New Jersey’s Wetlands
Kathleen Strakosch Walz [email protected]
NJDEP, State Forestry Service, Office of Natural Lands
Management, Natural Heritage Program
May 19, 2016
New Jersey Water Monitoring Council Meeting
Stony Brook – Millstone Watershed Association
1. New Jersey Wetland Program Plan
2. Wetland Ecology Basics o Wetland Classification
o Wetland Diversity in New Jersey
o Ecosystem Services & Wetland Functions
3. Types of Wetland Assessments o Condition vs Functional Assessments
4. Monitoring & Assessment o EPA 3-tier approach
o Reference Standard & Reference Gradient
o Tools for Restoration & Mitigation
5. Data Management o Storing and Serving Wetland Data via Databases
6. Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Work Groups
OFFICE OF SCIENCE
WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Water Supply and GeoScience
Water Monitoring and Standards
Bureau of Environmental Analysis, Restoration and Standards
Bureau of Freshwater & Biological Monitoring
Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring
LAND USE MANAGEMENT
Division of Land Use Regulation
Office of Policy Implementation
Office of Coastal and Land Use Planning
NATURAL AND HISTORIC RESOURCES
Green Acres
State Land Acquisition Bureau
Office of Natural Resources Restoration
Historic Preservation Office
State Parks
State Forestry Services
Office of Natural Lands Management
Bureau of Forest Management
Bureau of Forest Fire Management
Forestry Regulation and Policy
Division of Fish and Wildlife
Endangered &Non-Game Species Program
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Wildlife Management
Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries
Bureau of Marine Fisheries
Bureau of Shellfisheries
Mosquito Control
SITE REMEDIATION PROGRAM
Bureau of Environmental Evaluation and Risk Assessment
1. New Jersey Wetland Program Plan
Monitoring & Assessment
Voluntary Restoration and Protection & Improved Coastal Shoreline Resiliency
Regulation
Public
Outreach
and
Education
NJ WPP 5 CORE ELEMENTS
Water Quality
Standards for
Wetlands
What is a Wetland Program Plan? A state or regional (e.g. Hackensack Meadowlands) guidance
document that outlines GOALS and ACTIONS
over a 3-6 year period, with a schedule for carrying out the
actions and achieving the goals.
NJ WPP Overall Goal: “Improving and protecting the significant ecosystem services
and functions provided by wetlands including flood control,
shoreline stabilization, coastal storm surge protection, water
purification, nutrient cycling, sediment retention, provision of
habitat for plants and wildlife, reservoirs of biological
diversity supporting food webs, as well as providing
meaningful recreation, sustainable economic benefits from
tourism, and excellent opportunities for environmental
education.”
2. Wetland Ecology Basics
USFWS Cowardin (1979) Ecological Definition:
Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems
where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is
covered by shallow water. Wetlands must have one or more of the
following three attributes:
• At least periodically, the land supports predominantly
hydrophytes (wetland vegetation)
• The substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil
(wetland soil)
• The substrate is non-soil and is saturated with water
or covered with shallow water at some point during
the growing season of each year (wetland hydrology)
Wetland Classification (Vegetation)
• Land Use Land Cover Classification LULC(Anderson 1976)
– CATEGORIES (Level I): Urban or Built-Up Land, Agricultural Land,
Rangeland, Forest Land, Water, Wetland, Barren Land, Tundra,
Perennial Snow or Ice
• Level II (& III) Categories: Saline Marshes (High Marsh)
• National Wetland Classification NWI (Cowardin 1979)
– CLASS: Marine, Estuarine, Riverine, Palustrine, Aquatic
– TYPE: Forested, Scrub-Shrub, Emergent, Aquatic Bed
• E2EM = Estuarine Intertidal Emergent Wetland (plus hydrology modifiers)
• National Vegetation Classification System NVC (ESA 2016)
– Detailed Floristic Hierarchy of Class, Subclass, Formation, Division,
Macrogroup, Group, Alliance, Association
• SALT MARSH Formation
• Saltmeadow Cordgrass - Saltgrass - (Black-grass) Herbaceous Vegetation
Wetland Classification (Hydrogeomorphic)
• HydroGeoMorphic Classification (HGM) (Brinson 1993 and
Smith et al 1995)
– CLASS: Riverine, Depression, Slope, Mineral Soil Flats, Organic Soil
Flats, Estuarine Fringe, Lacustrine Fringe
– REGIONAL SUBCLASS: Tidal Fringe (Euhaline)
