Swamp Things: Notes From US EPA's Wetlands Division, Volume 2, Number 5, September 1997


&EPA
U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
Office of Wetlands, Oceans
and Watersheds (OWOW)
Volume 2, Number 5
September, 1997
             SWAMP     THINGS
            ^••••••••^•^^^•••••••••^^^•••••^^^^•^^^^^^^^^^•^^^••••^^•^^^^^^^•••••••••^••^^^••^^•^^••••^^^^•^^••^••••••••••••I^H
                      NOTES FROM U.S. ERA'S WETLANDS DIVISION (WD)
   Viewpoint Communities Restoring Wetlands

     Over half of the wetlands in the contiguous
   48 states had been lost before we more fully
   understood their environmental and economic
   importance. Some regions have experienced
   very high rates of loss, and restoration of
   wetlands is essential to bring back healthy
   functioning aquatic ecosysyems. Since the late
   1980's the nation's goals for wetlands have
   included an increase in the quality and
   quantity of wetlands.

     There is an ever-growing number of
   organizations involved in restoring wetlands
   and river corridors.  These efforts range from
   large programs like the Department of
   Agriculture's Wetlands and Conservation
   Reserve programs,, which involve hundreds of
   thousands of acres, to local scale projects as
   small as a few acres.

     As part of our wetlands program, EPA seeks
   to contribute to the national agenda to restore
   wetlands. One of the ways in which we are
   involved is by supporting community-based
   restoration programs and projects.  EPA has
   been working with States, Tribes and local
   governments to organize programs to protect
   our waters on a watershed basis, involving
   communities in identifying the most significant
   Environmental problems in their waters and
   devising ways to address them. The
   watershed approach provides the opportunity
   to identify the kind of restoration that will  heal
   Impaired waters, priority sites for restoration
   projects, and the programs that are needed to
   achieve restoration goals.

             See Viewpoint, Page 2
                     FOCUS ON:
                     September 24-25 State/ Federal Workshop

                        The Association of Wetland Managers and EPA are
                     hosting a workshop for state and federal wetlands program
                     staff called Reducing Duplication and Improving Cooperation
                     on September 24 and 25, 1997 in Springfield, Virginia.
                     Immediately before the workshop on Tuesday, September
                     23 is a one-day forum on Restoration of River Corridors
                     and Wetlands. While the September 24-25 Workshop is
                     designed only for state and federal program staff, the
                     restoration forum is intended to also include those
                     representing tribes, non-profits, local governments, and
                     foundations.

                        The objectives of the Reducing Duplication and Improving
                     Coordination workshop are to share information on
                     initiatives that improve the way federal and state agencies
                     work together, to examine what is working and what  is not,
                     to identify problems and impediments, and to suggest
                     productive future directions. As state agencies continue to
                     play a more active role in wetlands regulation, the working
                     relationship among federal and state agencies becomes
                     ever more important. When state and federal agencies
                     work together smoothly and effectively,, our wetlands are
                     protected better and the American public is well-served.
                     The workshop will include panel discussions with state
                     representatives describing approaches they are using in
                     their relationships with federal agency partners. These
                     panels will discuss mechanisms being used to coordinate
                     Section 401 programs, coastal zone consistency reviews,
                     federal and  state Section 404 permitting, wetland
                     assessment, mitigation/compensation  requirements,
                     mitigation banking, and wetlands/watershed management.
                     Other topics to be addressed  include Congressional action
                     on wetlands, the wetlands provisions of the Farm Bill, use
                     of the Clean Water Act State Revolving  Fund for wetlands,
                                  Continued on Page 2, Focus. On
                                                 Meeting Report: The Biological Assessment of
                                                 Wetlands Working Group - See Page 8

-------
Focus On, from page 1
improving public outreach, technology
transfer, and cooperative public/private sector
approaches.

The September 24 and 25 workshop is
scheduled when EPA's Regional wetlands
program staff are in Springfield for a national
meeting. In 1996 EPA for the first time invited
State participation in our annual National
Wetlands Meeting. This turned out to be a very
successful innovation, which led to the
decision to schedule more joint state and
federal sessions in this year's agenda. With
nationwide participation, federal and state staff
have the opportunity to discuss new
approaches, successes, and lessons learned in
areas other than the EPA Region in which they
are located.

