Monitoring Coastal Wetlands in a Great Lakes Area of Concern: Development of a Regional Framework

Author/Presenter: Greg Grabas Wildlife Conservation Biologist Canadian Wildlife Service - Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin Street Downsview, ON, M3H 5T4 (416) 739-4939; Fax: (416) 739-5845 Greg.Grabas@ec.gc.ca

The Bay of Quinte is an 85-kilometre-long, Z-shaped bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The bay supports numerous coastal wetlands which occupy over 7,500 hectares. The Bay of Quinte was designated as a Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC) in 1985. Eleven of 14 possible beneficial use impairments (BUIs) were identified including: degradation of fish and wildlife populations and loss of fish and wildlife habitats (i.e., BUIs 3 and 14). Although much work has been done to address other BUIs, there is a lack of specific data for fish and wildlife populations and their habitats in Bay of Quinte coastal wetlands. This presentation details the development and implementation of a regional coastal wetland monitoring framework to quantitatively evaluate fish and wildlife habitats and populations in the AOC. In 2005, water quality, submerged aquatic vegetation, nektonic macroinvertebrates, fish, and breeding marsh birds were evaluated using indices. In general, Bay of Quinte coastal wetlands had good water quality and biotic communities that were in very good or excellent condition relative to other coastal wetlands along the Canadian shoreline of Lake Ontario. These results allow delisting criteria for BUI 3 and 14 to be specified. For fish and wildlife populations, delisting criteria include showing that these populations are among the best in Lake Ontario. For habitat loss, indices can be used to evaluate water quality, submerged aquatic vegetation, and nektonic macroinvertebrates.

The Role of Local Government in Protecting Wetlands

Author/Presenter: Christopher P. Grobbel, Ph.D. Grobbel Environmental & Planning Associates 232 E. Front Street, Suite 7 Traverse City MI 49684 (231) 933-8400; Fax: (231) 933-8406 cgrobbel@grobbelenvironmental.com

Michigan possesses over 1,400 incorporated local units of government, most doing some sort of land use planning and/or zoning. Dr. Grobbel's presentation will focus on the approaches of the nearly 35 communities undertaking wetland planning and/or regulation within Michigan. This program will introduce participants to basic principles of planning and zoning; the role of local units of government in wetland regulation pursuant to the Part 303 of NREPA, P.A. 491 of 1994; and the relationship between federal, state and local units of government in wetland permitting. This will be a highly interactive presentation, draw from real cases and regional controversies involving wetlands, and seek to present this material in accessible manner. Significant opportunity will be created for participant comments, questions and foster discussion. This presentation will extend from Dr. Grobbel's presentation on the importance of wetlands in land use planning at the MDEQ's 25th Anniversary of the Wetland Protection Act conference held in Traverse City in May of 2004.

Great Lakes Collaboration Panel: Restoring Great Lakes Wetlands

Moderator: Chris Grubb, National Wildlife Federation, Great Lakes Natural Resources Center

Questions for the panel: The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration (GLRC) came out with a very ambitious wetland restoration goal - 1,100,000 acres in the Great Lakes basin. What are you doing to implement that goal? What are some obstacles to achieving the goal? What are some concrete steps we could take to better plan, coordinate, and conduct restoration work toward the 1,000,000 acre goal?

Final panelists: Chuck Ledin, Wisconsin DNR - As GLRC habitat/ species co-chair, describe what the GLRC is, where its at now, and the Action Plan being developed to implement the near term recommendations, with emphasis on the wetland recommendation. Jack Dingledine, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - As the federal agency in charge of the protection and restoration of fish and wildlife and their habitat, how is your agency working to step up its efforts to achieve the million acre goal? Gildo Tori, Ducks Unlimited - Ducks Unlimited's success is based in large part on strong partnerships. Please describe what DU has learned over the years about working in coalition to restore wetlands, and what suggestions you may have that could apply to the many stakeholders in the Great Lakes region. Lois Morrison, The Nature Conservancy - The Nature Conservancy fills a vital niche in a large scale restoration effort like the one underway in the Great Lakes. Please describe this role and some of TNC's current initiatives such as the Conservation Blueprint. Robert Zbiciak, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality - The state of Michigan has lost up to 50% of its pre-settlement wetlands. Other GL states have lost more. In times of financial constraint, what kind of restoration work is the State undertaking and / or how can Great Lakes states generally facilitate and encourage wetland restoration.

