v»EPA
ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION:
A National Symposium to Bring Together Ecosystem Restoration Practitioners and Researchers
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July 29 to July 31,1998
Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor
Baltimore, Maryland
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bay 1 - July 29 - 8:30AM
Session I - Plenary
Moderator - Sue Schock, US EPA, NRMRL
8:30AM EPA's Role in Future Research
Lee Mulkey, US EPA, NRMRL
8:50AM Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA)
Stan Laskowski, US EPA, Region III
9:10AM Linkages Between Ecological Restoration & Ecological Risk Assessment
Glenn Suter, US EPA, NCEA
9:30AM Ecosystem Restoration: Developing Paradigms & Definitions
Eric Jorgensen, US EPA, NRMRL
9:50AM Break
10:10AM National Ecosystem Restoration Programs
George Gann, Society for Ecological Restoration & Institute for Regional Conservation
10:30AM Sustaining the Health of the Salton Sea Ecosystem: A Challenge for Restoration Ecology
Milt Friend, USGS
10:50AM Questions and Answers
Session H - Management Issues/Case Studies
Moderator - Tim Canfield, US EPA, NRMRL
11:10AM Strategy for Watershed Rehabilitation: Arkansas Remediation Example
Kent Thornton, FTN Associates
11:30AM Politics of Ecosystem Restoration - Great Lakes Basin
JeffFarrah, Wayne State University
11:50AM Chesapeake Bay Habitat Restoration Framework: An Experiment Revisited
Steve Funderburk, US FWS
12:10PM Lunch
1:30PM Overview of NRMRL's Ecosystem Restoration and Risk Management Research Program
77m Canfield, US EPA, NRMRL
1:50PM Loads, Concentrations, & Critters: Challenges for Ecosystem Restoration
R. Peter Richards, Heidelberg College
2:10PM Geographic Information System (GIS) for Community-Based Environmental Protection
Sudhir Kshirsagar, Global Quality Corp. & Paul Koch, Pacific Environmental Services
2:30PM A Screening for Mercury Exposures in South Florida: Multistressor Dynamics and
Ecosystem Restoration
Rochelle Araujo, US EPA, Ecosystems Research Division
2:50PM Questions & Answers
3:05PM Break
Session HI - Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MAIA)
Moderator - Tom DeMoss, US EPA, Region III
3:20PM Panel Discussion - Ecosystem Restoration Management & Technical Issues
Tom DeMoss, Rick Kutz, & Ron Landy, US EPA, Region III & Kent Thornton,
FTN Associates
4:20PM Questions & Answers
4:40PM Reception (Cash Bar)
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Day 2 - July 30 - 8:30AM
Session IV - Wetlands & Shallow Waters
Moderator - Dan Heggem, US EPA, tttBHEfe NEftL
8:30AM Everglades Ecosystem Assessment: Monitoring for Adaptive Management
Jerry Stober, US EPA, Region IV
8:50AM Restoration of the Northern Florida Everglades
Stephen M. Smith, South Florida Water Management District
9:10AM Creation & Restoration of Salt Marsh & Colonial Waterbird Nesting Habitat in MD's
Coastal Bays
Christopher Spaur, US ACE
9:30AM Hote-ln-the-Donut Wetlands Restoration & Mitigation, Everglades National Park
Michael Norland, South Florida Natural Resources Center
9:50AM Wetland Creation through Mining in Wyoming: What Works and What Doesn't
Mark McKinstry, University of Wyoming
10:10AM Break
10:30AM Landscape Ecology Analysis of Forested Wetland Restoration Sites, Tensas River Basin
Daniel Heggem, US EPA, NERL
10:50AM Habitat Restoration Diversity & Partnerships - US FWS PF&W Program
Albert Rizzo, US FWS
11:1 QAM Ecosystem Restoration of Disney Wilderness Preserve
Michael Duever, Disney Wilderness Preserve/The Nature Conservancy
1 1 :3QAM Restoration of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
Dave Goshom, MD DNR
11:50AM Lunch
1 20PM Riparian Forest Restoration from the Urban, Agricultural, & Forested Watershed
Perspectives
Rob Northrop, Dan Hedderick, Bemadette Turner & Wayne Merkel, MD DNR, Forest
Service
1:50PM Questions and Answers
2:1 0PM Field Trip to Little Gunpowder Watershed
This field trip will visit a cattle operation and will discuss how and why MD DNR identified this
watersystem, how they developed a local partnership with the community, and how they decided
to implement restoration activities.
Session V - Rivers, Streams, A Riparian Areas
Moderator - Joan Colson, US EPA, NRMRL
2:10PM Geohydrologic Foundations for Ecosystem Restoration
Mohamed Hantush, US EPA
2:30PM How Much Water Does a River Need?
Brian Richter, The Nature Conservancy
2:50PM Southwestern Riparian Sustainability & Restoration in a Man-made Ecosystem
Nita Tallent-Halsell, US EPA, NERL
3:10PM Break
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3:30PM Preliminary Downstream Hydraulic Geometry Relationships for Hydrophysiographic
Provinces in MD
Tamara McCandless & Richard Everett, US FWS
3:50PM US EPA Large River Ecosystem Criteria Initiative
Susan Davies, US EPA, OW
4:10PM Anadromous Fish Restoration
Scoff Carney, PA Fish & Boat Commission
4:30PM Questions & Answers
4:50PM Reception (Cash Bar)
Day 3 - July 31 - 8:3OAM
Session VI - Terrestrial/Uplands
Moderator - Eric Jorgenscn, US EPA, NRMRL
8:30AM Forest Fragmentation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Rick Cooksey, USDA
8:50AM Maintenance & Restoration of Northern Spotted Owl Habitat, Pacific NW
James Thrailkill, Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
9:10AM NJ's Ecosystem Approach to the Conservation of Biodiversity
Larry Niles, NJ Fish, Game & Wildlife
9:30AM Break
9:50AM Managing Restoration Projects for Functional & Structural Objectives
John Heckman, Roy F. Weston
10:10AM Disease, Insects, & "Exotic" Ecosystems: Implications for Restoration Goals
William Otrosina, USDA
10:30AM 20yr. Woody Vegetation Changes in NE Illinois Upland Forest Ecosystems
Martin Bowles, Morton Arboretum
10:50AM Sawmill Creek Watershed Restoration Project
Larry Lubbers, MD DNR
11:20AM Questions & Answers
11:40AM Lunch
12:40PM Field Trip to Sawmill Creek Watershed
This trip will examine an integrated set of Best Management Practices designed to at/dress the
cumulative impacts of urban and industrial land use on water quality, stream flow, and habitat in
the riparian corridor. The tour will include: deicer management facilities, an automated water
chemistry monitoring station, stormwater management retrofits and wetlands creations,
bioengineered stream channel stabilization, and several types offish passage projects.
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EPA's Role in Future Research
Lee A. Mulkey
Associate Director for Ecology
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Cincinnati, OH
The U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development has recently completed a 10-year
research strategy for a national research program to support EPA's mission to protect and
restore ecosystems. Strategic choices identified in the strategy include: 1) an emphasis on
aquatic endpoints; 2) a multimedia perspective; 3) an emphasis on watersheds within a
regional and large-scale systems context; and 4) using ecological risk assessment and risk
management as an organizing principle. ORD's research resources are being deployed to
address four broad science questions: 1) what is the current condition of the environment, and
what stressors are most closely associated with that condition; 2) what are the biological,
chemical, and physical processes affecting
the condition of ecosystems and their Professional Biography, Lee Mulkey
response to stressors; 3) what is the relative
risk posed to ecosystems by these stressors,
alone and in combination, now and in the
future; and 4) what options are available to
manage the risk to and restore degraded
ecosystems? Ecosystem restoration as a
component of ORD's research portfolio is
relatively new but builds on a longer term
investment in watershed management
Mr. Mulkey's role at the EPA's
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory is to develop and provide
science policy guidance for EPA's research
on protecting ecosystems. His professional
experience includes watershed management
research such as modeling, best
management practice development and
testing, and risk assessments. Mr. Mulkey
, TT- c • • r-.i holds a B.S.A.E. and an M.S.A.E.
research. This Symposium is one ot the
several ways that we are using to ensure a
strong scientific and programmatic
foundation for our watershed restoration
research.
Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment
Stanley L. Laskowski
Director, Environmental Services Division
U.S. EPA Region ffl
Philadelphia, PA
Since the early 1990s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of
Research and Development, EPA's Region III, and other federal and state Agencies have been
working together to integrate numerous data bases and to characterize the environmental
conditions of the Mid-Atlantic region.
To date, several reports have been published and many more are expected during the next
several years.