• Mid-Atlantic Hydrogeomorphic Classification (Mid-A HGM)
(Brooks et al 2011)
– CLASS: Riverine, Depression, Slope, Mineral Soil Flats, Organic Soil
Flats, Estuarine Fringe, Lacustrine Fringe
– SUBCLASS: Estuarine lunar intertidal
Wetland Classification Crosswalk Table*
Vegetation Classification
Hydrogeomorphic Classification (HGM)
RIVERINE DEPRESSION SLOPE1 MINERAL
SOIL
FLATS
ORGANIC
SOIL
FLATS
ESTUARINE
FRINGE2 LACUSTRINE
FRINGE
NVC Formation4
NWI Class
Palustrine:
Riverine Palustrine Palustrine Palustrine Palustrine Estuarine:
Intertidal;
Riverine
Lacustrine:
Littoral
FLOODED &
SWAMP FOREST
(Tropical,
Temperate, Boreal)
Forested
(FO)
PFO PFO PFO PFO PFO E2FO PFO
MANGROVE - - - - - E2FO - FRESHWATER
MARSH, WET
MEADOW &
SHRUBLAND
(Tropical,
Temperate, Boreal)
Scrub-Shrub
(SS) PSS PSS PSS PSS PSS R1SS PSS
Emergent
(EM) PEM PEM PEM PEM PEM R1EM PEM
SALT MARSH
Scrub-Shrub
(SS) - - - - E2SS -
Emergent
(EM) - PEM3 - - - E2EM -
BOG & FEN
(Tropical,
Temperate, Boreal)
Moss-Lichen
(ML) - PML, PEM,
PSS PML, PEM,
PSS - PML, PEM,
PSS - -
AQUATIC
VEGETATION
(Freshwater,
Saltwater)
Aquatic Bed
(AB) R1AB PAB - - - E2AB L2AB
* NVC = National Vegetation Classification (FGDC 2008, Faber-Langendoen et al. 2009, Jennings et al. 2009) * NWI = National Wetland Inventory (Cowardin et al. 1979)
* HGM = Hydrogeomorphic Classification (Smith et al. 1995, NRCS 2008) 1Includes groundwater slope/riverine or "sliverine" wetlands (e.g., streamside fens/savannas) and freshwater wetlands on the coast with some tidal influence (e.g., sea level fens)
2Includes salt, brackish, oligohaline, and freshwater tidal wetlands
3Inland haline marsh
4 NWI - NVC classification crosswalk details may differ with respect to strata (e.g., NWI tree cover cutoff for PFO is 30% whereas NVC tree cover is 10%; NWI treats sapling stages as Scrub-Shrub whereas in NVC they are treated as part of the Flooded & Swamp Forest)
Wetland Diversity in New Jersey
Glacial Bog (PSS, Depressional, Precipitation)
Calcareous Fen (PSS/PEM, Slope, Groundwater)
Floodplain Forest (PFO, Riverine, Surface water)
Coastal Salt Marsh (E2EM, Estuarine, Tidal)
Wetland Ecosystem Services Link between the biological functions and the social value of
wetlands, often reported in terms of economic worth
Wetland Ecosystem Services (Ramsar International Wetland Conservation Treaty) include:
1. Flood control (floodplain water storage/flood attenuation)
2. Groundwater replenishment (marsh, swamp, fen – recharge/discharge)
3. Shoreline stabilization & storm protection (mangrove, salt marsh buffer)
4. Sediment & nutrient retention and export (riparian & coastal)
5. Water purification (“nature’s kidneys” filtering nutrients, pollutants)
6. Reservoirs of biodiversity (“nature’s supermarket” supporting food
chains; “nature’s birdbaths” attracting wildlife, rare plant habitat)
7. Wetland products (food, peat, fuel, textiles)
8. Cultural values (art, aesthetics)
9. Recreation and tourism (ecotourism)
10.Climate change mitigation and adaptation (carbon sequestration, sea
level rise migration of coastal marshes)
Wetland Functions (Tiner, 2005) Processes or series of processes that take place in a wetland that
relate to water quality, hydrology, and habitat
1. Surface-water detention
2. Coastal storm surge detention
3. Streamflow maintenance
4. Nutrient transformation
5. Sediment and particulate retention
6. Shoreline stabilization
7. Provision of fish and shellfish habitat
8. Provision of waterfowl and waterbird habitat
9. Provision of other wildlife habitat
10. Conservation of biodiversity (rare or imperiled wetland habitats and
associated species in the local region with regional significant for
biodiversity)
Wetland Condition Quality of a wetland, ranked from excellent to poor,
based on measures of biological and abiotic factors
1. Landscape Context
2. Vegetation Composition & Structure
3. Soils
4. Hydrology
5. Surface Water Chemistry
6. Other biota (e.g. Algae/Diatoms, Fauna)
7. Stressors (Assessment Area & Buffer)
Wetland Services, Functions & Condition
• Wetland Ecosystem Services: link between the biological
functions and the social value of wetlands, often reported in
terms of economic worth.
• Wetland Functions: processes or series of processes that
take place in a wetland, correlated to ecological significance
and condition
• Wetland Condition: quality of vegetation (composition and
structure), soils, hydrology, and presence/absence of stressors.
Condition affects the functional capacity of wetlands.