The forum on restoration of river corridors
and wetlands on Tuesday, September 23, is
intended to broaden and strengthen
relationships among restoration partners.
Over the course of the past year, EPA has
become increasingly aware of restoration
successes that involve multiple cooperating
partners. To help EPA develop our program for
restoration, we have hosted over the past year
a series of meetings with presentations at each
by three or four organizations involved in
restoration. There is lot of interest among
these organizations in learning about each
others' programs for restoration, and the kinds
of projects in which they are engaged.

To help make connections for restoration,
EPA has developed a restoration handbook
with information about partnership
organizations, and has developed a restoration
web site, which will be operational in
September. The September 23 Forum will also
help build the restoration network, with panels
on building a diverse partnership, large
landscape-scale restoration efforts, and small
community-based projects. It will also elicit
suggestions from participants on how to
advance a restoration agenda in the U.S. An
agenda for the restoration forum with an EPA
contact and phone number is on pages 11 and
12. State and federal agency staff interested
in attending the workshop on Reducing
Duplication and Improving Coordination should
contact the Association of State Wetland
Managers at 518-872-1804.
•M'3g^'H;a^^ffiiffipi%ffi^^
Viewpoint, from page 1
EPA is most interested in building partnerships for
restoration (see "Focus On" article on the September 23
Restoration Workshop). This year EPA has helped a number of
restoration partnership projects by providing financial
assistance when the partners had secured some funding but
were short of that necessary to make the project happen. Some
examples of EPA's involvement with funding from this fiscal
year are:

=f) With the State of New Jersey and the New Jersey
Audubon Society, initiating a Backyard Sanctuary
Program to provide habitat for migratory birds at a
critical point on the Eastern Flyway.

=^ EPA and the National Association of Counties provided
funding to create three wetlands and to establish a
watershed monitoring program in Erie County, New
York. Others involved in the project are the local
government, the Buffalo and Erie County Private
Industry Council, a disadvantaged youth organization,
and a volunteer service organization (Americorps).

=£> With EPA support, the city of Grand Junction
Colorado, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and an
organization called the Wetlands Initiative Focus
Group are restoring Colorado River backwater
spawning habitat for several species of endangered
fish.

From these and over twenty other projects in which EPA
has participated this year, we are learning more about the
ways that public agencies, private interests, and non-profit
groups are cooperating in communities and watersheds to
restore wetlands and river corridors. There is a powerful
interest in such restoration projects; EPA received over $50
million in grant applications this year. Because EPA is in a
position to fund only a small fraction of these requests, we
hope to provide a secvice by helping potential partners for
restoration to find others who are willing to pool resources in
partnership projects. The tools we will use for this are a new
restoration web site, to be opened this month, a restoration
handbook with information on partnership organizations, and
workshops for sharing information.

Restoration partnerships bring challenge and promise.
A major challenge is working across organizations that have
differing missions, expertise and ways of doing business. The
promise is that by working together at the community level we
can focus on wetlands and rivers, and their values to the
people who live nearby, which makes it possible to accomplish
far more restoration than we ever could working on our own.

-John Meagher, Director of the Wetlands Division
e-mail: meagher.john@epamail.epa.gov

-------
     ACTIVITIES UPDATE

Note: A contact is listed after each
item in this section, in a format
that provides e-mail addresses by
adding the following to the names
as listed: @epamail.epa.gov.  For
example, the e-mail for the contact
for the first item is:
witten. matthew@epamail. epa.gov

  STATE/TRIBAL ACTIVITIES

Tribal Outreach. On Friday,
August 8, three  representatives
of the Taos Pueblo Indians met
with Wetlands Division (WD)
staff to discuss watershed and
wetlands management on  their
reservation near Taos, New
Mexico. The Taos Pueblo have
been conducting water quality
monitoring of their wetlands and
streams through benthic
samples using volunteers  as
well as staff. They also train
members of other tribes in the
region, and plan to partner with
nearby laboratories and
universities (as well as other
federal agencies) to disseminate
information to other tribes and
communities regarding the use
of biocriteria in  water quality
and wetlands assessments.  The
wetland areas on the reservation
are of cultural as well as
ecological significance to the
Taos Pueblo, with many of the
indigenous plants serving  as the
basis of traditional rituals.
(witten. matthew)
     FEDERAL ACTIVITIES

