Waterfowl Habitat Assessment of the Grass Lake Wildlife Area Benzie County, Michigan

Author/Presenter: Tom Callison Fish & Wildlife Biologist Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians Natural Resources Department 2605 NW Bayshore Drive Suttons Bay, MI 49682 (231) 534-7656 tom.callison@gtbindians.com

During fiscal year 1999 the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB-NRD) began a habitat evaluation of the Grass Lake Wildlife Management Area. This wildlife area is approximately 1,300 acres of wetlands and associated uplands located in Benzie County, in Northwest Lower Michigan. The wetland area was partially created and increased in size by construction of a dam on the Betsie River, which inundated a cedar and scrub swamp. The dam is a combination of spillway and a stop-log structure used to regulate the water flow and create a backwater flooding primarily to be used for waterfowl hunting. During the years following the construction of the dam and management of the flooded area disputes with riparian owners both up and downstream led to a verbal agreement with the Michigan DNR to regulate the water levels to a stable flow regime. This paper presents the components of the investigation including: Vegetation Analysis; Hydrology and Water Quality; Waterfowl Utilization; Muskrat Activity; Results; Management Options; and Conclusions. Management options investigated include lowering the water level, controlled burns, and a more in-depth look at wildlife responses to these two practices.

Wildlife Habitat Evaluation in Wetland Restoration - If You Build It Will They Come?

Authors/Presenter*: Gary S. Casper, Ph.D.* Associate Scientist University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Field Station Research Associate Milwaukee Public Museum P.O. Box 375 Slinger, WI 53086-0375 (262) 644-1431 gcasper@charter.net and Joanne Kline, Tom Bernthal, Marsha Burzynski, and Kate Barrett Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Spatial planning for green space is usually driven by concerns for flood abatement, water quality, and transportation needs, with wildlife habitat rarely considered. The Milwaukee River Basin Wetlands Assessment Project is a Wisconsin DNR initiative to build GIS decision making tools to aid local planners in identifying potentially restorable wetlands (based on hydrologic, land use, and soil parameters), and to evaluate the relative ability of existing and restorable wetlands to provide wildlife habitat, water quality treatment, and flood storage. Wetland dependent herptile and bird umbrella species were selected to represent forest, grassland, and complex wildlife habitat needs. Species expert groups helped populate a land cover matrix of wildlife value scores for each umbrella species and land cover type in the Milwaukee River Basin. A proximity analysis was then conducted to account for habitat patch size and connectivity needs. Cumulative Habitat Quality Index scores were calculated across the Basin for each umbrella species, resulting in a predictive model for umbrella species occurrence, and for restoration sites conveying the best wildlife value. Results were validated against an independent data set of herptile records. The model results of predicted habitat were significantly associated with actual forest (wood frog, N=67, P<0.0000, df 1) and complex (Blanding's turtle, N=47, P<0.0000, df 1) umbrella species occurrences. We found no significant association between the model results and the grassland umbrella species we chose (chorus frog, N=63, P=0.1318, df 1). We discuss successes and problems with the model, and potential uses for wetland restoration and land use planning.

Using the Carbon Cycle to Study Peatland Management and Sustainability

Author/Presenter: Rodney A. Chimner Michigan Tech University Houghton, MI 49931 rchimner@mtu.edu

Peatlands, which cover roughly 4 million km2 or 3% of the Earth's land surface, are important components of the global carbon cycle because they sequester and store large amounts of carbon. However, studying carbon cycling is not only useful for global climate change research, but is also a useful tool for examining sustainable peatland management. I will review methods and results from several studies where we have measured the carbon cycle to assess the condition of peatlands. Some example studies include water diversions, grazing, and temperature changes. In summary, I have found that using carbon cycling measurements in conjunction with hydrologic and vegetation analysis can be a very useful tool for analyzing peatland ecosystem structure and sustainability.

Wetlands Mitigation Panel: Recent National Level Trends in Wetland Mitigation

Moderator: Jeanne Christie, Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc.

On March 28, 2006 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) proposed a new joint rule aimed at promoting no net loss of wetlands by improving wetland restoration and conservation practices and increasing the effectiveness of wetland mitigation bank sites. The rule was promulgated in response to the 2004 National Defense Authorization Act (PL 108-136) which calls for the development of regulations to establish equivalent standards and criteria for all forms of compensatory mitigation. The proposed rule also responds to recommendations of the National Research Council's (NRC) 2001 assessment of wetland replacement practices, establishes clear science based and results oriented performance standards nationally, increases public participation, and encourages watershed-based decisions. The intent of the rule is to improve the quality and effectiveness of wetland replacement projects while "leveling the playing field" by ensuring that all forms of wetland mitigation/compensation are held to equivalently high standards. The speakers will look at some of the recent trends promoted in the proposed rule such as watershed based planning, conformity/elimination of in-lieu of fee programs, the use of innovative market based tools for encouraging wetland banking, and increased public participation in the decision making process.