What type of assessment is appropriate?
3. Types of Wetland Assessments
• Wetland Functional Assessment – Evaluate changes in wetland function over time (historical vs current)
– Landscape or Watershed scale assessments of wetland function (HGM)
• Wetland Condition Assessment – Evaluation of wetland condition by type
– All wetlands in a watershed, state, or region
• Combination of Wetland Function & Condition
Assessment – Landscape level approach in combination with local site-specific field
evaluation e.g. NovaWET (Nova Scotia Wetland Assessment)
– Useful in applying to specific projects for information related to
wetland mitigation, restoration, regulation, protection
EPA’s “Three-Tier Framework” for
Wetland Monitoring and Assessment
Tier I/Level I: Landscape (Broad Scale - Remote Sensing - GIS)
Tier II/Level 2: Rapid Assessment Method (Field RAM)
Tier III/Level 3: Intensive Biological & Physical-Chemical Survey Vegetation
Soils
Hydrology
Water Quality
Algae or Other Biota
Stressors
Tier IV/Level 4: Intensive Fixed Wetland Monitoring Stations
Level 1 Assessment –
Landscape Level GIS
Level 2 Assessment –
Rapid Field Method (RAM)
• CRAM (California)
• ORAM (Ohio)
• EIA (NatureServe’s Ecological
Integrity Assessment)
Level 3 Assessment (NARS - NWCA) (Source: EPA NWCA Field Operations Manual)
AA 40m (0.5ha) + BUFFER 100m =
140m radius (20ha)
VEG 5 separate 10m x 10m
plots
10 nested plots
7 veg strata classes
unvegetated surface
SOILS soil pit
Soil drainage
Soil texture
Matrix / Mottle Soil
Hue/Chroma
Redoximorphic Features
Soil Chemistry (C,N,P)
Soil Bulk Density
WQ Surface Water Chemistry
Chl-a
HYDRO Cowardin hydrologic
regime
Evidence of flooding
Water source
Standing water depth
Groundwater depth
BUFFER Presence and
amount of
cover of
natural
vegetation
Residential and
urban
indicators
Hydrology
stressors
Agricultural and
rural
stressors
Industrial
development
stressors
Habitat/vegetation
stressors
Targeted alien
vegetation
species
Examples of Stressor Information Collected in
L2 and L3 Wetland Assessments
Hydrology alterations due to
Open Marsh Water
Management (OMWM) Non-native Invasive species
(Phragmites australis)
Eutrophication and algal mats
OMWM ponds
and ditches
Level 4 Intensive Fixed Wetland
Monitoring Stations
Barnegat Bay Partnership, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary,
Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, NJDEP
Example: Surface Elevation Table (SET) used to monitor
sediment accretion on tidal marshes over time (and subsidence in
response to sea level rise).
Drexel Scientist Studies Hurricane Sandy Impact on NJ Coastal Wetlands One Year Later
Wetland Reference Sites
Reference Standard = minimally impacted, high
quality sites (A or excellent condition/function)
Reference Gradient = a network of sites across a
condition gradient presenting Excellent to Poor (A-C)
condition (e.g. IBI)
“Once established, data from reference wetlands can be used
to set the standard by which mitigation and management (e.g.
restoration, creation, or enhancement) projects can be
designed and evaluated. These benchmarks can also represent
the starting point in time for trend analyses.” (Brooks et al.
2016, National Wetland Newsletter)
Reference Networks as Tools for
Wetland Restoration & Mitigation
“The time has come for science to busy
itself with the earth itself. The first step is to
reconstruct a sample of what we had to
begin with.” Aldo Leopold (1934)
5. Data Management
Databases for Storing and Serving
Wetland Monitoring Data • Storet/WQDE
• Riparia (Penn State)
• EcoObs (NatureServe’s Ecological Integrity
Assessment Database)
• VegBank (National Vegetation Plot Database)
• Floristic Quality Assessment Database (FQA)
6. National and Regional Wetland
Monitoring Groups
EPA National Wetland Monitoring and Assessment
Work Group (NWMAWG)
New England Biological Assessment of Wetlands
Workgroup (NEBAWWG)
Mid-Atlantic Wetland Monitoring Work Group
(MAWWG)
Mid-Atlantic Coastal Wetland Assessment
(MACWA)
Collaboration ~ Monitoring ~ Assessment
• DEP Water Monitoring & Standards
– Bureau of Freshwater & Biological Monitoring (BFBM)
– Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring (BMWM)
• DEP NJGWS, DSREH, OCLUP, etc.
• EPA Mid-Atlantic Wetland Assessment Workgroups (MAWWG and MACWA)
• Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP)
• Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE)
• Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI)
• USFWS Forsythe, Cape May, Great Swamp, Wallkill Refuges
• Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
• Rutgers University, Montclair State University, Ramapo College
• NJ Water Monitoring Council
Thank you! Questions? [email protected]