1998 Update for the North
American Waterfowl
Management Plan (NAWMP).
On July 2, Ken Williams,
Committee Co-Chair of the
NAWMP Plan Committee,
briefed WD staff on Phase II of
the 1998 Update. Phase II
contains a proposed framework
and strategy for the next 15
years.  The focus of the
framework is on science-based
waterfowl conservation, building
and maintaining partnerships,
and flexibility in Plan
implementation.  The strategy
recognizes the maintenance and
sustained use of habitats by
waterfowl to ensure long-term
conservation.  On July 22, EPA
submitted recommendations
which support the framework's
objectives, including placing an
emphasis on the chemical and
physical, in addition to the
biological, components of
science-based waterfowl
conservation, and incorporating
monitoring and assessment into
the framework to improve the
delivery of waterfowl
conservation.  The  Plan
Committee will convene in
August to receive the
recommendations, set
directions, and begin drafting
the 1998 North American
Waterfowl Management Plan.
(wesley.marjorie)

Meeting on Agricultural
Mitigation Program. On July 1,
we met with representatives
from the Agricultural
Conservation Innovation Center
(ACIC) to discuss a conceptual
proposal to establish a low-cost
wetlands mitigation program for
farmers seeking to convert
frequently-cropped wetlands.
ACIC is meeting with each of the
federal regulatory and  resource
agencies in the early stages of
their effort to identify issues and
concerns that will need to be
addressed as they put  together
a pilot for the mitigation
program. ACIC is a new non-
profit organization, which is
working closely with NRCS to
develop new programs and
incentives to help solve
environmental problems
associated with the nation's
farming operations.
(kelsch.thomas)
   WATERSHED ACTIVITIES

Top Ten Watershed Lessons
Learned.  OWOW unveiled a new
website called "Top Ten
Watershed Lessons Learned"
(http://www.epa.gov/owow/
watershed/lessons/).  EPA,  in
partnership with many others, is
pursuing a watershed approach
to protecting our lakes, rivers,
wetlands, estuaries, and
streams.  Important lessons
have been learned  by us and our
partners that are worth sharing.
This site was developed in
partnership with over 100
practitioners and their
supporters.  The top 10
watershed lessons learned are:

1. The best plans  have clear

-------
 visions, goals and action items
 2.  Good leaders are committed
 and empower others
 3.  Having a coordinator at the
 watershed level is desirable
 4.  Environmental, economic,
 and social values are
 compatible
 5.  Plans only succeed if
 implemented
 6.  Partnerships equal power
 7.  Good tools are available
 8.  Measure, communicate, and
 account for progress
 9.  Education and involvement
 drive action
 10. Build on small successes

 For more information, contact
 Ben Picks, US EPA Watershed
 Outreach Coordinator at
 ficks.benjy@epamail.epa.gov or
 260-8652.
 (cahanap.concepcion)

 State Revolving Fund (SRF)
 Meeting. WD representatives
 met with staff from EPA's Office
 of Wastewater Management on
 July 10 to discuss potential use
 of the multi-billion dollar SRF to
 fund wetland projects, such as
 wetland mitigation banks,
 wetlands for stormwater
 management, wetlands as water
 quality buffers, and transferable
 development rights.   With use
 of the SRF for wetlands, a
 revenue stream  must be
 available to reimburse the fund,
and sources  could be
wastewater or stormwater
 management fees, mitigation
 banking credit sales, or local
 revenues for  open space
acquisition.  Fact sheets will be
developed outlining the various
case studies  where these funds
have been used for wetland
 projects,  (eargle.frances)
          CONGRESS