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This Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MALA) program has utilized traditional
pollutant data (e.g., water/air quality chemical data) together with resource, biological, and
landscape data to define the environment. Probabilistic and other designs were used to ensure
scientifically valid environmental
characterizations. The MALA Reports are „/-.,„. , „ , r ,
precedent setting with respect to the Professional Biography, Stanley Laskowki
. f f • ^ • • + j EPA Region HI Environmental Services
variety of information that is integrated.
However, to be most meaningful for
environmental protection, EPA has taken a
number of steps to ensure that the MALA
project serves as a basis to inform
environmental decision-makers. Customer
surveys will be included in all future
reports. Feedback from these surveys will
indicate the usefulness of these reports and
serve as a basis to guide subsequent
_L *« AT AT> _* -111-1. ji Region m s Deputy Regional Administrator,
reports. MALA Reports will be broadly ,& , . , F J . &. . .
r r J when he and the Regional Administrator
disseminated both in hard copy and on the
Internet. The MALA Reports will serve as
a basis for restoration projects in the Mid-
Atlantic States. Already several
restoration projects have been started.
Future plans for building on the
success of the MALA program also include
further integration of the data bases,
training users to access and understand to
various data bases and reports, examining Center for Environmental Learning and the
. , .,-j International Program (now providing
the current monitoring systems in the Mid-
Atlantic States to see if they could be
better integrated to provide information to
decision-makers, promoting additional
restoration projects, assessing how
information can be made available for
smaller geographic areas, and refining
customer feedback techniques to ensure
that MALA products are most helpful to
the users.
strategies.
Division (BSD) Director since 1997, Mr.
Laskowski builds partnerships with the public,
businesses, academia, and other stakeholders to
find creative solutions to today's complex
environmental problems. Mr. Laskowski also
manages Region Hi's labs, oversees field
activities, and implements the National
Environmental Policy Act, coastal, estuaries,
and wetlands programs.
From 1982 to 1997, Mr. Laskowski was
managed a staff of almost 900 engineers,
scientists, and support personnel. He was
responsible for overseeing all EPA federal
environmental programs in the Middle Atlantic
States. He was also responsible for overseeing
Region ffl's compliance and enforcement
programs and establishing overall enforcement
directions. During that time he founded EPA
Region ffl's Business Assistance Center, the
assistance to 14 countries on 5 continents).
In the early 1990's, Mr. Laskowski was on a
one-year detail to EPA Headquarters as the
Director of the Office of Pollution Prevention
and was responsible for developing EPA's
policies on strategic planning, pollution
prevention, and environmental indicators.
During that time he oversaw the development of
EPA's first Agency-wide Strategic Plan and the
design of numerous pollution prevention
Mr. Laskowski has been with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency since 1972,
and has initiated and developed many major
programs. From 1968-72 he directed
hydrologic field studies for the U.S. Geological
Survey. Mr. Laskowski earned a B.S. in Civil
Engineering (1968) and an M.B.A. (1973) from
Drexel University.
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Linkages Between Ecological Restoration and Ecological Risk Assessment
Glenn W. Suter H
National Center for Environmental Assessment
U.S. EPA
Cincinnati, OH
Ecological Risk Assessment has largely supplanted other approaches to assessing effects
of human actions on the nonhuman environment because of certain inherently desirable
properties of risk assessment. These include: 1) a standard logical structure, 2) clearly defined
endpoints, 3) explicit conceptual models, 4) rigorous quantitative techniques, 5) explicit
treatment of uncertainty, and 6) discrimination of technical decisions from policy decisions in
the assessment process. Restoration projects can be analyzed in a risk assessment context.
That is, one may assess the risks to a set of clearly defined properties (endpoints) of
restoration alternatives, based on a clear description of the relationship between the
environmental alterations and the endpoints (a conceptual model). The process would use the
best models available of the relationship between environmental properties and endpoint
properties, and would incorporate uncertainties. Much of the controversy concerning whether
proposed restoration techniques are appropriate and whether restoration projects were
successful could be alleviated by a risk-based approach. For example, there might be less
disagreement about whether a wetland has been restored if individuals who are responsible to
the public decided a priori what properties and what levels of those properties constitute the
endpoints for the project. Similarly, the analysis of uncertainty would allow for events such as
floods that could lead to failures of well planned and executed restoration projects.
The need for integration of risk assessment and restoration is particularly acute when the
damage that prompts the restoration is due to site remediation to reduce risks from
contaminants. Remediation of contaminated sites may destroy ecosystems by removing soil
or sediment and by creating borrow pits,
landfills, and other facilities. Assessments
of risks from contamination seldom
balance the risks from the contaminants
against the risks from the remediation and
almost never consider the risks that
proposed restoration will not reestablish
valued ecological properties. If the
remediation is justified, the expected state
of the environment following remediation
and restoration should be significantly
unproved. Only an integrated assessment
approach can assure the likelihood of that
outcome.
Professional Biography, Glenn Suter II
Dr. Suter holds the position of Science
Advisor in the U.S. EPA's Center for
Environmental Assessment-Cincinnati, and was
formerly a Senior Research Staff Member in the
Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory. He has a Ph.D. in Ecology
from the University of California, Davis, and 23
years of professional experience including 18
years of experience in ecological risk
assessment. He is the editor and principal
author of the major text in the field of
ecological risk assessment, and has edited
another book and authored more than 70 open
literature publications. He has served on task
forces, boards, and expert panels. His research
experience includes development and
application of methods for ecological risk
assessment, soil microcosm tests, aquatic
toxicity tests, and environmental monitoring.
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Ecosystem Restoration: Developing Paradigms and Definitions
Eric E. Jorgensen
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Ada, OK
Restoration is a comparatively new term that includes some activities that have been
practiced for decades. Types of activities/terms include re-forestation, reclamation, clean-up,
etc. As restoration becomes the term of choice - encompassing these previous activities as
well as new practices with other desired outcomes (e.g., ecosystem services including but not
limited to provision of wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, nutrient utilization, and
contaminant attenuation) - significant uncertainty has developed on the part of scientists and
citizens whose activities bring them to the periphery of the ecosystem restoration movement.
In part, this uncertainty is caused by the wide array of activities presented as "restoration." In
particular, there is a risk that restoration will be seen as that subset of activities including
neighborhood clean-ups and Arbor Day celebrations. Valuable as these activities are - they
alone do not constitute restoration. Restoration is in a period of transition. More frequently,
questions are being asked. Why are we doing this? How will we know if and/or when we
have succeeded? These questions are especially relevant in ecosystem restoration.
Why are we doing this? This question bears upon the important problem of restoration
prioritization. Many active practitioners in the restoration field recognize the need for
improved tools to identify and prioritize
sites for restoration. Prioritization is
needed to help determine which sites,
when restored, will produce the greatest or
most desired benefit relative to ecosystem
services - both in terms of magnitude of
effect (e.g., level of water quality
improvement) and diversity (i.e., number
of services benefitted).
How will we know if and/or when we
have succeeded? Increasingly, the
question of success criteria is being raised.
This question is particularly relevant in
ecosystem restoration where any good
scientist, having measured enough
variables, can claim success for at least
one. Claims of ecosystem restoration must
be viewed in light of the number and types
of variables measured. Improvement in a
single variable does not constitute
ecosystem restoration.
Professional Biography, Eric Jorgensen
Dr. Jorgensen is an ecologist for the U.S.
EPA's National Risk Management Research
Laboratory in Ada, Oklahoma. He completed
his Ph.D. in 1996 at Texas Tech University, his
M.S. in 1992 from the University of Wisconsin-
Stevens Point, and his B.S. in 1984 from the
University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has
worked with and published papers about
mammal, reptile, and bird habitat management
in temperate and desert ecosystems. His current
interests include ecological risks and restoration
technologies associated with anthropogenic
nitrogen; the function of riparian buffers as
tools for ecosystem restoration; and
consumer/seed interactions. Dr. Jorgensen
hopes that his paper at this symposium will help
participants recognize important distinctions
concerning restoration and ecological
terminology than can seriously inhibit
communication - especially across disciplines.
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This is even more the case where the impacts of the improvement of the single variable on
other constituents in the ecosystem are not even measured.
Restoration has reached a point where prior measures of risk and success are insufficient.
Compliance status, trees planted, nutrients attenuated, dollars spent, and tons of garbage
removed tell us little about restored ecosystem function. These are valuable activities.
However, risk management based restoration requires utilization of fundamentally different
types of data and recognition of ecologically relevant measures of success.
Notice: This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.
National Ecosystem Restoration Programs
George D. Gann
Society for Ecological Restoration and
Institute for Regional Conservation
Miami, FL
The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is an international society of restoration
practitioners and researchers comprising some 2,500 members from 25 countries and all 50 of
the United States. SER was founded in 1988 with the goal of advancing the science and art of
restoring damaged ecosystems. SER believes that active restoration of damaged ecosystems,
in combination with the preservation and management of key natural areas, will be a vital
component of strategies to maintain biological diversity and function in the coming century.