Public-Private Partnerships for Wetland Conservation in the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge

Author/Presenter: John H. Hartig Refuge Manager Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Large Lakes Research Station 9311 Groh Road Grosse Ile, MI 48183 (734) 692-7608; Fax: (734) 692-7603 john_hartig@fws.gov

The region stretching south along 48 miles of Detroit River and Western Lake Erie shoreline is a major urban area, one of world's greatest manufacturing centers, and the only International Wildlife Refuge in North America - the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (IWR). Over 5 million people live in the U.S. portion of the watershed and over 500,000 people live in the Canadian portion. This region is best known as the automobile capitals of the United States and Canada. However, it is rapidly gaining an international reputation for its biodiversity, wildlife, close-to-home outdoor recreation, and public-private partnerships for conservation. Stretching along these 48 miles of shoreline are over 20 islands, many coastal wetlands, numerous marshes and shoals, and ecologically-important lands. Over 30 species of waterfowl, 17 species of raptors, 31 species of shorebirds, 160 species of songbirds, and 117 species of fish are found along or migrate through the Detroit River corridor. This biodiversity and the diversity of habitats to support these biota have given the region international acclaim. The IWR has grown from 394 acres to 2,140 acres is four years, primarily through public-private partnerships. The Detroit River IWR story is that cooperative conservation initiatives are helping recreate gathering places for wildlife and people along the Detroit River and that these unique conservation places are now a key factor in providing the quality of life so important in achieving competitive advantage for communities and businesses in the 21st century. Equally important is that cooperative conservation is helping provide an exceptional experience to almost 6 million people in the Detroit River watershed. That, in turn, is helping develop the next generation of conservation stewards and sustainability entrepreneurs.

Testing the Florsitic Quality Assessment Index in Created and Natural Wetlands in Mississippi, USA

Author/Presenter: Brook Herman Plant Ecologist Land Resource Management Group 525 East North Street, Suite, F Bradley, IL 60159 (815) 928-8990 brookherman@hotmail.com

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of the Floristic Quality Assessment Index (FQAI), originally created by Swink and Wilhelm for the Chicago, IL area, in created and natural wetlands, along a gradient of human influence. The FQAI, which uses vegetation to assess the biological integrity of an ecosystem, has not been tested in Mississippi. Coefficients of Conservatism (CC) were assigned to plant species based on their tolerance to disturbance and fidelity to habitit. Although significant negative correlation was found between the FQAI and level of human disturbance for 53 sites (R2 = 0.18, p = 0.002), it was correlated to species richness (R2 = 0.27, p <0.001). The FQAI responded significantly to human activity when ten sites were sampled in both 2003 (R2 = 0.62, p = 0.002) and 2004 (R2 = 0.55, p = 0.014). The average CC responded similarily to human disturbance (R2 = 0.36, p < 0.0001, n = 53) without correlation to species richness (R2 = 0.02, p = 0.32, n = 53) as was found with the FQAI. Based on the results of this study, the average CC may be a more effective tool for monitoring wetland management techniques and restorations and for identifying areas of high conservation value.

Developing a Canadian Wetland Inventory

Author/Presenter: Krista Holmes Wildlife Conservation Biologist Canadian Wildlife Service Ontario Region Environment Canada 4905 Dufferin Street Toronto, Ontario M3H 5T4 (416) 739-5971; Fax: (416) 739-5845 krista.holmes@ec.gc.ca; http://www.cwi-icth.ca

Environment Canada (EC), and specifically the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), is working with other federal departments, provincial natural resource management agencies, and NGO's on developing a National Wetland Inventory Project for Canada. The basis of the partnership to deliver this program is founded on the following principles: The National Wetland Inventory initiative is a two-phase project. Phase-1 is dedicated to the agreement on standards and the field-testing of methodologies in selected areas of the country, and Phase-2 being the expansion of the Phase-1 products to a full national wetland inventory and monitoring program. The National Wetland Inventory is characterized by: w a standardized approach, based on the Canadian Wetland Classification System, coordinated nationally but delivered provincially or regionally; w building on existing multi-agency wetland based partnerships on the national, regional and provincial scale; w inventories meeting minimum national standards; w ensuring national or compatible regional inventories meet operational needs; w being timely, cost effective, and based on proven techniques.

