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Gerald L. Roach
Indiana Natural Resoures Conservation
Service
Wetlands Reserve Program Coordinator
656 South Boatman Road, Suite 3
Scottsburg, IN 47170
(812) 752-2269 Ext. 113; Fax: (812)
752-7066
jerry.roach@in.usda.gov
Indiana has been involved in the Wetlands
Reserve Program (WRP) since 1994 and has enrolled
34,788 acres into the program. WRP is a voluntary program,
which restores wetland and wildlife habitat on marginal cropland. Wetland
restoration activities have included a variety of restoration techniques,
including low level dikes, ditch plugs, tile blocks, macro and microtopography, tree planting, and warm season grass
plantings. Landowners have the option to sign up for permanent or thirty-year
easements or they can opt for cost share practices only. The Natural Resources Conservation Service
provides technical and financial assistance to support the program. Wildlife response to the restored wetlands
has been tremendous with migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, neo-tropical
migrants, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, etc. all utilizing the sites. Of particular interest is the benefit of the
restorations to federal and state listed threatened and endangered species-25
listed species have been observed on the WRP
sites. A northern Indiana WRP site was the first known nesting site in 80 years for
the Black Rail and Wilson’s Phalarope. Whooping cranes used a WRP
site in southern Indiana as a resting and foraging site
during the spring migration of 2003. WRP provides for excellent opportunities for landowners to
restore marginal cropland to wetland habitat for wetland dependent
species. The program continues to be
popular with landowners.
CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHOR:
Abby Rokosch1,2
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
Water Resources Division/Watershed
Assessment Section
820 Silver Lake Boulevard, Suite
220
Dover, DE 19904
(302) 739-4590
abby.rokosch@state.de.us
Amy Jacobs
Delaware Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control
Water Resources Division/Watershed
Assessment Section
820 Silver Lake Boulevard, Suite
220
Dover, DE 19904
David Bleil
Maryland Department of Natural
Resources
Chesapeake and Coastal Watershed Service
Tawes State Office Building, E-2
Annapolis, MD 21401
The States
of Maryland and Delaware are performing a study to determine
the condition of depressional wetlands in the Nanticoke River watershed using a probabilistic sampling
design. One of the primary challenges
with performing this type of sampling is that the majority of wetlands are
located on private property. To obtain
high quality data that is representative of the condition of wetlands on the
watershed level, States must be successful at gaining access to sample on
private lands. 321 potential sampling
points were selected throughout the watershed in mapped depressional wetlands, 277 of these points were located on
private property. Initial contact was
attempted for each site by sending a letter, a brochure, and a reply card
to the address, which was determined using tax parcel information. If we didn’t receive a response, we attempted
to call the landowner to gain access if a number could be found. We were able to contact 56% of the landowners
in our study. In general, we found
that once initial contact was made, landowner support was high. Of the 156 landowners that we were able to contact,
64% granted us access. Our data shows
that after field validation, 51% of the sites qualified for our study.
Sites were disqualified if they were mapped as the wrong subclass.
This study demonstrates that the majority of landowners in Maryland
and Delaware will grant the States access to assess the condition of wetlands
if either written or verbal contact can be made with the landowner.
USE OF REAL OPTIONS ANALYSIS FOR ORGANIZATIONAL
APPLICATION OF WETLANDS MITIGATION BANKS AND COMPENSATORY MITIGATION
CONTACT1/PRESENTER2/AUTHORS:
Joseph Sarkis1,2
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA
01610-1477
(508) 793-7659; Fax: (508) 793-8822
jsarkis@clarku.edu
Samuel Ratick
The
George Perkins Marsh Research Institute
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610-1477
sratick@clarku.edu
Maurry Tamarkin
Graduate School of Management
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA
01610-1477
(508) 793-7657; Fax: (508) 793-8822
mtamarkin@clarku.edu
In
this presentation we focus on the use of a financial tool typically used to
evaluate organizational investments and justification of projects, programs
and technology. The real-options methodology
can be effectively applied to wetlands management decision making. The issue in this process is to determine when
to invest in wetlands banks or whether a private property owner to take advantage
of a scarce resource should form a wetlands bank. The option is whether or not to make this investment
depending on a number of risk and investment factors.
As a review, a wetlands mitigation bank contains wetlands
property that has been established by private property owners and approved
under state and federal requirements. The wetlands bank property owners sell
credits to permit applicants who need to compensate for wetlands they have
damaged or propose to damage. It is one
of several ways that permit applicants can use to mitigate adverse effects
caused by development in or near wetlands. Other alternatives are establishment
of mitigating wetlands on the affected property or on other property or
contribution to an approved wetlands foundation. In each case, the intent is to
replace damaged wetlands or to make funds available for use in acquiring or
creating wetlands.