As the organization that brings together and synthesizes the restoration field in the United
States and abroad, SER is concerned with
a number of issues which pertain to the
goals of this symposium. First, in order to
understand restoration, it is important to
understand who and what comprises the
restoration field. The restoration field is
unique in the breadth of people and
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specifically how restoration ecology informs the practice of restoration, and correspondingly
how restoration practice provides useful insights to science.
Third, restoration is a global enterprise with a global impact, and SER has committed
itself to promoting restoration worldwide. This includes the publication of international
papers in our journals, and to the development of international symposia on topics such as
tropical forest restoration and cross-borders cooperation at our annual conferences. Outside of
the U.S., restoration often has a different flavor. While the regulatory process and the
conservation of biodiversity per se has been a major initiator of restoration projects in the
U.S., other motivating factors, such as the need for timber or arable land, often drive
restoration practice and research in other countries. Restoration in this context addresses both
ecological and economic sustainability; indeed, without both, restoration projects will likely
fail.
Finally, restoration is as much about culture as it is about nature. Restoration has the
unique capacity to heal not only the environment, but also the people and communities who
are doing the healing.
Sustaining Health of the Salton Sea Ecosystem:
A Challenge for Restoration Ecology
Milton Friend
Executive Director, Salton Sea Science Subcommittee
U.S. Geological Survey
This presentation highlights the historical perspective regarding the origin of the Salton
Sea, the highlights of current environmental conditions at the Sea, the values (objectives) to
be addressed hi pursuing the goal of restoration of the Sea, and processes initiated to provide
objective scientific evaluation for guiding management decisions to achieve the project goal.
The Salton Sea is the largest inland body of water in California. It is approximately 35 miles
in length and varies in width from 9 to 15 miles. The Sea is approximately 35 miles north of
Mexico and 30 miles south of the city of Palm Springs. It lies in a climactic zone of hot desert
where summer temperatures reach 120 degrees F. The surface elevation of the Sea is
-227 feet below sea level.
Waters flowing into the Sea are primarily Colorado River irrigation drain water from the
surrounding areas; there is no outflow. Evaporation of about 5.5 feet per year and rainfall of
less than 3 niches per year contribute to the continually increasing salinity of the Sea, which is
now 26 percent greater than ocean water.
Collapse of the sport fishery and the food base for the large numbers offish-eating birds
that use the sea is assured unless salinity can be brought under control. However, salinity is
only one of several problems that must be addressed. Since 1994, recurring large-scale
mortality at the Sea of migratory birds has raised concern among the wildlife conservation
community about the declining environmental quality of the Sea. These and other problems
have recently resulted hi a partnership being formed among the federal, state, tribal and local
authority stakeholders to enhance the environmental quality of the Sea.
A National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)/California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) process has been initiated to select a course for action. The Department of the
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Interior and Salton Sea Authority are the
lead management agencies for these
processes and are served by an
autonomous interagency Salton Sea
Science Subcommittee. The role of the
Subcommittee is to provide high quality
information to guide the lead agencies in
considering various management actions,
but does not include proposing solutions
for restoration of the Sea.
The Subcommittee also provides
objective scientific evaluations relative to
impacts (positive and negative) on project
objectives that are likely to result from
specific management actions being
considered. A challenge associated with
this task is to provide quality evaluations
without advocating or opposing the
management actions being considered.
Professional Biography, Milton Friend
Mr. Friend is employed by the Biological
Resources Division of the U.S. Geological
Survey. For 23 years, prior to his current
assignment, he served as Director of the
National Wildlife Health Center within the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, which was
transferred to the National Biological Service
with the science reorganization within the
Department of Interior. Recently, Secretary
Babbitt appointed him to serve as Executive
Director of the Salton Sea Science Committee, a
multi-agency subcommittee charged with
scientific evaluations for selection of a course
of action for restoration of the Salton Sea. He
received his undergraduate education from the
University of Maine (Wildlife Conservation)
and graduate degrees from the University of
Massachusetts (Wildlife Management) and
University of Wisconsin - Madison (Veterinary
Science and Wildlife Ecology).
A Strategy for Watershed Rehabilitation:
The Arkansas Remediation Example
Kent W. Thornton1 and Jarvis Harper2
'FTN Associates and 2ALCOA Arkansas Remediation
Little Rock, AR
After nearly 100 years of mining ceased in 1990, approximately 9,000 acres in south-
central Arkansas required reclamation. An interdisciplinary ecosystem reclamation team was
formed, including former miners, earthmoving contractors, civil and agricultural engineers,
agronomists, hydrogeologists, terrestrial, wetland and aquatic ecologists. An holistic, systems
approach was used to address watershed rehabilitation/ecosystem reclamation. This team
initiated a three phased process for ecosystem reclamation: Phase I - Problem Formulation and
Focusing; Phase n - Strategic Plan Implementation; and Phase ffl - Beyond Reclamation. The
Problem Formulation Phase included characterizing the entire 9,000 acres: existing slopes and
terrain, underground mine and surface pit characteristics and water quality, runoff water
quality, soil physicochemical characteristics; vegetation types; and natural/managed resources
in disturbed areas, naturally reclaimed areas, reclaimed spoil areas, and existing spoil areas.
The public, including federal, state, local agencies, civic organizations, and private entities
(e.g., real estate developers), were involved through focus groups to identify potential uses for
the property following or in lieu of reclamation. Reclamation objectives and criteria were
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established and prioritized. The final stages of Phase I included the development of the
strategic plan for an initial watershed rehabilitation of about 1,000 acres. This included the
development of a Remediation Decision-Making Tool for evaluating and assessing the
feasibility of various land use alternatives, development of digital terrain models to formulate
grading plans, experimentation on growing media, soil amendments, and fertilization
formulations and rates, electrochemical neutralization, and reuse/recycling feasibility studies.
These studies also considered not only applicable regulations, but also proposed innovative
regulatory strategies.
The Strategic Plan Implementation Phase is ongoing. Ecological experimentation is
integrated with traditional construction activities to continuously evaluate better alternatives
for reclamation. Partnership agreements
have been developed with The Nature
Conservancy and negotiations are
proceeding with state agencies to reclaim
and manage the area so it will sustain
several unique glade ecosystems that exist
on the property, permit the development of
a Nature and Education Center, and
provide outdoor recreation and aesthetic
benefits.
Beyond Reclamation will begin in
2005. This phase will emphasize
management of reclaimed areas and
provide insight into the types of
management activities needed to sustain
large scale reclamation efforts. The
lessons learned over the past seven years
and the critical elements in each of the
phases will be explained and illustrated in
greater detail during the presentation.
Professional Biography, Kent W. Thornton
Dr. Kent W. Thornton is a principal and
systems ecologist with FTN Associates, Ltd. in
Little Rock, AR. Dr. Thornton has been
involved with ecosystem restoration of lakes,
streams, wetlands, and watersheds since 1972.
He was an editor and author of the 1988 EPA
Lake and Reservoir Restoration Guidance
Manual, contributor to the Mid-Atlantic
Ecosystem Restoration Strategic Initiative,
Wetland Restoration Strategic Plan, South
Florida Everglades Ecosystem Restoration
Assessment, and has been working on
watershed reclamation for over 10 years. He is
currently involved with restoration and
reclamation projects that range in scale from
local sites to geographic regions.
Politics of Ecosystem Restoration
JeffFarrah
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI
This study examines the political challenges and barriers to ecosystem restoration hi the
Great Lakes region, with special references to the Southeastern Michigan context. After 25
years of local, regional, statewide/provincial, federal, and bi-national efforts geared toward
"restoring and maintaining the biological, chemical, and physical integrity" of Great Lakes
waterways, many initiatives have been brought forth under the guise of restoring the Great
Lakes ecosystem. As a whole, these efforts may provide a potential model for the equitable
restoration of large ecosystems. Institutional mechanisms for carrying out ecosystem
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management and restoration efforts at the watershed level have been in place in 43 Areas of
Concern through the Remedial Action Plan (RAP) process. The establishment of local
watershed organizations through the RAP process is one step towards meaningfully moving
toward ecosystem restoration.
