Wetlands and Resiliency: What Do We Have to Lose?...lower 48 state, they are home to 31% of plant...

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Laura Heady, NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University Millbrook, NY 16 June 2014

Wetlands and Resiliency: What Do We Have to Lose?


How many of you think wetlands are important?

How many of you feel confident about how to conserve and protect wetlands?


Hudson River Estuary Program

Core Mission

• Ensure clean water

• Protect and restore fish, wildlife, and their habitats

• Provide water recreation and river access

• Adapt to climate change

• Conserve world-famous scenery Photo by L. Heady


• What is a Wetland?

• Value and Function of Wetlands

• Threats to Wetlands

• Wetland Conservation

Presentation Outline


What is a wetland?


“Wetlands are areas saturated by surface or ground water sufficient to support

distinctive vegetation adapted for life in saturated soil conditions.”

http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/305.html


Wetlands are identified by three main components:

1.) hydrology: indicators of water (inundation or saturation)

2.) hydric soils: soils with indicators of prolonged saturation

3.) hydrophytic vegetation: vegetation that is adapted to wet conditions


No two wetlands are alike!

The diversity of freshwater, non-tidal wetlands in the Hudson Valley includes:

Photo by L. Heady

wet meadow wet clay meadow

fen emergent marsh

vernal pool bog

floodplain forest hardwood swamp

shrub swamp springs and seeps

NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Photo by L. Heady

salt marsh estuarine rocky shore tidal tributary mouth

brackish meadow brackish tidal marsh

freshwater tidal swamp freshwater intertidal mudflats

supratidal pool

The diversity of tidal wetlands in the Hudson River estuary includes:


wet meadow


emergent marsh


hardwood swamp


woodland pool


Value and Function of Wetlands

Photo by L. Heady


Wetlands are hydrologically connected to the surrounding landscape through surface water and groundwater.

www.geoscape.nrcan.gc.ca


Value and Function of Wetlands

clean water flood control

erosion control groundwater

recharge pollution reduction

wildlife habitat recreation

etc.

Photo by L. Heady


USFWS estimates that up to 43% of threatened and endangered species rely directly or indirectly on wetlands for their survival.

Although wetlands cover only around 5% of the land in the lower 48 state, they are home to 31% of plant species.

Approximately one-half of all North American bird species nest or feed in wetlands.

(EPA, USFWS)

Photo by L. Heady

Habitat


Outdoor enthusiasts enjoy hunting, fishing, bird watching, and recreating in streams and wetlands.

Such wildlife-related recreation can be an important economic driver. For example, in the U.S., about 33 million anglers spend $41.8 billion annually on trips, equipment, licenses, and other items to support their fishing activities. (USFWS 2012)

Photo by L. Heady

Recreation

Photo by L. Heady


Clean Water

We all need clean water to survive!

Wetlands purify our water and can:

• remove 20 to 60% of metals

• trap and retain 80 to 90% of sediment from runoff

• eliminate 70 to 90% of entering nitrogen.

For more information: http://esa.org/ecoservices/wate/body.wate.fact.html

Photo by L. Heady

http://esa.org/ecoservices/wate/body.wate.fact.html


Example of how wetlands can be used to purify water:

The West Brook Conservation Initiative is restoring lost wetlands to filter stormwater from a commercial zone before it enters a popular swimming area in Lake George.

Clean Water


Some wetlands help maintain water table levels by recharging ground-water. This is especially important for communities that rely on drinking water wells.

Groundwater Recharge/Discharge

Some streams and wetlands discharge groundwater, thus providing a continuous flow of source water to surface waters.


Wetlands can slow down and absorb significant amounts of rainwater, runoff, and snowmelt before flooding. This can prevent or reduce flooding downstream.

A single acre of wetland can store

1-1.5 million gallons of floodwater!

(United States EPA)

Photo by L. Heady

Flood Control


Cumulative loss of small wetlands may have profound regional impacts; a single ¼ acre wetland may not seem a significant loss, but a thousand such losses may be a very different story, e.g., increased offsite flooding. (Leibowitz 2003, Plocher et al. 2003)

Photo by L. Zucker

Flood Control


The Army Corps of Engineers studied the costs of losing all wetlands in the Charles River watershed in Massachusetts, and estimated it would cost $17 million a year in flood damages. The Corps concluded that conserving wetlands was a natural, less expensive solution to control flooding.