Senate Environment and Public
Works Subcommittee Questions
and Answers.  As a follow-up to
the June 26 Senate Environment
and Public Works wetlands
subcommittee hearing on recent
developments in the Section
404 regulatory program, WD
prepared responses to
additional questions raised by
members.  Specifically, the
chair of the full committee,
Senator John Chafee (R-RI),
posed questions about the
effects of the recent court
decision which invalidated the
Tulloch Rule (a decision stayed
pending appeal) and the status
of mitigation banking; Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) inquired
about the economic benefits of
wetlands, trends in wetland
losses and  gains nationwide and
in California, and the
environmental impacts, both
nationwide and in California, if
the Tulloch Rule were not
reinstated,  (kelsch.thomas or
mali.peter)

   WETLANDS SCIENCE AND
            TOOLS

National Spatial Data Sharing
Agreement. On August 5, the
Nature Conservancy briefed EPA
regarding the improved
availability of spatial
biodiversity data from the 50-
state Natural Heritage Network.
In 1995,  EPA's Office of
Information Resource
Management began exploring
the feasibility of developing a
spatial data sharing agreement
among EPA, The Nature
Conservancy (TNC), its Heritage
Network, the Association for
Biodiversity Information and
other agencies.   The group then
began working on the formation
of data standards and a draft
model sharing agreement with
the Heritage Network.  The goal
is to provide national level data
products/services, including a
county/watershed Element
Occurrence (EO) dataset that
would be available on the
Internet; an extranet EO dataset
at the township and quad level;
and staffing to query precise
data sets, (cahanap.concepcion)

Mitigation Banking Study. On
July 17, we met with
representatives from Batelle to
discuss a proposed scope of
work for a research effort that
would assess the experiences
that local governments have had
in establishing and operating
wetlands mitigation banks.
Information collected by  Batelle
will be summarized so that it
may be used by EPA to evaluate
locally-sponsored mitigation
bank proposals and to provide
technical assistance to local
governments interested in
establishing mitigation banks.
(kelsch.thomas)
   EDUCATION/OUTREACH

Wetlands and Local
Governments News Article.
The Wetlands Division, in
conjunction with the
International City/County
Managers Association (ICMA)
and the Southwest Florida Water
Management District

-------
(SWFWMD), co-authored a news
article for  inclusion in ICMA's
monthly magazine.  The
magazine,  known as PM Public
Management, is designed to
provide information to local city
and county officials on a range
of topics including
environmental and fiscal issues.
The article focuses on
opportunities to protect
wetlands and watersheds and
the benefits to local
governments.  It will likely be
included in the October issue of
the magazine, (parrish.reginald
or boots.michael)

Report on Water Tables and
Soil Morphology.  The Wetlands
Division received the final report
"Water Tables and Soil
Morphology: Quantification
Using Simulated Hydrographs"
from L Peter Galusky, Martin C.
Rabenhorst and Adel
Shirmohammadi of the
University of Maryland.  The
Wetlands and Aquatic Resources
Regulatory Branch funded the
study.  The authors investigated
the relationship between long-
term water table depths and  soil
morphological indicators of
wetland hydrology. The study
demonstrated the possibility  of
developing region-specific,
quantitative hydric soil
indicators for use  in wetland
jurisdictional determinations.
The authors presented a paper
based on the report at the
recent meeting of the Society of
Wetland Scientists in Bozeman,
MT, and the paper will be
submitted for publication in an
appropriate peer-reviewed
scientific journal,  (fritz.michael)

Chesapeake Bay Program. The
Chesapeake Bay Program has
added online "Protecting
Wetlands : Tools for Local
Government in the Chesapeake
Bay Region" at the url:
http://www.epa.gOv/r3chespk/c
bp_home/localgov/wetlands/nof
rames/chapltoc.htm
The document is divided into
the following chapters: 1.
Wetlands and the Role of Local
Government; 2. Planning; 3.
Regulation; 4. Incentives; 5.
Acquisition;  6. Technical
Assistance, Education and
Outreach; and 7. Case Studies.
For more information on the Bay
Program, call (SOO)YOUR-BAY.
(cahanap.concepcion)