This study examines significant trends toward ecosystem restoration in the Great Lakes
Basin, with a special reference to the RAP process in urban watersheds, the potentials and
pitfalls of achieving water quality and approaching ecosystem restoration in large, bi-national
regions. Personal interviews, case studies, and trends and patterns of economic development
in the Great Lakes basin provide the empirical foundation for the study. The RAP process
basin-wide represents a significant achievement hi the urban contexts of the Great Lakes
region. At the same time, the RAPs are an ongoing and active model for the potentials of
sustainable development and watershed restoration in the modern period. Finally, RAPs
represent a great challenge to traditional political, economic, and social arrangements. A
"successful" RAP process involves participation among important "stakeholders" within the
basin itself, from fishing, manufacturing, commercial, or energy interests, to scientists,
administrators, politicians, citizens, educators, Native American Nations, or
environmentalists. The nexus however between translating ecosystem principles into public
policy outputs is meaningful participation. To restore ecosystems then, institutional outlets of
meaningful participation must not only
exist, they must be self-reinforcing and
empowering to a large diversity of
interests. On the basis of the author's
ongoing empirical study of the RAP
process in southeastern Michigan urban
watersheds and the Great Lakes basin, two
important determinants of potentially
restoring ecosystems are bringing hi
multi-sectorial participants on meaningful
terms, and establishing what "success"
really is in local, bioregional, and
international contexts. Ultimately,
dialogue must move beyond short-term,
narrow costs and concerns and toward a
deeper, more long-term set of perspectives
and timelines for restoring healthy
environments.
Professional Biography, JeffFarrah
Currently an adjunct faculty in the
department of political science at Wayne State
University (Detroit) and the University of
Michigan (Dearborn). He also works with the
political science department and the Wayne
County Regional Education Service Association
(RESA) training public school teachers how to
teach civic literacy skills in the classroom. He
holds an M.A. in Political Science from Wayne
State University and is currently A.B.D. (all but
dissertation) in Political Science. His Ph.D.
research involves examining trends toward
ecosystem politics in the Great Lakes basin.
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Chesapeake Bay Habitat Restoration Framework:
an Experiment Revisited
Steve Funderburk
Chief, Living Resources Branch
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Annapolis, MD
A variety of habitat types continue to be lost and degraded within the Chesapeake Bay's
64,000 square-mile watershed. Recent information shows that 14,000 acres of palustrine
forested wetlands were destroyed between 1982 and 1989. Nearly 1,000 acres of emergent
wetlands were lost during that same period. Submerged aquatic vegetation, considered an
essential food source and habitat element within the nearshore environment, slowly has
increased from record lows in the mid-1980s, yet remains -10 percent of estimated abundance
several decades ago. Forest cover continues to remain a dominant vegetative type (58
percent), yet declined by over 471,000 acres from 1985 to 1995. Although hundreds of miles
of freshwater spawning habitat have been reopened to anadromous fish due to passage created
at dams, culverts, and other forms of impediments, thousands of miles of suitable habitat
remain blocked. Reliable numbers are unavailable on the extent of degraded riparian habitat,
but conservatively range in the multiple thousands of miles.
The Chesapeake Bay Program, a longstanding federal, state and local government
coalition, has recognized the importance of habitat protection and restoration on a watershed
scale via the 1987 Chesapeake Bay Agreement. Following, the Program published "Habitat
Requirements for Chesapeake Bay Living
Resources" (Funderburk et al. 1991) to
guide protection and restoration efforts.
Associated reports designed to further
refine understanding of habitat and water
quality dynamics were borne out of this
initial effort. These reports serve as useful
guides to protection and restoration of
ambient water quality conditions for biota,
for guiding transplanting activities of
SAV, and in characterizing the relative
health of aquatic habitats. ^ Coasta, p ^
In 1994 the Program committed to
developing a comprehensive means to
restore site-specific habitat across the
watershed (Chesapeake Executive Council
1994), and soon thereafter published
Chesapeake Bay Habitat Restoration: A
Framework for Action (Chesapeake Bay
Program 1995). The framework has
enabled funding support for over 50
separate projects within Pennsylvania, University.
Maryland, the District of Columbia, and
Professional Biography, Steve Funderburk
Steve Funderburk is Chief of the Living
Resources Branch with the Chesapeake Bay
Field Office, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
having been involved in the Chesapeake Bay
Program for over 13 years. He has served as
Chair of the Bay Program's Habitat Objectives
and Restoration Workgroup since 1988, and
maintains local oversight responsibility of the
Service's Partners for Fish & Wildlife Program,
Mr. Funderburk's previous work experience
includes serving as a Congressional Fellow for
U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes, senior staff for the
Fish & Wildlife Service in Washington D.C.,
and biologist for the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Steve received his M.S. from Humboldt
State University and B.S. from Louisiana Tech
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Virginia. The framework also has stimulated development of a means to target restoration
projects (GIS and charette) within an ecological context, while calling for building extensive
and diverse partnerships to promote creative restoration projects.
This presentation highlights lessons learned from this broad-scale approach to protecting
and restoring habitats within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Overview of NRMRL's Ecosystem Restoration
and Risk Management Research Program
Timothy J. Canfield
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
R.S. Kerr Environmental Research Center
U.S. EPA
Ada, OK
The National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) has instituted a program
for Risk Management Research for Ecosystem Restoration in Watersheds. This program is
one component of the Office of Research and Development Ecosystem Protection Research
Program. The outline for this research is contained in the Risk Management Plan for
Ecosystem Restoration in Watersheds (EPA/600/R-97/078) and follows the risk paradigm
described in the ORD Research Strategy (U.S. EPA 1996). This plan describes the scope of
NRMRL's ecosystem restoration risk
management research in watersheds and is
intended to produce technically sound
restoration and decision support tools for
local communities and stakeholders. The
goals of this program are in line with both
the performance measures of the
Government Performance Results Act of
1993 (GPRA) as well as the objectives
outlined in the ORD strategic plan. This
program is designed to facilitate research
that moves past traditional chemical
specific criteria by focusing on additional
stressors at the landscape level. Although
water quality is typically focused on as the
measure of success for the restoration
activities, this plan considers water quality
as only one component of success.
Indicators in landscape cover and wildlife
Professional Biography, Timothy Canfield
An ecologist at the Robert S. Ken-
Environmental Research Center, Ada, OK, Mr.
Canfield holds an M.S. from the University of
Missouri-Columbia. He has conducted research
for the last 12 years for the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the National Biological
Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. He
has conducted research, published papers, and
made many presentations on algal and
zooplankton communities, benthic
macroinvertebrate communities and
contaminated sediments. His current
responsibilities include developing the
Ecosystem Restoration Research in Watersheds
Program for the National Risk Management
Research Laboratory of EPA while also
conducting Ecosystem Restoration Research
projects.
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usage as well as water quality still form the basis for the success criteria. This program is
designed to conduct research in an integrated fashion, by looking at the problems from a
watershed perspective and researching solutions in such a way as to integrate effects from top
to bottom in a watershed. An overview of NRMRL's program will be presented, giving more
detailed information with regard to the goals of the program, number and types of projects
currently funded, status of projects, and future plans and directions for this program.
Loads, Concentrations, and Critters:
Challenges for Ecosystem Restoration
R. Peter Richards
Water Quality Lab
Heidelberg College
Tiffin, OH
Effective ecosystem restoration can only occur when the impacts that have caused
ecosystem degradation are thoroughly understood. The required understanding goes far
beyond knowing the pollutants of concern, though even identifying the most important
pollutants can be a daunting challenge.
Understanding the temporal aspects of a pollutant's presence in the environment is
critical. An average concentration or an average load tells us little about potential ecological
effects, since it may represent an impact that is constant over time, one that ranges seasonally
between no-effect and chronic-effect levels, or one that exceeds acute levels for short periods
of time. For pollutants that impact components of the ecosystem by interfering with energy
flow (e.g., effects of some herbicides on aquatic plants), ecosystem impacts are controlled by
the pattern of pulses of critical exposures followed by periods of recovery.
Temporal patterns of loadings are different from those of concentrations for a given
pollutant, and have different implications for organisms in rivers and in lakes. For particulate
pollutants of nonpoint origin, 80 percent or more of the loading occurs in 10 percent of the
time hi many rivers and streams, whereas the temporal distribution of the concentrations is
less extreme. Organisms in rivers and streams are probably more affected in many cases by
the concentrations that occur during the 40 percent of the time when concentrations are
between the median and the 90th percentile than they are by the higher concentrations present
during the 10 percent of the time with the highest loading rates. Organisms in lakes, however,
are more affected by the total pollutant loading. This is true even when the direct ecological
effect is concentration-related, because it is the total loadings combined with the volume and
residence time of the lake that determines the in-lake concentrations, outside of the mixing
zones. Nonpoint sources dominate loads in many watersheds, but point sources may still
dominate ambient water quality conditions, which may be more important to the stream biota.
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Scale effects also have important implications. Systematic changes in ecosystem
structure occur as a function of position hi the watershed. These are accompanied by
systematic changes in hydrology and
pollutant chemistry, particularly higher
peak concentrations more rapid flow and
concentration fluctuations, and lower low
concentrations in small watersheds
compared with larger ones.