Example of how wetlands can be used to manage floodwater:

Flood Control


“In many instances, it is less expensive for a community to maintain open space that naturally maintains water quality, reduces runoff, or controls flooding than to use tax dollars for costly engineered infrastructure projects such as water filtration plants and storm sewers.”

These functions add up to economic benefits!


Otter Creek Video

http://youtu.be/ucb-Y8iipng





What are threats to wetlands?

Photo by L. Heady Photo by L. Heady


Wetland Degradation

hydrologic alterations (fill, drainage, etc.)

pollutants (leaky landfills, runoff, etc.)

inadequate buffers

invasive species

Photo by L. Heady


Effective Buffer Distances for

Water Quality and Habitat

ELI, 2008


~ 22,000 acres were lost, primarily due to development and agriculture.

~ 37,000 acres were gained, primarily from abandoned agricultural land reverting back to wetland

• New York has an estimated 2.5 million acres of freshwater wetlands and 25,000 acres of tidal wetlands

• Between 1985 and 1995, NY had a net gain of approximately 15,000 acres of freshwater wetlands

Wetland Loss

~ 22,000 acres were lost, primarily due to development and agriculture. Net losses occurred in the Hudson Valley. (Huffman & Associates 1999)


Hudson Valley population grew 8-9% between 1982-1997.

Urban land cover increased 29%.

Source: Environmental Advocates of New York

Poorly-planned development can impact wetland function.


Wetland Conservation


For the most part, New York State

protects “larger” wetlands (≥12.4 acres)

with 100-foot adjacent area.

Photo by L. Heady

What wetlands are protected in New York?

For the most part, Federal jurisdiction protects

wetlands connected to permanent waterways,

but leaves many “isolated” wetlands unprotected.

Wetlands can also be protected

through municipal efforts.


“Development in urban and rural areas now is the cause of more than 60% of national wetland loss. Several national assessments have noted deficiencies in current federal and state regulatory programs…These regulatory gaps can best be closed by increased local management and regulation of wetlands.”

Center for Watershed Protection:


From the NYSDEC website:

“The science of wetlands…has matured in the past 20 years. The old perception that all wetlands are marshy and have open water has been placed in a new context. We now know that only about 14% of our wetlands fit this cattail-marsh-with-a-duck image. Most of our wetlands are shrub or forested swamps, and many lie along rivers and streams in the floodplain riparian zone. In the past, many of these critical wetlands were missed in the mapping process.”


What can your community do?

• Enroll in trainings to gain knowledge about wetlands.

• Educate residents about the diversity and value of wetlands (e.g., signs, news articles, public programs, field trips).

• Pursue stewardship projects to maintain and improve wetlands and floodplains (e.g., Trees for Tribs stream buffer plantings).

Photo by L. Federman


• Designate Critical Environmental Areas to enhance

recognition and conservation of the community’s vulnerable wetlands.

• Ensure that small unregulated wetlands, along with larger wetlands, are considered early during the planning review process and conserved to the greatest extent possible.

Photo by L. Heady



• Map wetlands and streams as part of a municipal natural resource inventory.

• Identify and prioritize high-quality wetlands, wetland complexes, and stream corridors as part of a municipal open space inventory.

Photo by L. Heady

Photo by G. Stevens



• Include wetland and stream

protection in subdivision regulations.

• Develop conservation overlay

zones and floating zones with

added protection.

• Recommend voluntary wetland

protection to land use applicants.

• Partner with local land trusts

to conserve priority wetlands.

• Consider local protection ordinances.

Photo by L. Heady



Take Home Messages

1.) There are a variety of wetland types in the region.

2.) Wetlands have tremendous value and provide important services that support human and natural communities – such as flood control.

3.) Many wetlands are not protected by State and Federal regulations.

4.) Local communities have opportunities to conserve vulnerable wetlands and the services and economic benefits they provide to residents.


Laura Heady

Biodiversity Outreach Coordinator

Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell University

NYS DEC 21 South Putt Corners Road

New Paltz, NY 12561-1696

845-256-3061

[email protected]

www.dec.ny.gov/lands/4920.html

Wetlands and Resiliency: What Do We Have to Lose?...lower 48 state, they are home to 31% of plant...

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