Testing A Wetlands Mitigation Rapid Assessment Tool At Mitigation And Reference Wetlands Within A New Jersey Watershed

Wetland and Stream Rapid Assessments: Development, Validation, and Application describes the scientific and environmental policy background for rapid wetland and stream assessments, how such assessment methods are developed and statistically verified, and how they can be used in environmental decision-making—including wetland and stream permitting. In addition, it provides several case studies of method development and use in various parts of the world. Readers will find guidance on developing and testing such methods, along with examples of how these methods have been used in various programs across North America. Rapid wetland and stream functional assessments are becoming frequently used methods in federal, state and local environmental permitting programs in North America. Many governments are interested in developing new methods or improving existing methods for their own jurisdictions. This book provides an ideal guide to these initiatives. Offers guidance for the use and evaluation of rapid assessments to developers and users of these methods, as well as students of wetland and stream quality Contains contributions from sources who are successful in academia, industry and government, bringing credibility and relevance to the content Includes a statistically-based approach to testing the validity of the rapid method, which is very important to the usefulness and defensibility of assessment methods

Wetlands and streams provide significant ecological and societal services. Accurate mapping of their locations is necessary for ODOT to plan for avoidance or mitigation efforts and costs. The National Wetland Inventory (NWI) provides the best nationwide spatial database of wetlands, but the database has not been updated for up to four decades and misses many smaller, vegetated wetlands. To address these problems, we developed a method for identifying wetlands and stream channels from publicly accessible data including aerial images and lidar point clouds. We applied both image classification and terrain analysis to identify potential wetlands and streams in five test watersheds across Ohio. Overall accuracy of the method ranged from 64.5% to 85.6% when compared to known points and decreased with increasing watershed size. With an overlay of project data, we identified potential ODOT projects over the next four fiscal years that could impact nearby streams or wetlands.

"One objective is to develop a wetland mitigation site inventory, while the other is to investigate the feasibility of creating a "wetland bank.""--Leaf i.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.