Panel Discussion: Monitoring Procedures in the Great Lakes

Moderator: John Hummer, Great Lakes Commission

Great Lakes coastal wetlands occupy a transitional position between aquatic and terrestrial environments. They provide important habitat for many plant, fish and wildlife species, and perform valuable ecological functions. Over the past two centuries, these fresh water coastal wetlands have been increasingly degraded as a result of human activities. The area occupied by coastal wetlands has decreased substantially, and many have disappeared. There has been growing recognition of their importance to flora, fauna and human society in the Great Lakes basin. At the same time, concerns are mounting over the increasing pressures on nearshore areas, and coastal wetlands in particular. Great Lakes coastal wetlands are unique in ecological character, size and variety and provide many benefits. Even so, few Great Lakes basinwide data are available for assessing their ecological condition. In order to better assess the health of Great Lakes coastal wetlands and nearshore habitat and ecosystems, two large-scale projects have been undertaken in recent years: 1) The Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Consortium (GLCWC) and 2) The Great Lakes Environmental Indicators (GLEI) projects. Other complementary U.S. wetland monitoring and assessment research efforts, such as the U.S. EPA's Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (REMAP) and the Ohio Rapid Assessment Method (ORAM), have taken place in recent years. The Great Lakes Commission, through funding from the U.S. EPA Great Lakes National Program Office, convened the GLCWC to expand the monitoring and reporting capabilities of the U.S. and Canada under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The group consists of scientific and policy experts drawn from key U.S. and Canadian federal agencies, state and provincial agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other interest groups with responsibility for coastal wetlands monitoring. The Consortium's purpose is to design an implementable, long-term program to monitor Great Lakes coastal wetlands. This is being accomplished through the development of indicators to assess the condition of Great Lakes coastal wetlands. The selected indicators were chosen through the State of the Lake Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) process, and some of the results have been published recently. The goal of the U.S. EPA STAR grant-funded GLEI project, administered by the University of Minnesota Natural Resources Research Institute, is to develop an integrated set of environmental indicators that can be used to assess the condition of the coastal margins of all five Great Lakes. Researchers have collected data on habitat, amphibians, fish, birds, invertebrates, vegetation, algae, contaminated sediments, and water quality in coastal wetlands and coastal margins of the U.S. Great Lakes. The GLEI team has completed their data collection and is in the process of publishing their results. This panel session will build on other presentations at the conference leading up to this session. It will begin with a brief overview of the different components of Great Lakes coastal wetlands indicators and why they are needed. Then panelists from the GLCWC, GLEI, and related efforts (i.e. EPA's REMAP and the ORAM projects) will briefly describe their projects and research pertaining to coastal wetland monitoring and assessment in the Great Lakes. Panelists will then discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the various coastal wetland monitoring methods and work toward consensus on the elements of an ideal suite of indicators, considering limitations that may come into play. The session will conclude with an opportunity for the audience to ask questions and a discussion of policy and implementation issues regarding the use of the methods at the state, provincial and tribal levels.

The Challenge of Maintaining Urban Wetlands

Author/Presenter: S. A. Isiorho, Ph.D. Department of Geosciences Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Fort Wayne, IN 46805 isiorho@ipfw.edu

Urban wetlands are still considered a nuisance from developmental and an economic point of view in most places. With more people becoming aware of the ecological and economic benefit of wetland, it is still a challenge to protect and preserve many urban wetlands due to the competing demands of those lands. This paper examines two wetland areas in an urban setting in NE Indiana. More than 70% of the original wetlands in NE Indiana have been lost, due mainly to draining. Several major wetlands (marsh, bogs) in an urban area in NE Indiana are also being threatened, although, they are within a nature preserve. The demise of these wetlands is due to anthropogenic activities around the nature preserve. The wells around the wetlands within the preserve have dropped several feet (50 feet in one well) and the groundwater flow direction has been reversed. The wetlands were discharge areas but are now recharge zones. Also, within a university campus in the same urban area are several wetlands where studies are being conducted to understand the hydrology within these wetlands. The groundwater flow regime in the urban university campus wetlands is very complex where recharge and discharge areas are within a few feet of each other. It is a challenge to maintain urban wetlands as the hydrology for most of the wetlands are not really understood. The good news is that in both areas, students and volunteers are involved in the studies for the preservation and sustainability of these urban wetlands.