Identifying Response of Fish Communities in Great Lakes Coastal Regions to Land Use and Local Scale Impacts

Authors/Presenter*: J.J.H. Ciborowski* and Y. Bhagat Department of Biological Sciences University of Windsor Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4 L.B. Johnson, J. Olker, G.E. Host, D. Breneman, V. Brady, and N. Danz Natural Resources Research Institute University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN, 55811 J. Schuldt Department of Biology University of Wisconsin-Superior Superior, WI 54880 and J. Brazner Inland Waters Institute 29 Powers Drive Herring Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada

Land use impacts on aquatic ecosystems are frequently confounded with variables at larger and smaller spatial scales. For example, in the Great Lakes, agricultural land use is the dominanat land use in the Lake Erie Basin, while forested land cover is dominant in Lake Superior, and communities reflect both lake and land use effects. Approximately equal amounts of variance are explained by "lake" and land cover" in these two basins in a hierarchical regression. Further complicating efforts to assess impacts of disturbance, is the hierarchical control of landscape (land form and land cover) over local features (e.g., habitat structure). We have used hierarchical regression to assess the relative influence of landscape and local features on habitat, fish, and invertebrate communities, and quantile regression to quantify the response "envelope" for wedge-shaped responses. Preliminary data indicate that floating plant density and % exotic fish (among some metrics) generally increase with % row crop agriculture; however, variance in the response increases with increasing agriculture, resulting in a "wedge" response, suggesting that other environmental factors influence the response at higher levels of rowcrop agriculture. Land managers must consider the relative impacts of both local and regional factors when evaluating condition of aquatic communities.

An Introduction to the Ramsar Convention and Its Benefits

Author/Presenter: Kim Diana Connolly Associate Professor Director Environmental Law Clinic University of South Carolina School of Law Main & Greene Streets Columbia, SC 29208 (803) 777-6880; Fax: (803) 777-3401 connolly@law.sc.edu

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands calls on countries to designate and conserve sites as wetlands of international importance. On-hundred and fifty-two countries, including Canada and the United States, are parties to this treaty. More than 1600 sites have been listed as Ramsar sites worldwide, including 37 in Canada and 22 in the United States. The session will begin with an introduction to the Ramsar Convention, explaining how it operates, how sites are designated, and the potential benefit of Ramsar designation as a management tool. In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a survey of U.S. Ramsar sites to identify benefits associated with Ramsar designation. The U.S. National Ramsar Committee is currently conducting a similar survey of these sites, and the results of this ongoing survey will be presented.

Development and Use of Indices of Biotic Integrity (IBI) in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Status of Invertebrate and Fish-Based IBIs

Authors/Presenter*: Matthew J. Cooper*, Donald G. Uzarski Grand Valley State University Annis Water Resources Institute Muskegon, MI 49441 (616) 331-8790 coopmat@gvsu.edu and Thomas M. Burton Michigan State University Departments of Zoology and Fisheries and Wildlife East Lansing, MI 48824

Great Lakes coastal wetlands have suffered considerable degradation since European settlement, resulting in total loss of wetland habitat in some areas and marked disturbance in many others. As human pressure on Great Lakes coastal habitats continues to increase, reliable measures of ecosystem health are vital for effectively managing these important habitats. To that end, we developed invertebrate and fish-based indices of biotic integrity (IBI) for use in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. Our invertebrate-based IBI has been tested in wetlands of northern Lakes Michigan and Huron and has reliably detected anthropogenic disturbance over a period of fluctuating Great Lakes water levels. Our fish-based IBI was developed for use across the entire Great Lakes basin. It was tested extensively by other researchers and was determined to be quite reliable. While our goal was to offer options to managers, we recommend that these IBIs be used simultaneously when possible to gain maximum power of detection. We feel that this multi-level approach is the most reliable and precise method for assessing Great Lakes coastal wetland health. Potential applications of our IBIs include tracking responses to anthropogenic disturbances through time, comparing the health of multiple coastal wetlands simultaneously, and assessing the health of a single system at a single point in time. These applications facilitate effective coastal wetland management by providing an ecological basis for decision-making.