Reprinting Protecting Natural
Wetlands  Document.   WO has
arranged to reprint 1000 copies
of "Protecting Natural
Wetlands: A  Guide to
Stormwater Best Management
Practices." This document
describes the potential  benefits,
limitations, and appropriate
application of best management
practices (BMPs) that can be
implemented to protect the
functions of natural wetlands
from the impacts of urban
stormwater discharges and
other diffuse sources of runoff.
Copies will be available from the
toll free contractor-operated
Wetlands Information Hotline
(1-800-832-7828).
(cahanap.concepcion)

Wetlands Website. The new
Wetlands Division website went
on-line on August 25, sporting
an updated look and a
considerable increase in
information.  A briefing for
OWOW management was held  to
complete the process to
improve the site and make it
more user-friendly.
(jaynes.brenda)
      LOCAL ACTIVITIES

National Association of
Counties.  The Wetlands
Division processed a
cooperative agreement with the
National Association of Counties
(NACo). The Division is working
with NACo and other OWOW
Divisions to develop smart
growth outreach materials for
local communities.
(parrish.reginald)

Terrene Institute.   The
Wetlands Division  processed a
grant with Terrene Institute.
(http://www.terrene.org/) This
grant will provide funding for
the development and support of
the 1998 American Wetlands
Month Conference, to be held
next April, and for the
development of wetlands
outreach  materials and
activities to support local and
municipal officials.
(cahanap.concepcion)

League of Women  Voters
Education Fund.  The Wetlands
Division processed a
cooperative agreement with the
League of Women Voters

-------
Education Fund (LWVEF). The
League is providing outreach to
local communities through a
series of small grants which
local League members use for
wetland field trips, videos,
workshops, and contests.
(parrish.reginald)

       PRIVATE/PUBLIC
        COOPERATION

Golf and the Environment.  On
July 28 and 29, Wetlands
Division staff visited two golf
courses in New England where
attempts are being made to
model environmentally
responsible golf course
construction and maintenance.
The "Widow's Walk" course in
Scituate, MA, was designed to
be a national model and study
site for an "ecologically
enriched" golf course. The
course, which opened in early
July, was built on a former sand
and gravel quarry that contains
one of the Town of Scituate's
drinking water wells. The
environmental stewardship
challenge before the town
(which owns the land) was to
stabilize the soil, bring back the
native vegetation, and protect
the water supply.  Golf course
architect Michael Hurdzan, a
steering committee member of
the partly EPA-sponsored "Golf
and the Environment" project,
designed a golf course that
would meet these objectives as
well as model integrated pest
management and test various
turf and water-use  practices.
The course asks players to
refrain from searching for stray
golf balls in ecologically
sensitive areas, and to accept
the minor inconveniences of
brown areas of turf and dense
shrubbery near the fairways.

   Staff also met with the
superintendent of the Rhode
Island Country Club in
Barrington, Rl, along with
representatives of the
Providence-based non-profit
organization "Save the Bay." In
order to pursue its goal of
protecting and restoring
Narragansett Bay, Save the Bay
seeks partnerships with local
golf courses, many of which own
land that includes marshes
either directly on the Bay or on
its tributaries. Save the Bay
works with volunteers to
monitor salinity, basic
hydrology, and vegetation in bay
marshes, and intends to make
headway by partnering with golf
course owners to gain access to
the marshes on the fringes of
the courses. The course at the
Rhode Island Country Club has
been opened to monitoring by
Save the Bay, and there are
plans to modify existing artificial
hydrology to restore the herring
spawning functions of nearby
freshwater lakes, as well as to
increase salinity levels in the
lower reaches of a stream to
suppress Phragmites growth.
Information from these field
visits will supplement the efforts
of the Golf and the Environment
project to publicize
environmentally responsible golf
course practices.
(witten.matthew)

Meeting with International
Council of Shopping Centers.
On July 15,  WD met with
Charlie Grizzle and Regina
Schofield, representing the
International Council of
Shopping Centers, with  regard
to their ideas for proposed
replacement permits for
Nationwide Permit 26.  The two
had recently met with staff from
the Corps of Engineers,  who
signified their intent to propose
replacements in the Federal
Register by February of 1998.
(goodin.john or boots.michael)
   REGULATORY ACTIVITIES