Finally, setting restoration goals
requires recognition of the possible
existence of ecological threshold effects.
For example, a bay ecosystem degraded by
elevated sediment concentrations
experiences structural changes that tend to
perpetuate the altered state (e.g., loss of
macrophytes, dominance of bottom-feeding
fish such as carp). Simply returning
sediment concentrations to pre-degradation
levels may not be sufficient to bring the
ecosystem back to its original state.
Professional Biography, R. Peter Richards
Dr. Richards holds undergraduate degrees
in German and Geology from Oberlin College.
He earned an M.S. in Crystallography and a
Ph.D. in Paleoecology from the University of
Chicago. After becoming frustrated with
studying critters that have been dead for 400
million years, he took a post-doc at the
University of Michigan in ecology and
limnology. For the last 20 years, he has been a
water quality hydrologist at the Water Quality
Lab at Heidelberg College, specializing in the
transport of pollutants in tributaries of the Great
Lakes, and in techniques for the determination
of pollutant loads. He has authored several
dozen papers related to this work, and has
developed a computer program which is
becoming widely used for load calculations.
Geographic Information System (GIS)
for Community-Based Environmental Protection
Sudhir Kshirsagar
President
Global Quality Corp.
Cincinnati, OH
Paul Koch, Pacific Environmental Services, Inc.
Mason, OH
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has shifted the focus of many of its
ecosystem protection programs from the command-and-control approach to the Community-
Based Environmental Protection (CBEP) approach. In contrast to the regulatory approach, the
CBEP approach emphasizes decision-making by local stakeholders to address community-
wide environmental issues. As the CBEP approach to ecosystem protection and restoration
becomes more widespread, effective implementation tools that meet the needs of a wide
spectrum of communities will become necessary.
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A geographic information system (GIS) is computer software that allows the user to
identify the spatial relationships between map features, to utilize the computerized
representation of these map features to provide the input data to a wide range of
environmental models, to serve as the receptor for the output of these models and analytical
tools, and to display impacts and results of development/management scenarios in both a
graphical and tabular fashion. Researchers, governmental agencies and large communities
have utilized GIS as a key tool hi many ecosystem restoration projects. However, certain
factors inhibit the deployment of GIS in
smaller communities. This paper presents
some of the key factors, and suggests
alternatives for overcoming those
obstacles.
One of the major problems in
implementing a GIS is the significant cost
of data acquisition, and the associated long
time delays. It is recommended that the
top-down approach to data collection
(what type of data do we need and where is
it available) should be favored over the
bottom-up approach (if we get the best
data, then we will have what we need) that
is commonly used. Another major issue
often faced is the lack of skilled human
resources to manage and use the GIS
technology. It is suggested that there are
various ways of tackling that including the
decision to "start small with in-place
talent."
Professional Biography, Sudhir Kshirsagar
Dr. Kshirsagar is the President of Global
Quality Corp., a company whose mission is to
provide quality services and products globally
to meet customer needs. He has over 12 years of
professional experience in the fields of
information systems, computer graphics, and
environmental engineering. He has managed
and directed several key projects in his career,
and he is specially trained in project
management methodologies for information
systems development and support. His recent
efforts include the design and implementation
of several GIS-based projects, including
systems for the Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base and the U.S. EPA and the Ohio River
Valley Water Sanitation Commission
(ORSANCO).
He holds a B.S. hi Electrical Engineering
from the Indian Institute of Technology, an
M.S. from the Indian Institute of Science, and a
Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the
University of Illinois, Urbana. He is a licensed
Professional Engineer.
A Screening Model for Mercury Exposures in South Florida:
Multistressor Dynamics and Ecosystem Restoration
Rochelle Araujo and R.B. Ambrose
U.S. EPA
Athens, GA
The South Florida ecoregion is simultaneously a unique resource and one of the most
intensively managed ecosystems hi the U.S. Alterations in the hydrology of South Florida
have halved the original extent of the Everglades and have resulted hi nutrient enrichment,
habitat fragmentation, contamination, introduction of invasive non-native plants and animals,
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and altered fire regimes. Populations of wading birds have decreased by almost 95 percent and
mercury contamination offish and wildlife is widespread. A screening model was developed
to assess the relative importance of external and internal sources of mercury and as a
framework for investigating transport and
transformation dynamics that contribute to n s • , n- , n , u *
TT- TWAOT* ji Professional Biography, Roche He Araujo
mercury exposures. The WASP model v, . . . , •" , J .
J f Dr. Araujo received a bachelor s degree in
was modified to represent the hydrology
and vegetation patterns characteristic of
the region. Using process rate constants
from the literature and field studies, a
model calibration was based on a partial
data set from the Regional Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment Program
(REMAP) of EPA Region IV. The model
accurately predicted concentration ranges
j , . f • f Ph.D. in environmental toxicology from Cornell
and dynamics of mercury species for T1 . .._,,,. -,. , • ^ -4, .,
J r University led to a position as ecologist with the
average marsh conditions, and was found
to be sensitive to rainfall, mercury
partitioning, and interactions with
vegetation, including periphyton. The
model was subsequently used to assess
mercury exposures resulting from
management actions, including source
reductions and the hydrologic alternatives
under consideration as the basis of
ecosystem restoration.
genetics from Cornell University where she
subsequently worked as a laboratory technician
on studies of nutritional and reproductive
toxicology in minks. She temporarily returned
to her sea-faring roots, pursuing a master's
degree in marine sciences at the State
University of New York, continuing Darwin's
investigations into the chemistry of seasonal
anoxia in the Bay of Concepcion, Chile. A
U.S. EPA in Athens GA. At the EPA, Dr.
Araujo has conducted research on
biodegradation of oil spills (including the
Valdez cleanup), and regional vulnerability of
ecosystems; she is currently team leader for
research in support of the restoration of South
Florida, including ecological exposures to
mercury under current and restoration
conditions.
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Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment - Panel Discussion
Thomas B. DeMoss, Frederick W. Kutz, Ronald B. Landy1, and Kent Thornton2
'Environmental Services Division
U.S. EPA Region m
Annapolis, MD
2FTN Associates
Little Rock, AR
During this session, panelists will discuss strategic ecosystem initiatives planned for the
Mid-Atlantic Region over the next 5-10 years. EPA's Office of Research and Development,
with Region Hi's Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment (MALA) program, will explore the role
of restored riparian buffers relative to
ecosystem function in MALA. These plans
will include the process of restoration, its
effects on biologically significant
resources, and the use of measures of
success to evaluate restoration efficiency
and effectiveness. In addition, the
Governors of Chesapeake Bay states have
set a stream buffer restoration goal of
2,010 miles of stream restoration by year
2010. Various state representatives will
discuss their plans for addressing this goal
and barriers that need to be overcome.
The panelists will also discuss the role of
science in ecosystem restoration in areas
such as design, implementation, evaluation
of progress, and the value of science for
alternative management approaches to
ecosystem restoration.
Professional Biography, Thomas DeMoss
Mr. DeMoss received his M.B.A. from the
University of Maryland in 1971. In the EPA
Office of Research and Development from
1978-1979, he developed strategic research
plans and operating guidance. He directed the
Chesapeake Bay Program from 1979-1983 and
the EPA National Estuaries Program from 1984-
1989. At present, he is Director of EPA Region
Ill's Ecological Analysis group in the
Environmental Services Division. He has
helped to develop the regional scale prototype
assessment on the Mid-Atlantic Region and
serves as lead for the Community-based
Assessment Team (CBAT), Region ffi. He has
a continued interest in ecological integrated
assessment at local, regional, and national
scales.
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Everglades Ecosystem Assessment:
Monitoring For Adaptive Management
Quentin J. (Jerry) Stober1
D.J. Scheldt2, R.D. Jones3, K. Thornton4, D.L Stevens5, J. Trexler3 and S. Rathbun6
Science and Ecosystem Support Division
U.S. EPA, Region IV
Athens, GA
2U.S. EPA, Region IV, Water Management Division, Atlanta, GA, Southeast Environmental
Research Program, Florida International University, Miami, FL, 4FTN Associates, Little Rock,
AR, 5Dynamac Corp., Corvallis, OR, 6Dept. of Statistics, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
A system wide (4,000-square-mile) research and monitoring study of the Everglades
ecosystem was conducted from 1993-96 to address the interactions of mercury contamination,
eutrophication, habitat alteration, and hydropattern modification issues. Synoptic monitoring
of canal and marsh populations, using a random EMAP survey design, during wet and dry
seasons determined the extent and magnitude of total (HgT) mercury and methylmercury
(MeHg) in water, soil/sediment, periphyton and mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) with
associated water quality parameters. Factor analyses of canal and marsh data partitioned HgT
hi fish and MeHg in water as two components with total phosphorus (TP), total organic
carbon (TOC), and sulfate (SO4) aggregated as a third component. Significant north to south
spatial gradients existed in these constituents, hi order to synthesize and integrate the
interactions of these variables the central Everglades flowway was parsed by latitude into
seven units averaging approximately 27 km (north-south) over a total distance of 189 km.