Distribution of Round Gobies in Coastal Areas of Lake Michigan: Are Wetlands Resistant to Invasion?

Authors/Presenter* Carl R. Ruetz III, Matthew J. Cooper*, Donald G. Uzarski Annis Water Resources Institute Grand Valley State University 740 West Sgirekube Drive Muskegon, MI 49441 (616) 331-8790 coopmat@gvsu.edu and Thomas M. Burton Departments of Zoology and Fisheries and Wildlife Michigan State University

Great Lakes coastal wetlands may be more resistant to invasion by exotic species and thus serve as refuge habitats for native species. As a first step in testing this hypothesis, we investigated the distribution of the nonindigenous round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in Lake Michigan drowned river mouth lake/wetland complexes. We sampled round gobies in lake and adjacent wetland habitats in four systems in 2004 and six systems in 2005. In each macrohabitat (lake or wetland), we sampled three microhabitats (mono-dominant stands of Nuphar, beds of submersed aquatic vegetation, and bare sediment). We found that round goby catch was generally lower in wetland macrohabitats than adjacent lake macrohabitats and round gobies appeared to prefer beds of submersed aquatic vegetation in lakes among the three microhabitats. We also found a significant negative correlation between round goby catch and distance of sampling points from the Lake Michigan shoreline in 2005, suggesting that (1) Lake Michigan nearshore waters (including the connecting navigation channels and pier areas) may be serving as round goby spawning and nursery habitats with subsequent dispersal into the drowned river mouth lake/wetland complexes, and (2) round gobies may still be invading these systems from Lake Michigan. Our results provide evidence that drowned river mouth wetlands are more resistant to invasion by round gobies than adjacent lake macrohabitats.

Wetlands Protection in Massachusetts: Mapping, Monitoring and Management

Author/Presenter: Charles T. Costello Section Chief Wetlands Mapping Program Massachusetts Wetlands Mapping Program Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection One Winter Street Boston, MA 02108 Charles.Costello@state.ma.us

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) has completed a statewide wetlands mapping program using analogue color infrared aerial photography and digital orthophotography. Using this data, MDEP has developed a program to monitor changes to the mapped wetlands using recently acquired statewide 4 band digital imagery. This technique has identified many types of information on the state's wetlands and resulted in a pro-active enforcement and monitoring program. Additionally, MDEP is using image processing techniques to enhance the graphic wetlands datalayer. MDEP is also using digital imagery to map and monitor the coastal submerged aquatic vegetation resources.

Forging the Link between Monitoring & Assessment and Management Decisions

Authors/Presenters: David L. Davis, CPWD, PWS Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Office of Wetlands & Water Protection 629 East Main Street, 9th Floor Richmond, VA 23219 (804) 698-4105 dldavis@deq.virginia.gov and Shelby E. Reisinger Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Watershed Management P.O. Box 8775 Harrisburg, PA 17105 (717) 783-2408 shreisinge@state.pa.us

As members of the Mid-Atlantic Wetland Workgroup (MAWWG), Virginia and Pennsylvania have developed a three-tiered approach to wetlands assessment. The overall strategy of our wetland monitoring programs is to establish baseline conditions in various broad contexts, such as land use, watershed, and wetland type. This information can then be used to guide management decisions regarding permit decisions, wetland restoration efforts, programmatic compensatory mitigation, integration with overall water quality standards, and for an ongoing assessment of the status of wetland resources and the success of both of our wetland regulatory and voluntary programs. Examples of how monitoring and assessment information will be integrated into management decisions include: (i) assisting in the evaluation of proposed impacts to wetlands during permit review as part of a regulatory program; (ii) evaluating the performance of wetland restoration and compensatory wetland mitigation in replacing wetland acreage and function; and (iii) evaluating the cumulative impacts of wetland loss and restoration in watersheds relative to ambient ecological conditions.