Maryland: Intercounty
Connector.  On August 1, 1997,
EPA Region 3 (Philadelphia)
submitted comments on the
draft environmental impact
statement (DEIS) for the
proposed Intercounty Connector
Maryland highway project to the
Federal Highway Administration.
The  purpose of the project is to
improve  east-west
transportation between the
 1-270 corridor and the 1-95
corridor. The Region rated one
of the three proposed alignment
alternatives in  the DEIS as
Environmentally Unacceptable,
in part based on potential
impacts to wetlands and aquatic
resource concerns.
(williams.chris or  miller.clay)
Connecticut: Route 6.  On July
23, 1997, the Corps of
Engineers Waterways
Experiment Station released a
report comparing the
environmental impacts of three
alternative alignments for the
proposed Route 6 highway
project in Connecticut.
Specifically, the report  reviews a
recent proposal by the State and
two other  proposed alignments
and concludes that, while the
State's alternative is not the
least damaging, the different
types of impacts associated with
each alternative must be
weighed against one another.
The State  has not yet filed an
application with the Corps
District. WD met with
representatives from  EPA's  New
England Region (Boston) and a
representative of the  U.S. Fish

-------
and Wildlife Service on July 22
to discuss technical issues
relating to project alternatives
currently under consideration.
(ettinger.john)

Mississippi: Pine Hills Casino
and Resort. On July 28, 1997,
the Mobile Corps District
notified Region 4 (Atlanta) of its
intent to issue a Section 10/404
permit for the construction of a
casino/resort in the Bay of St.
Louis,  Harrison County,
Mississippi. The Region is
concerned about secondary and
cumulative impacts generated
by the casino and related
development, and recommends
that a comprehensive study be
undertaken by federal, state and
local agencies to evaluate the
effects of growth on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. The
Region objects to permit
issuance as proposed and
recommended to Assistant
Administrator Perciasepe that
the case be elevated to the
Assistant Secretary of the Army
under Section 404(q).
(williams.chris or miller.clay)

Virginia: Lynnhaven River
Dredging.  On July 22, the
Virginia Marine Resources
Commission elected not to issue
a Coastal Zone Consistency
permit for the proposed
maintenance and  new dredging
of the Western Branch of the
Lynnhaven River in Virginia
Beach, Virginia. Consistent with
33 CFR 320.3(b), a Federal
permit can not be issued until
the State has provided a
consistency determination
under the Coastal Zone Act
Reauthorization Amendments.
This decision effectively
prevents the proposed project
from proceeding in its current
form.  The Corps had  previously
notified the Region of  its intent
to issue a permit.  EPA Region 3
(Philadelphia) was considering
initiating a Section 404(q)
elevation of the Section 10/404
permit to address concerns
similar to those that provided
the basis for the State denial.
(williams.chris or miller.clay)

  INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

International Workshop on the
Beneficial Uses of Dredged
Material.  WD made several
presentations and participated
on two panels at the
International Workshop on the
Beneficial Uses of Dredged
Material in Baltimore, MD, from
July 28-August 1. In addition,
WD's John Meagher delivered a
keynote address at the opening
session.  The Army Corps of
Engineers hosted the workshop
with support from EPA and
other Federal agencies. Several
hundred participants from some
40 countries participated. The
last conference of this type was
held in New Orleans in
December 1992. (goodin.john)

            OTHER

"Managing Growth"
Conference.  On July 24-26,
1997, the Wetlands  Division
participated in the "Managing
Growth: Learning from the
Oregon and  Portland
Experiences" conference in
Portland, Oregon. The seminar
was attended by a diverse group
of representatives from Federal,
State, regional, and  local
governments, environmental
and agricultural communities,
and development interests.  The
conference focused on the
transferability  of Portland's
regional growth management
efforts and Oregon's statewide
planning law to other
communities across the nation
that are working to balance
natural resource protection with
their economic development
goals, (boots.michael)