Latitudinal parsing of the data aggregated the major plant responses to anthropogenic
phosphorus in this system. The canal data illustrated a biodilution of mercury in
mosquitofish north of Alligator Alley with increased bioaccumulation south of that point with
declining TP. Both parameters declined in the southernmost canals when TP declined to a
median of 14 ppb. The marsh data were even more definitive showing biodilution north of
Alligator Alley, however, as median TP declined from 16.4 to 12.1 ppb, the median mercury
concentration in mosquitofish doubled to 208 ug/kg and remained at these concentrations
south through the northern ENP. The mercury concentration in fish declined significantly to
156 ug/kg hi southern ENP when median TP in water declined to 8.6 ppb. Median MeHg
concentrations hi water declined north to south in both canal (0.3 - 0.059 ng/L) and marsh
(0.538 - 0.151 ng/L) habitats indicating higher methylation in the marsh. The median
mosquitofish BAF for mercury increased from 0.6 x 10s in the north to 8.5 x 10s hi southern
ENP indicating an increasing bioaccumulation efficiency hi the food chain from northern to
southern areas. HgT hi periphyton, great egrets and mosquitofish was spatially correlated.
High MeHg concentrations hi water in the northern Everglades was not bioaccumulated into
fish due to biodilution and associated changes in the food chain. The stimulatory effects of
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TP in this system on the methylating
microbes is a key component - for it is
apparent that when the fertilizing effect is
minimal in southern ENP, the available
MeHg declines in both water and biota.
Establishment of these baseline conditions
will be used to evaluate the effect of future
management alternatives.
Professional Biography, Jerry Stober
Dr. Stober received his Ph.D. in Zoology
from Montana State University in 1968. He
was Research Professor of Fisheries at the
Fisheries Research Institute, University of
Washington, Seattle, for 18 years. In 1986, he
joined EPA in his current position as Fisheries
Scientist with the responsibility to evaluate
bioaccumulative contaminants in fish, and to
conduct ecological risk assessments to aid in
remediation and control strategies. He now
leads Region IV activities in the ecological risk
assessment of mercury in the Everglades
ecosystem. He has authored or co-authored
over 90 technical reports and publications, hi
1989, 1992, and 1995 he received EPA Bronze
Medals for the Pigeon River Dioxin Study,
participation in development of the Agency's
ecological risk assessment framework, and
leadership in the South Florida Ecosystem
Assessment Project.
Restoration Efforts in the Northern Florida Everglades
Stephen M. Smith, Paul McCormick, Jennifer Leeds, and Brian Garret
Everglades Systems Research Division, Ecosystems Restoration Department
South Florida Water Management District
West Palm Beach, FL
The Florida Everglades is a vast, shallow subtropical marsh that once extended from the
southern shores of Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. Historically, the system was
hydrologically driven by the Kissimmee River watershed, Lake Okeechobee, and local rainfall
patterns, yielding a broad sheet of water that slowly proceeded in a north-south direction. At
present, however, approximately 50 percent of the original wetland remains as a number of
discrete entities which include Everglades National Park to the south and three main Water
Conservation Areas (WCAs) to the north. The WCAs lie downstream from a large farming
region known as the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Water that is delivered to the
WCAs from the EAA (via an extensive network of canals and pumping stations) is subject to
volumetric and temporal controls which have interfered with normal water level fluctuations.
Furthermore, this water is often highly enriched with nutrients, particularly phosphorus.
Alterations in both hydropattern and water quality have led to dramatic effects on this
ecosystem that evolved in response to natural hydrologic regimes and oligotrophic conditions.
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The current remedy and main thrust of Everglades nutrient and hydroperiod restoration
efforts is the construction of seven large wetlands termed Stormwater Treatment Areas
(STAs). Primarily through macrophyte and algal uptake, it is expected that the STAs wall
effectively sequester excess nutrients to
allow for the discharge of "clean" water
into the desired areas. A prototype system,
the 3,800 acre Everglades Nutrient
Removal project (ENR), has managed to
reduce EAA phosphorus loads
approximately 80 percent. Two areas
scheduled to receive STA outflow in the
year 2000 are northern WCA2A and a
remote region called the Rotenberger
Wildlife Management Area (RWMA).
This presentation will discuss the
conceptual design of the STAs, initial
hydrological and biological characteristics
of receiving areas, and possible trajectories
for ecosystem structure and function in
response to STA operation.
Professional Biography, Stephen M. Smith
Dr. Smith is a Staff Environmental
Scientist at the Everglades Systems
Research Division, Ecosystems Restoration
Department, of the South Florida Water
Management District. He holds a B.S. from
Florida State University, an M.S. from the
University of Miami, and a Ph.D. from the
University of Miami. His projects have
included monitoring of Everglades nutrient
and hydroperiod restoration through
Stormwater treatment areas (water quality,
soils, periphyton, macrophytes).
Proposed Creation and Restoration of Salt Marsh and Colonial
Waterbird Nesting Habitat in Maryland's Coastal Bays
Christopher C. Spaur and Stacey M. Underwood
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District
Baltimore, MD
Ecosystem restoration and creation necessitates value judgements based on consideration
of a variety of environmental, economic, and engineering factors. The Army Corps of
Engineers' Ocean City Water Resources Study provides a case example of the planning
process undertaken to formulate several proposed environmental restoration projects. Plan
formulation for the study roughly followed the standard Corps' planning process. The study
identified water resources problems and
potential environmental restoration
opportunities for these problems within the
coastal bays. The opportunities were then
evaluated for engineering and
environmental practicability. A
determination of need was made based
upon magnitude of loss, likelihood of self
recovery, and indirect ecological impacts
of the loss. Through this process, the
study team selected environmental
restoration objectives within the coastal
Professional Biography, Christopher Spaur
Mr. Spaur has worked as an ecologist with
Corps of Engineers for the last four and one-
half years. He works in the Planning Division,
primarily on "Environmental Restoration"
mission projects. Prior to being with the Corps,
he worked for several years as a park naturalist
with various park systems in New Jersey and
New York. He holds an M.S. in Marine
Science and a B.S. in Natural Resources
Management.
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bays watershed that could be implemented within the purview of the Army Corps of
Engineers' water-resources based environmental restoration mission. The objectives focused
on creating and restoring salt marsh, forested wetlands, and colonial waterbird nesting habitat.
Because of prevailing private ownership of potential forested wetlands restoration and
creation sites, and the sizable effort that would have been required to solicit landowners,
forested wetlands restoration/creation was not pursued as part of this study. Instead, efforts
focused on locating salt marsh and colonial waterbird nesting habitat restoration and creation
sites. Environmental and societal guidelines and constraints specific to each objective were
developed to aid in site selection and project design. A GIS-based site selection process was
utilized to determine suitable areas for these restoration and creation projects, and avoid
environmentally sensitive areas. Field surveys for finfish, SAV, and hard clam were
undertaken to evaluate potential environmental trade-offs, and to aid hi site-specific design. A
series of alternative plans were developed for each site, and a cost-effectiveness analysis aided
in project selection. Resource agency input was sought throughout the process to provide
guidance in plan formulation, and in the hope of obtaining "buy-in," however, achieving
interagency consensus was not possible because of the divergent perspectives and missions of
the agencies involved.
Hole-in-the-Donut Wetlands Restoration
and Mitigation, Everglades National Park
Michael Norland
South Florida Natural Resources Center
Homestead, FL
Everglades National Park encompasses 689,000 hectares and is the only subtropical
wilderness in the continental United States. Invasion of exotic plant species into the principal
ecosystem types within the park is threatening both the form and the function of the various
ecosystems. Within Everglades National Park, at least 217 introduced plant species are
known to occur, which accounts for about 25 percent of the total number of plant species in
the Park. A major site of exotic plant invasion is an area of former freshwater prairie and
upland abandoned farmland known as the Hole-in-the-Donut (HID). This area of about 4,050
ha of abandoned farmland has within it an area of about 2,430 ha dominated by a stand of a
single exotic woody species, Brazilian pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi). The objective
of the HID Wetland Restoration and Mitigation Program is to eliminate Schinus and restore
the wetland and forest ecosystem form. These tests included bulldozing, burning, mowing,
and chemical treatment of Schinus, and planting and seeding of native wetland species,
hardwoods, and pines. The only treatment method that showed any wetland restoration
success involved the complete removal of disturbed substrate. The current restoration and
mitigation will be described and will include engineering, construction, and environmental
mensuration methods used during years one and two of this multi-year program.