This situation
is clearly one where trading of real options (wetlands permits) is to be considered
by organizations. Many private organizations
are owners of large quantities of land, some of which may not be developed.
These organizations can use a model to determine if and when they should
trade lands or “undevelop” lands for wetlands trading purposes. A real-options model will be presented with
a small illustrative example to show its application. How this model can be used with other decision-making
approaches and even geographical information systems data will be described.
The model itself can provide useful organizational and regulatory implications.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Steve Schwartz
Department of Zoology
430 Life Sciences West
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-3052
(405) 744-7424; Fax: (405) 744-7824
schwass@okstate.edu
Although ephemeral wetlands are
globally ubiquitous our knowledge of function and relatedness across the landscape
is weak. They
remain inadequately studied and unappreciated by the lay and scientific community
due to the tacit assumption that these extremely shallow habitats are of little
biotic importance. However, we are now aware that the biota
of these habitats is unique and has had to have evolve
in a highly fragmented and dynamic landscape.
Populations persist regionally by dispersal in time or space. Given the intimacy of the terrestrial landscape
with these shallow (<1 m) habitats we tested the hypothesis that terrestrial
ecoregions can be used to predict community assemblages
of aquatic microcrustaceans. Oklahoma’s heterogeneous landscape (11 level
III ecoregions) provides an excellent opportunity
to assess this approach. In the spring of 2001 and fall of 2002 we sampled 146
ephemeral wetlands across Oklahoma. Species richness of the zooplankton
was determined for each habitat and compared within and between ecoregions. Across
all ecoregions there were
6.0±0.23 species/pond with significant differences across ecoregions. For example, a mean of 8.0
species/pond were found in the Central Oklahoma Plains ecoregion whereas 4.7 species/pond were found in the Southwestern
Tablelands.
The species assemblages in ecoregions are largely
distinct, with no two ecoregions particularly similar.
More importantly, the results from two types of distance-similarity analyses leads
us to conclude that there is no relationship between the distance between habitats
and the similarity of their faunas. Contrary
to recent experimental studies, our extensive survey indicates a lack of spatial
pattern. This result supports the hypothesis
that many invertebrate inhabitants of ephemeral wetland disperse poorly.
Hence, each wetland acts as an island for these poorly dispersing species
and their preservation becomes critical in a landscape that becomes increasingly
fragmented.
THE FIVE STAR RESTORATION PROGRAM:
BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS FOR RESULTS
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Jason J. Shedlock
National Association of
Counties
627 4th Street,
SW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 942-4252; Fax: (202)
661-8871
jshedloc@naco.org
The Five
Star Restoration Challenge Grant Program is driven by a partnership with the
National Association of Counties, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation,
the Wildlife Habitat Council and supported by EPA and the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Since
1997, The Five Star Partnership has reached out to more than 200 communities
across the country by providing funding and technical assistance for community-based
wetland restoration projects. Local
government officials have the unique ability to educate their community and
convene a wide range of stakeholders to address important water quality issues
such as wetlands management. The modest
grants awarded by the Program Partners leverage additional locally generated
funds and resources that combine to implement on the ground projects with
real results.
WETLANDS
BANKING FEDERAL GUIDANCE ON MITIGATION BANKING
GIVES NEW LIFE TO AN OLD IDEA
Seth Shortlidge
Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell
214 North Main Street
Concord, NH 03229
(603) 746-2827; Fax: (603) 228-6204
shortlidge@gcglaw.com
The concept
of wetlands mitigation banking is not new.
Over the past two decades several states and the federal government
have experimented with the use of wetlands mitigation banks to provide wetlands
mitigation for construction projects where it is not possible to provide
on-site mitigation for disturbances to wetlands. While the concept is not new, wetlands mitigation
banking still remains a relatively uncommon method for mitigating wetlands
impacts. This is likely to change
with the adoption of guidance and regulations by several federal agencies
regarding the implementation of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st
Century’s (“TEA-21”) preference for wetlands mitigation banking.
In light
of new federal guidance on the use of the TEA-21 preference for mitigation
banking, this presentation will explore many of the regulatory issues surrounding
wetlands mitigation banking. The
presentation will provide the audience with a brief introduction to the
concept/structure of wetlands mitigation banking, a review of relevant federal
statutes, regulations and guidance on the use of wetlands mitigation banking
programs, and discuss regulatory issues that state wetlands managers should
consider in establishing state regulatory frameworks for the review and
approval of wetlands mitigation banks and in approving the transfer of mitigation
credits from such banks.