Use of Automated GIS Model to Map and Evaluate Wetlands Chagrin River Watershed Northeast, Ohio

Author/Presenter: Dwight R. Dunk, PWS Principal Scientist CDM 1 Cambridge Place / 50 Hampshire Street Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 452-6601; Fax: (617) 452-8601 dunkdr@cdm.com

For the Chagrin River Watershed Association, Camp Dresser and McKee Inc. (CDM) prepared a watershed-wide wetland map utilizing a GIS model to automate remote sensing data and third party data. This required a step approach. First a Wetland Scientist worked with third party wetland mapping - NWI Maps, OWI Map and County Soil Maps, as well as aerial photography. These sources were used to develop a protocol to identify wetlands followed by determining the approximate wetland boundary. The protocol was developed for three prevalent land uses in the watershed - urban, suburban and rural. The Wetland scientist identified which source(s) of data most accurately predicted the presence of a wetland. Then identified the wetland boundary by aerial photo interpretation to determine which source(s) of data most accurately depicted the approximate wetland boundary. After the protocols for identifying and delineating wetlands were established, a GIS Specialist continued with step 2. This step required writing a computer model to automate the third party data, all of which is available in GIS format or can be entered into a GIS data base. Automating the process allowed the development of a watershed- wide wetland map in a cost effective manner. Using a GIS model also allows for the map to be modified when more recent aerial photos are available by coding building cover or pavement to show areas of wetland alteration. It also allows for updating and refining with site reconnaissance. This presentation presents the more detailed description of the steps to develop this model and which data was most predictive for the Chagrin River Watershed.

Update on Taking Cases at Federal and State Levels

Author/Presenter: John D. Echeverria Executive Director Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute Georgetown University Law Center 600 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 662-9850; Fax: (202) 662-9005 echeverj@law.georgetown.edu

Mr. Echeverria will provide an overview of U.S. and Michigan law relating to regulatory takings, focusing on the most recent developments in the field. Particular attention will be devoted to the recent Michigan Court of Appeals decision in K & K Construction Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality, in which the court overturned a lower court finding that state wetlands restriction resulted in a compensable taking. The K & K Construction decision brings welcome coherence to the law of regulatory takings in Michigan and explains why restrictions on wetlands development should rarely result in compensable takings.

A Collaborative Approach to Managing and Restoring a Forested Wetland, Upper St. Louis River Watershed, Minnesota

Authors/Presenter*: Mark A. Fedora* USDA Forest Service Eastern Region The Nature Conservancy Great Lakes Program E6248 US Highway 2 Ironwood, MI 49938 (906) 932-1330, Ext. 318; Fax: (906) 932-0122 mfedora@fs.fed.us and Daryl Peterson The Nature Conservancy Northeast Minnesota Office

The headwaters of the St. Louis River system is a vast, largely undeveloped wetland complex located within the Great Lakes Basin. The area has a complex ownership pattern, with Federal, State, County and privately owned lands intermixed within the 100,000 acre patterned peatland. In 2003 The Nature Conservancy, US Forest Service, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Lake County and St. Louis County representatives began meeting to coordinate land management activities and accomplish restoration and management projects of mutual interest. Initial coordination efforts were limited, without comprehensive understanding of existing and historical resource uses. A small team of field specialists and scientists evaluated key issues including forest structure and composition, stream channel sensitivity to management practices, exotic species, road management, and habitat conditions of the St. Louis River. Existing conditions for each issue were analyzed in relation to reference conditions. The results identified both specific projects and gaps in knowledge. The team used the results to inform the larger collaborative group of managers and decision makers, and to set priorities for on-the-ground actions. Specific actions taken to date include: w Replacement of three road/stream crossing structures, w Removal of one road/stream crossing structure, w Development of a single road/trail database to be used to develop a comprehensive access and travel management plan, w Development of a single database of forest vegetation and planned management to coordinate future activities to achieve forest structure and composition goals, and w Planting of long-lived conifers to move species composition toward the historic composition.

Tribal Wetland Program Development: Uneven Ground

Author/Presenter: Rick Gitar Water Regulatory Specialist Fond du Lac Reservation Office of Water Protection 1720 Big Lake Road Cloquet, MN 55720 (218) 878-8022; Fax: (218) 879-4854 richardgitar@fdlrez.com

For many years the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been providing funds to states and tribes for the development of wetland programs through its Wetland Program Development Grants under Clean Water Act Section 104(b)(3). These funds are used by state and tribal agencies to develop both regulatory (statutes, rules, regulations, ordinances, standards, etc) and non-regulatory (monitoring, assessment, inventory, education, outreach, etc.) wetland programs. However, in the case of tribes, the development of these programs can be daunting due to numerous factors, especially funding. This paper will include a discussion of the challenges that tribes face in developing effective wetland programs, including training, staffing, logistics, funding, coordination, and others. Statistics provided by EPA will be presented including the number of recognized Indian tribes, tribes seeking EPA funding, tribes receiving EPA funding, and tribes developing wetland programs. Several case studies will also be presented to lend perspective to the issue.

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