The More Things Stay the Same, the More They Change: Future Prospects for the Great Lakes Basin

Author/Presenter: Paul Keddy Edward G. Schlieder Endowed Chair for Environmental Studies Department of Biological Sciences Southeastern Louisiana University SLU 10736 Hammond, LA 70402 (985) 549-5294; Fax: (985) 549-5640 pkeddy@selu.edu

All phenomena are impermanent. The Great Lakes are not, and will never be, static. Humans, however, see a map of the Great Lakes and tend to think of them as a permanent entity with a well-defined shoreline. As but one counter-example, we have now learned that water level fluctuations with a frequency of decades are essential for maintaining shoreline wetlands, and this reality is increasingly accepted for long term planning. These cyclical changes over decades are an essential part of wetland ecology, but they are dwarfed by larger scale events that we must eventually accommodate. These larger scale events, and the challenges they will pose, are my theme today. First, consider the past. Over thousands of years, the lakes have changed greatly. Lake Agassiz once drained into the Great Lakes (carving the Devil's Crater north of Lake Nipigon), the Mississippi River once drained out of the lakes from Lake Chicago, and the Champlain Sea inundated the lower St. Lawrence River Valley. The current distribution of some plants and animals can still be related to these past events. Over the past few hundreds of years, humans have caused significant changes to water quantity and quality. Humans have changed water flows deliberately with dams, reservoirs, canals and locks. Humans have changed water flows unintentionally with deforestation, urbanization, highways, drainage ditches, trapping beavers and killing predators of beavers. Water quality has been changed by deforestation, agriculture, and the appearance of enormous cites that drain waste into the lakes. Now consider the future. The Great Lakes will continue to change at multiple time scales. In the short term (that is decades), human population growth, immigration, urbanization and increased per capita consumption all seem likely to place added demands upon water supplies. In the medium term (that is, centuries), projected changes in global climate seem likely to directly affect precipitation and evapotranspiration within the Great Lakes, as well as indirectly affecting human population distributions in North America. In the long term (that is, millennia), the lakes will change in size and shape -- Niagara Falls, for example, is eroding towards Lake Erie, and the emptying of Lake Erie, like the emptying of Lake Agassiz, seems inevitable. Our challenge is to design and maintain a landscape that is resilient and flexible in the face of such changes. Setting aside uncertainties about the far future, we know that in the short term we must (1) restore water quality, (2) protect remaining wetlands and forests, (3) establish a comprehensive protected areas system, and (4) restore forested corridors along major watercourse leading into the Great Lakes. These will provide a more sustainable landscape while we assess greater uncertainties lying on the horizon. Looking further ahead, we can begin to consciously build systems that will be more resilient in the face of changing climate and changing lake levels. Forested riparian corridors running north-south, for example, could both maintain water quality during drought, and provide corridors for the movement of wildlife with changing climate. Should lake levels fall, the newly-exposed shorelines could provide important new natural areas and wildlife corridors around each lake. Planning for such changes will be difficult - indeed the challenges may seem daunting -- but not so difficult as the alternative -- pretending that change will not occur and trying to build inflexible systems in a changing world.

Afforestation of Bottomland Hardwood Forests in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Author/Presenter: Bobby D. Keeland USGS, National Wetlands Research Center 700 Cajundome Boulevard Lafayette, LA 70506-3152 (337) 266-8663 bob_keeland@usgs.gov