Staffing Addition. Christopher
Teng has joined the Wetlands
Division as an intern for the next
six months.  Chris earned his
Bachelor's degree from the
University of California, San
Diego and his Master's degree
in urban and regional planning
from the University of California,
Irvine.  His primary duties will
include supporting the Section
404 hot cases team and
developing summaries of Clean
Water Act Section 404 "success
stories" from across the  nation.
(teng.christopher)
  If you would like to be
  added to the Swamp Things
  Mailing List or have
  comments or suggestions
  on Swamp Things, please
  let us know by contacting
  Stephanie Peters, who
  handles production and
  distribution:

  Wetlands Division (4502F)
  US EPA
  401 M Street, SW
  Washington, D.C. 20460

  Phone: (202) 260-7946
  Fax:   (202) 260-2356
  e-mail address:
  peters. stephanie@epamail. e
  pa.gov

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Biological Assessment of Wetlands
Workgroup (BAWWG)
1st Technical Meeting

The Biological Assessment of Wetlands
Workgroup (BAWWG) held its first technical
meeting from July 8-10,1997 at the Patuxent
Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland. The
theme of the meeting was developing metrics and
multimetric indices to assess the health or
"biological integrity" of wetlands. BAWWG
members currently include representatives from
six states (FL, ME, MN, MT, OH, ND), federal
agencies (e.g., EPA, USGS, NRCS, USFWS,
Smithsonian), and several universities.

Day 1 - Metrics
During the first of three days, the workgroup
discussed issues related to developing metrics
for individual wetland assemblages, including
plants, algae, amphibians, birds, and
macroinvertebrates. Scientists can measure
many biological attributes of wetlands such as
the diversity of amphibians or the number of
pollution-tolerant insects. Some of these
attributes will provide valuable information about
biological integrity and other attributes will not.
The goal is to identify metrics, which are
attributes that show an empirical and predictable
change in value along a gradient of human
disturbance. The gradient of human disturbance
can represent the amount of logging, agriculture,
development, impervious surfaces, or other land
use or activity in a watershed depending on the
purpose of the bioassessment. An example of a
metric is the diversity and richness of
macroinvertebrates (e.g., insects, snails, clams,
crayfish). Several states have found that
macroinvertebrate richness will often decrease as
a wetland becomes increasingly degraded by
human activities (Figure 1). For illustrative
purposes, Figures 1-5 were developed using
hypothetical data, but are based on figures that
were presented by Dr. James Karr (University of
Washington) at the conference. As Figure 1
shows, there is a clear response to increasing
human disturbance and this attribute could be
used as a metric.
-------
Day 2 - Field Day
During the second day, the workgroup visited
three depressional wetlands in eastern Maryland
that represented a gradient of human influence.
One wetland was minimally impacted by human
activities and the other two wetlands were
restored wetlands on agricultural land. Of the
two restored wetlands, one was in poor condition
and one was in moderate condition compared to
the minimally impacted wetland. The workgroup
compared and tested different sampling
techniques at each wetland and observed how
the biological assemblages changed across the
gradient of human disturbance. The workgroup
also discussed issues related to classifying
wetlands and developing quantitative measures
of human disturbance.

Day 3 - Combining Metrics
During the last day, the workgroup discussed
methods of assigning scores to metrics and of
combining individual metrics into an index of
biological integrity (IBI). Typically, an IBI is
formed by combining at least 7 metrics from one
biological assemblage (e.g., plants). One
approach of combining metrics into an IBI is to
assign scores of 1,3, or 5 to the metrics
according to how they respond to human
disturbances. For example, the diversity and
richness of macroinvertebrate taxa may
consistently decrease with increasing human
disturbance (Figure 3). In this case, we could
assign a score 1 to indicate poor conditions, 3 to
indicate moderate conditions, and 5 to indicate
minimally impacted conditions (Figure 3).
Fig
Tax
50.
0 40.
Soo
O\/ .
t 20.
= 10.
o

ure 3: Macroinvertebrate
a Richness in 40 Wetlands
k 5
•••ii. 3
•• •• _ <5
.... "•!••-* . .
, "M
Low High
Human Disturbance
Another metric, the number of tolerant taxa, may
increase with increasing human disturbance
(Figure 4). In this case, a wetland dominated by
tolerant taxa would receive the lowest score and
a wetland with a small percentage of tolerant taxa
would receive a high score (Figure 4).
Macro!
• 100
1 75.
| 50.
c
~ 25.
e
** 0.