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Opportunities for Wetland Creation Through Mining
Activities in Wyoming: What Works and What Doesn't
Mark C. McKinstry and Stanley H. Anderson
Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Laramie, WY
Wetland creation is currently viewed as a means to offset wetland losses within the U.S.
and mining activities are thought to provide an inexpensive means to facilitate wetland
construction, hi northeast Wyoming over 1,000 wetlands have been created through bentonite
mining, constituting one of the largest wetland creation projects in the world. These wetlands
are located in a region where few natural wetlands exist and they have developed into
functional wetlands providing habitat for a wide variety offish and wildlife. We examined 1)
whether post-creation wetlands meet original predictions from engineering plans and 2) what
physical factors have the most influence on waterfowl use. We compared wetland-creation
predictions with actual created habitat (size, water quality, and # of islands, bays and
peninsulas) to determine if wetland creation within this landscape is predictable. We also
examined waterfowl habitat use to determine what factors could be manipulated during the
construction phase to increase the wetland's value for breeding and migrating waterfowl.
Created wetlands did not meet the criteria
in engineering plans at over 65 percent of
the wetlands (n = 90 wetlands). Faulty
hydrologic models are thought to have
overestimated predicted habitat. Created
wetlands that were most successful at
attracting waterfowl were typically large
(>0.5 ha), located within complexes (> 4
wetlands within 1 km), and had abundant
submersed and emergent vegetation. We
recommend that future wetland
construction in this region emphasize
creating wetland complexes and providing
a diversity of habitat for all waterfowl that
use the area. Also, we suggest that
monitoring programs be developed that
evaluate the success of wetland creation
projects and that wetland function goals be
met, especially if they are used for wetland
banking. Finally, these wetlands provide a
unique opportunity to examine the effects
of cumulative wetland values and plant
succession since they are an island of
habitat in an otherwise dry system. Our
current research focuses on wetland plant
establishment.
Professional Biography, Mark McKinstry
Mr. McKinstry completed his B.S. in
Wildlife Biology at Colorado State
University and an M.S. in Zoology and
Physiology/Water Resources at the
University of Wyoming. He worked for the
California Waterfowl Association as a
Waterfowl Biologist before moving to
Wyoming in 1990. He is now employed as a
Research Associate for the Wyoming
Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research
Unit in Laramie, Wyoming. He works on a
wide variety of projects including waterfowl
use of created wetlands, transplanting
beaver for wetland creation and riparian
improvement, plant propagation at created
wetlands, and survey methods for
midget-faded rattlesnakes.
He and two others at the Unit are
currently editors of a book titled "Wetlands
and Riparian Areas of the Intermountain
West: Then- Ecology and Management" (in
press).
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A Landscape Ecology Analysis of Potential Forested Wetland Restoration
Sites, Tensas River Basin, Mississippi River Delta Region, Gulf of Mexico
Daniel T. Heggem, Curtis M. Edmonds, Anne C. Neale, Lee Bice, and K. Bruce Jones
Landscape Ecology Branch, Environmental Sciences Division
National Exposure Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Las Vegas, NV
The Tensas River Basin is a target watershed of several U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency environmental studies including the Nonpoint Source Management Program and the
Gulf of Mexico Program. The Nonpoint Source Management Program has identified
watersheds in Louisiana which have been impaired by nonpoint pollution and where land use
practices contribute to these pollutant problems. This program identified specifically what
types of best management practices need to be implemented to improve environmental
conditions. Using the existing data and with the cooperation of landowners, the Tensas River
Basin offered a unique opportunity to implement best management practices that could help
reduce the concentration of sediment, excess nutrients, or pesticides leaving the Basin. The
nutrients leaving the Tensas River Basin, combined with other Mississippi Valley watersheds,
are of concern to the Gulf of Mexico Program because research has shown that excess
nutrients cause hypoxia (<2 mg/1 oxygen) in the bottom waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This
condition represents a threat to the coastal marine ecosystem and fisheries in this region of the
Gulf. The landscape analysis methods described in this presentation will show how to use
these methods to assess the impact of human land use practices that are being implemented to
improve environmental quality.
In years past, the freshwater marshes, stream bank areas, and bottomland swamps of the
Tensas River Basin were under strong
development pressures Large portions of Professional Biography, Daniel Heggem
forest near streams and in backwater ^ Heggem fc ^ Environmental Research
swamp areas were converted to
agriculture. This loss of forested areas
interfered with the interaction of forested
wetlands with soil and water that removes
pollution before it enters streams, lakes,
and estuaries. Wetland forests also absorb
peak flows during floods and release the
water more slowly, reducing damage to
or restoring wetland forests have other
economic benefits such as wetland-based me Exxon Valdez oil spil, Dan is presently
recreation, including hunting and
harvesting wetland plants. The people
who live within the Tensas River Basin
realize that the vegetation along a stream
and in backswamp areas can influence the
condition of both the stream bank and the
Scientist with the Landscape Ecology Branch,
Environmental Sciences Division, Las Vegas
Nevada. He graduated with a degree in Biology
from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. He
worked at EPA Headquarters in Washington,
D.C. before he joined the EPA Research
Laboratory here in Las Vegas. Dan has worked
on many environmental projects dealing with
, . * , ... -n • water, soil, air, and monitoring ecological
downstream farms and ciues. Preserving .'. ' ' . ° rP..,, . ,
condition. Dan received the EPA s Gold Medal
for Exceptional Service for his work following
conducting research to develop measurements
of landscape characteristics and patterns and
understand the relationship between landscape
characteristics, as indicators of ecosystem
condition, and ecological values.
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water in the stream. Restoration efforts began in the early 1990s.
Combining Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers with remotely sensed data
is a powerful analysis method for ecological assessments. With this method, we were able to
look at land use practices over the past twenty years in the Tensas River Basin of Louisiana.
A simple land use classification was applied to multispectral scanner (MSS) data from 1972 to
1991. After combining existing GIS data with the classified MSS data, we were able to
identify potential forested wetland restoration sites.
Notice: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Research and
Development (ORD), funded this research and approved this abstract as a basis for an oral
presentation. The actual presentation has not been peer reviewed by EPA.
Habitat Restoration and Partnerships
Albert Rizzo
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Annapolis, MD
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife program is designed
to restore habitat primarily on private lands. To accomplish this task, the Service works in
concert with a variety of state agencies, soil and water conservation districts, non-government
organizations and other federal agencies. Since 1992, Partners for Fish and Wildlife ( PFW)
restoration efforts have historically focused on wetland environs which have resulted in the
restoration of 800 acres of wetlands. With the advent of ecosystem management strategies
and an enhanced emphasis on water quality in the Chesapeake Bay, PFW projects are
designed with a landscape context approach (matching habitat type to a site's maximum
potential within the appropriate landscape setting). Balancing the landowners desires with
mixed agency missions can be challenging. By communicating with all parties on their level,
these obstacles can be overcome with the end result being a quality habitat restoration and
most importantly, a contented landowner.
Wetland restoration techniques have evolved over the past decade into a hybrid of
standard engineering practices mixed with ecological and biogeochemical enhancements. By
choosing the appropriate landscape position and soil types, adequate hydrology to sustain a
wetland is easily accomplished. Commonly, PFW wetland restoration projects allow plant
communities to establish naturally from the soil seed bank or recruitment from adjacent
wetlands. If the site is not conducive to natural colonization, we have utilized standard
construction equipment to transplant 5- to 6-inch diameter trees, and 3- to 4- foot tall shrubs
with a resulting survival rate of 95 percent. The transplanted trees and shrubs provide vertical
and horizontal habitat structure as well as a source of germplasm. This technique has also
been employed on PFW projects to establish upland forest buffers around constructed
emergent wetlands. Microtopographic complexity is also necessary to maximize plant species
diversity. Agricultural lands have had the natural pit-mound topography graded out from years
of tillage. By leaving the site in a roughed condition with small hummocks and depression,
plant communities establish quicker due to seed scarification and lower soil bulk densities.
A low cost technique to establish hydrophytic emergent/forb vegetation on site with
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depleted seed banks and low recruitment potential, was developed by the PFW in conjunction
with the Delaware Department of Natural resources and Environmental Control. Wet
meadows with diverse assemblage of plant species are mowed and baled with conventional
hay making equipment. The 40 pound bales are easy to store and spread. We have spread the
mulch in "nurse" plots which serve as a germ plasm source for further site colonization. The
results from five trial sites have demonstrated the viability and cost effectiveness of this
technique.