Bottomland hardwood forests once covered 10 million ha of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Prior to 1985, land clearing converted about 80 percent of the area to agriculture, with most of the losses occurring in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Many of the functions and values (e.g., fish and wildlife habitat, water quality improvement, flood storage, etc.) of this vast wetland complex were significantly reduced. Land managers from several state and federal agencies throughout the valley recognized the need to restore bottomland forests and began many trial-and-error plantings. Concurrently, researchers from the US Forest Service's Southern Hardwoods Laboratory were conducting studies on regeneration and management of bottomland hardwood forests. More recently, with realization of the importance of wetlands, several federal programs have begun an ambitious effort to replant up to 280,000 ha. The majority of that land will be planted through the work of the Wetland Reserve Program of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. A key element in the southern experience of bottomland hardwood afforestation was the development of species-site relationships in the midsouth. The species-site concept stresses that individual tree species have developed over centuries and grow best on specific soil types. Successful plantings will match species to the appropriate soil types and hydrologic regimes while mis-matches often result in failures. In addition, several guides to successful re-establishment of bottomland hardwood forests in the Lower Mississippi Valley have been developed. These guides are based on the experience of land managers, evaluations of the survival and growth of planted seedlings, and the levels of natural invasion by additional woody species. Currently, a Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture Forest Working Group has been organized with members from several state and federal agencies in addition to private industry representatives to evaluate and refine recommendations for afforestation projects.

Threats, Current Status and Biodiversity of Internationally Important Wetlands of Pakistan

Authors/Presenter*: Muhammad Zaheer Khan* Department of Zoology (Wildlife & Fisheries) University of Karachi Karachi-75270 zaheerk2k@yahoo.com and Syed Ali Ghalib Zoological Survey Department Karachi

Pakistan is located between latitude of 23o 35' to 37o 05' north and extends from longitude 60o 50' to 77o 50' east covering an area of 796096 sq km. Pakistan is the 7th largest country in Asia. It is bordered by Afghanistan, China, Iran and India. The Indus River, which is the major source of freshwater. Pakistan has variety of natural and manmade wetlands. Presently 19 sites have been designated as Ramsar Sites, with a surface area of 1,343,627 hectares. The globally endangered warbler Prinia burnesii and endangered Indus dolphin has been recorded at the Chashma Barrage. Haleji Lake is a good sanctuary of waterfowls and provides a good yield of economically important fishes and breeding area for water birds, in particular Ardeidae, Nett! apus coromandelianus, Anas poecilorhyncha, Porphyrio porphyrio and Hydrophasianus chirurgus. Thousands of night-herons Nycticorax nycticorax roost in the marshes. This wetland is a bird watcher's paradise. As many as 222 different birds species have been recorded within the immediate environs of this Lake. Haleji Lake also is a wintering site for the globally threatened pelican Pelecanus crispus, this wetland regularly hosts between 50,000 and 100,000 birds. The Indus Dolphin Reserve is a important wetland for the survival of more than 900 remaining individuals of the Indus dolphin Platanista minor, this unique species is endemic to Pakistan and listed on Appendix I of CITES and the IUCN Red List 2004. Kinjhar or Kalri Lake is extremely important for a wide variety of breeding, passage and wintering water birds. The mid-winter water bird counts of averaged 140,000 birds per winter. The area is also important for raptors like Circus aeruginosus, and there is a rich fish fauna. Drigh Lake is a small, slightly brackish semi-natural wetland supporting rich and diverse aquatic vegetation and regularly supports nearly 20,000 water birds in winter. Indus Delta is the 5th largest delta in the world, the fan-shaped delta consists of creeks, estuaries, mud, sand, salt flats, mangrove habitat, marshes, sea bays, and straits and rocky shores. Its 129,000 ha. of mangrove, mostly Avicenna marina comprises 97% of the total mangrove area. A large number birds (including the threatened Dalmatian pelican), fish, shrimps, and reptiles species are supported. Deh Akro-II Desert Wetland Complex is a unique complex of four major habitats, desert, wetland, marsh, and agricultural, representing an example of a natural inland wetland ecosystem comprising 36 lakes. The complex plays host to a considerable number of fauna that are (e.g., Desert cat Felis libyca, Darter Anhinga melanogaster pennant, Garganey Anas querquedula, Black Ibis Pseudibis papillosa) and endangered (e.g., Marsh crocodile crocodylus palustris, Hog deer Axis porcinus, White-eyed pochard Anthya nyroca), and it supports many indigenous fish species. Some other Ramsar site has other variety of biodiversity including flora.

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