Figure 4: Percent
n vertebrate Tolerant Taxa
in 40 Wetlands
L jr."
:*% 3
* **
.^. *v r
It 5
low High '
Human Disturbance
If 10 metrics were scored in this manner, then
the scores could be added together to form the
index of biological integrity (IBI) with potential
scores ranging from 10 (maximally impacted) to
50 (minimally impacted). The IBI scores form a
relatively straight line when plotted against the
gradient of human disturbance (Figure 5).
0)
0
0
CO
oo
Figure 5: Index of Biological
Integrity Scores for 40 Wetlands
50TB m
40.. ""
30..
20..
10
'
•I
+
*f
Low High
Human Disturbance
After developing the IBI, the scientists would
then test it on another sample of wetlands to see
if it accurately detects the effects of human
disturbances on the biological assemblage. After
testing and validating the index, they could
directly measure the health of similar wetlands
without having to measure every attribute. They
would only have to measure the 10 metrics and
some basic chemical and physical characteristics
of the wetlands. The chemical and physical
-------
characteristics will help them diagnose the
source of impairment and develop plans to
reduce the impacts. Box 1 lists the potential
applications for wetland bioassessment
techniques.
Box 1: Benefits and Applications of
Bioassessment Methods

Current water quality monitoring techniques
rely on surrogates, such as the use of chemical
water quality data or laboratory-based toxicity
criteria, to predict impacts to biological
communities. Conversely, biological
assessments (bioassessments) provide direct,
site-specific measurements of the biological
integrity of aquatic plant and animal assemblages.
Unlike conventional methods, bioassessments
can detect cumulative impacts of multiple, long-
term, and intermittent impacts. Bioassessments
can also detect the impacts of physical and
biological stressors to an aquatic habitat, such as
hydrologic modification, habitat alteration, and
introduction of exotic species.
States can use bioassessment techniques for
a variety of applications, including:
Developing water quality standards and
numeric biological criteria.
• Evaluating performance of wetland restoration
projects.
Identifying the "early warning" signals of
wetland degradation.
• Targeting protection and restoration efforts
more effectively.
Prescreening habitats before using more
expensive chemical analyses of water quality.
• Providing scientifically-sound monitoring data
for watershed protection approaches.
Providing a basis for developing aquatic
ecological risk assessments.
Next Steps for BAWWG
During the meeting, BAWWG formed three
focus groups to further investigate issues related
to (1) macroinvertebrates, (2) plants, and (3) the
relationship between biological assessments and
the hydrogeomorphic (HGM) approach to
assessing wetland functions. BAWWG will
continue to hold monthly conference calls and
the next BAWWG conference is scheduled for
October 1997. During the conference calls and
meetings, the workgroup will examine a variety of
topics (Box 2).
Box 2: Recurring Workgroup Topics

• selecting and testing metrics
• scoring metrics
combining metrics into a multimetric Index of
Biological Integrity
study design (targeted vs. random sampling)
wetland classification
reference conditions
data analysis
consistent use and definitions of terms
standard sampling protocols
relationship with the hydrogeomorphic (HGM)
approach to assessing wetland functions
The workgroup plans on writing technical
papers on some of these topics to help other
states and federal agencies develop biological
assessment capabilities. BAWWG also plans on
developing a mechanism to peer review
proposals for wetland biological assessment
projects.

If you are more interested in learning more
about BAWWG, please contact
Tom Danielson at (202) 260-5299 or
danielson.tom@epamail.epa.gov.
10
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Agenda for A Workshop on River Corridor and Wetlands Restoration
Tuesday, September 23,1997
U.S. EPA Contact: John Pai, 202-260-8076, e-mail pai.john@epamail.epa.gov

8:00-8:30 Registration

8:30-9:00 Welcome/Opening. Michael Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, U.S. Army, and Chair,
Interagency Wetlands Working Group, and Robert H. Wayland III, EPA Director, Office of Wetlands, Oceans
and Watersheds

9:00-10:00 Panel Discussion