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
Tim
Smith
Wetland
Scientist
Massachusetts Wetlands Restoration Program
Executive
Office of Environmental Affairs
1
Winter Street, Fifth Floor
Boston, MA 02108
(617)
292-5808
tim.smith@state.ma.us
http://www.state.ma.us/envir/mwrp
The Massachusetts
Wetlands Restoration Program has developed atlases of tidally restricted salt
marshes for almost 80% of the state’s coastlines. Wetland restoration plans have been developed
for several inland and coastal watersheds.
These efforts have identified hundreds of potential wetland restoration
project sites. But only a small percentage
will ever involve actual on-the-ground work. How do projects move from the earliest regional
planning level stages to full-blown, fully funded and permited
on-the-ground restoration projects? How
and why are some projects chosen for implementation, while many others remain
merely a dot on a map? This paper will
discuss the steps taken and field studies required to develop targeted restoration
projects of highest regional priority and assess the feasibility of potential
restoration actions. Emphasis will
be placed on no-cost / low-cost data gathering procedures that can be undertaken
by project sponsors working in a partnership arrangement.
INTRODUCTION
TO WETLANDS BIOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
AND CLASSIFICATION
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
R. Jan Stevenson
Department of Zoology
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1115
(517) 432-8083; Fax: (517)432-2789
rjstev@msu.edu
Wetlands play a vital role in water quality management programs.
As is true with all waterbodies, the biological community of a wetland reflects
the cumulative response to a host of chemical, physical, and biological stressors.
The most meaningful way to measure biological condition is to directly
examine one or more biological assemblages such as macroinvertebrates
or vascular plants. This biological
assessment data will then be used to evaluate ambient water quality conditions
as well as determine success of wetland mitigation and restoration efforts.
This presentation
will introduce the concept of valued ecological attributes of wetlands, and
the role of hydrogeomorphic models (HGMs) and Indices of Biological Integrity (IBIs) in wetland ecological assessment. This presentation will also discuss the goals
of wetlands classification, and existing classification schemes such as Cowardin classification and the HGM system Classification.
Specific examples of the use of HGM classification for biological assessment
will be presented.
REFINING WATER
QUALITY STANDARDS THROUGH AN AQUATAIC
LIFE SUPPORT FRAMEWORK
CONTACT/PRESENTER/AUTHOR:
R. Jan Stevenson
Department of Zoology
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1115
(517) 432-8083; Fax: (517) 432 2789
rjstev@msu.edu
Refining
Water Quality Standards Through an Aquatic Life
Support Framework. R.
J. Stevenson, V. Lougheed, and C. Parker. Department of Zoology and
Environmental Science and Policy Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. Use
of multiple, tiered biological and stressor criteria enables refinement
of water quality standards with criteria to protect degradation of excellent
wetlands and to provide incremental goals for improving wetlands that are
not meeting desired conditions. The
changes in wetland attributes with progressive degradation resulting from
increasing human disturbance can provide the justification for establishing
multiple, tiered criteria. In a study
of 35 isolated depressional, emergent marsh wetlands in Michigan, we tested many of the hypotheses
associated with the Tiered Aquatic Life Use (TALU) framework. Plants, zooplankton, macrobenthic
invertebrates, and algae were assessed as well as nutrients in water and
sediments, conductivity, other water chemistry attributes, and riparian
and regional land use characteristics. Variability
in many biological attributes could be related to a human disturbance gradient
that was quantified with many of the same attributes used in the Ohio rapid
assessment method (ORAM), thus predictable changes were observed along the
human disturbance gradient – one hypothesis of the TALU framework.
Although some attributes changed linearly along the human disturbance
gradient, many had non-linear responses.
Change-points in these non-linear responses consistently occurred
in two ranges of ORAM scores, from 30-35 and from 50-55.
Thus, these change-points provided justification for defining three
refined uses of wetland aquatic life support.
ORAM scores often range from 20-80 in Ohio, but most MI wetlands in the region studied ranged
from 15-60. Therefore, with more
impacted wetlands associated with a broader range of human disturbance in
our MI study, we may have been able to detect more change-points and establish
more tiers of wetland aquatic life use.
In addition, more hypotheses of the TALU framework were supported:
different biological condition categories can be identified along the gradient
of human disturbance and change-points, potentially reflecting multiple
stable states, can be observed that justify where criteria should be established. Biological attributes and multimetric
indices that responded linearly to the human disturbance gradient will be
used to establish biological criteria, because they respond sensitively
to human disturbance along the entire gradient.
Stressor criteria, particularly nutrient criteria, will be established
to support each of the aquatic life uses.
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