Biogeochemical functions of wetlands are commonly misunderstood and overlooked in
wetland restoration projects. By amending exposed subsoils with organic matter, anaerobic
conditions are rapidly induced which results in greater rates of denitrification which is
important if the wetland is receiving
agricultural runoff. Organic matter in the
form of manures, straw, and logs have Professional Biography, Albert Rizzo
been used on PFW projects in Delaware. .Mr JJf20 **&* B.S. in Wildlife
and an M.S. in Sou Science from West Virginia
The logs not only provide habitat structure,
but contribute to long term organic carbon
inputs to the wetland system. Phosphorus
has been shown to become labile in
reducing environments which is of concern
in agricultural landscapes. PFW projects
comprised of excavated shallow
depressions and hummocks (which do not
impound water behind berms) have no
outfall pipes which eliminates the potential
for the release of "slugs" of water with low and wetlands-
dissolved oxygen concentrations and high
phosphorus concentrations.
University. He now works as the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and
Wildlife program Coordinator for Maryland and
Delaware. Working out of the Chesapeake Bay
Field Office in Annapolis, MD, his primary
duties involve field assessments, coordination,
and administration of habitat restoration
projects in Maryland and Delaware. He has 18
years of experience working with the restoration
of disturbed lands ( surface coal mined land)
Ecosystem Restoration And Management on The Nature Conservancy's
Disney Wilderness Preserve in Central Florida
Michael Duever
Disney Wilderness Preserve/The Nature Conservancy
Kissimmee, FL
The Disney Wilderness Preserve (DWP) is an 11,500-acre mitigation project located in
the headwaters of the Everglades watershed in central Florida. The site is located on a
peninsula, almost completely surrounded by extensive floodplains along several streams and
lakes. This setting means we control the watersheds aligned along the peninsula's ridgeline,
and thus, the hydrology of the numerous wetlands we are restoring within these watersheds. It
also means that we have excellent boundaries within which to conduct our prescribed burning
program, a crucial component for maintaining the site's natural communities. The Preserve's
large size and isolated setting has limited invasion of exotic plants. Those present at the time
of acquisition in 1992 have been largely eliminated, and a low level maintenance program
continues to control noxious exotics and nuisance natives.
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The Preserve is dominated by about 9,000 acres of hydric-to-xeric pine flatwoods
communities, with numerous embedded herbaceous and forested wetlands. We also have
portions of two large lakes and a stream. Extensive areas of lands upstream and downstream
are currently owned or are scheduled for acquisition by public land conservation agencies.
Listed species include bald eagles, scrub jays, and gopher tortoises. Management includes
protecting eagle nest trees from fire and human disturbance, and maintaining habitat for scrub
jays and gopher tortoises with our prescribed burning program.
Wetlands restoration and enhancement primarily involves filling ditches that were
draining about 2,000 acres of wetlands, along with preservation of surrounding uplands. The
goal is to restore natural ecosystem processes, particularly hydrologic and fire regimes, and
allow the system to recover on its own. We are relying on seedbanks and nearby seed sources
to facilitate recolonization of restored areas. This approach may take longer than would be
expected with standard restoration practices, but maintains the genetic integrity of the
communities and provides for a more diverse plant community distributed along natural
gradients present at each site.
As part of our efforts to restore the overall DWP ecosystem, we have initiated studies
designed to develop practical techniques for restoring 1,355 acres of improved pasture to pine
flatwoods. Currently there is no proven
technology available for eradicating exotic
pasture grasses and reestablishing the
diverse natural pine flatwoods ground
cover.
A major monitoring program is
evaluating restoration success as required
to meet our mitigation permit
requirements. At the same time, it is
providing a critical baseline for evaluating
our own land management activities and
the influence of future off-site activities on
the Preserve. This program currently
includes 56 vegetation monitoring
transects, 250 monitoring wells, and
numerous photopoints.
This large mitigation project is
providing resources on a scale not
normally available for the restoration and
long term management of a conservation
site. It is allowing us to effectively and
re-., , ., -+ , ., information in the development of realistic
efficiently restore the site, while , , . ,f. .... . ,
y wetland protection regulations. Mike received
documenting the entire process of
acquisition, restoration, monitoring, and
management, so the lessons learned can
help others.
Professional Biography, Michael Duever
Dr. Duever is project ecologist at The
Nature Conservancy's Disney Wilderness
Preserve (DWP) near Orlando, where he is in
charge of monitoring and research. The DWP is
an 11,500 acre mitigation site established to
offset impacts caused by development on
property owned by Walt Disney Imagineering
and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.
Prior to joining The Nature Conservancy in
1993, Mike worked for 20 years as Director of
the National Audubon Society's Ecosystem
Research Unit, which was based at Corkscrew
Swamp Sanctuary in southwest Florida. His
main interests are wetland ecology,
biohydrology, dendroecology, and natural area
management. He has conducted research on
these topics and worked with private and
governmental land managers at numerous sites
throughout the United States and northern Latin
America. He has also worked to apply this
his B.S. from the University of Illinois, and his
M.S.. in Zoology and Ph.D. in Forest Resources
from the University of Georgia.
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Restoration of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation
David M. Goshorn
Resource Assessment Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Annapolis, MD
Maryland and the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program have long placed high priority on the
restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation communities as part of the larger efforts to restore
and protect Chesapeake Bay. Historically, most of this effort has focused on improving
habitat (water) quality on the assumption that natural reestablishment of grass beds will
follow. This has proven to be the case hi many areas, and much success has been realized
through this strategy. However, there are substantial portions of Chesapeake Bay where
improvements in water quality have not resulted in subsequent reestablishment of grass beds.
One explanation is that adequate seed
sources no longer exist in these areas. To
promote restoration of grass communities
in these areas, several efforts have been ±e Living Resource Section. He received his
launched recently to plant SAV beds in the
anticipation that their presence will
promote greater reestablishment.
Maryland DNR is working with sister
agencies, schools, watermen, and private
individuals to develop a targeting system
for locating promising restoration sites and
then carry out public-based restoration
• 4. iu L _**!. r» directed at submerged aquatic vegetation.
projects throughout the Bay. & M &
Professional Biography, David Goshorn
Dr. Goshorn holds the position of Chief of
bachelor's degree from Bucknell University in
1984 and his Ph.D. in Marine Studies from the
University of Delaware in 1990, and also held a
post-doctoral position with University of
Georgia from 1990-1992. His current
responsibilities include the assessment of living
resources in the tidal waters of Maryland. This
includes habitat restoration efforts, primarily
Riparian Forest Restoration from the
Urban, Agricultural, and Forested Watershed Perspectives
Rob Northrop, Dan Hedderick, Bemadette Turner, and Wayne Merkel
Maryland Department of Natural Resources Forest Service
North East, MD
Riparian forests provide society with multiple ecological values, including the protection
and enhancement of water resources. For these reasons, the Maryland Department of Natural
Resources Forest Service has targeted riparian forest as a key habitat for restoration.
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The DNR-Forest Service is taking a
watershed based approach to assessing the
value of riparian forest efforts in restoring
ecosystem function and process at the site-
specific scale and at the watershed scale,
and providing guidance in targeting
assistance to its public and private
partners. Riparian forest restoration
strategies for specific watersheds are
tailored to meet the opportunities and
constraints imposed by land use patterns
present within the watershed.
Professional Biographies, Robert Northrop
and Wayne Merkel
Mr. Northrop began work with the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources in
1983 as a CFM Forester. He now works as the
Watershed Forester within the central region of
the state, where his responsibilities include
technical watershed planning assistance to a
variety of local, state, and federal projects
within the context of the Chesapeake Bay
restoration program. He is also an adjunct
faculty member, both for the University of
Delaware (Wildlife Management and Human
Dimensions of Wildlife Conservation) in
Newark, DE and Cecil Community College
(General Biology and Environmental Science)
in North East, MD.
Wayne Merkel is Project Manager for
Harford and Cecil Counties. He has 20 years of
experience providing forest management
services, afforestation/reforestation services,
urban and community forestry services, and
managing a State Forest.
Geohydrologic Foundations for Ecosystem Restoration: Modeling of
Baseflow Loadings of Nutrients in Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain Watersheds
M. M. Hantush1, L. J. Bachman2, S. R. Kraemer1, J. K. Bohlke2, D. E. Krantz2,
Jerome Cruz3, and J. M. Denver2
'National Risk Management Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Ada, OK
2USGS, 3MERSC
Elevated levels of nutrients have been implicated in the eutrophication of surface waters,
and may have contributed toward the decline of the living resources in the Chesapeake Bay. A
significant portion of nonpoint-source nutrient loading to the Chesapeake Bay is attributed to
groundwater discharge: approximately 60 percent of the fresh water in the Chesapeake Bay is
composed of base flow, with its associated load of nutrients. The effectiveness of water
quality management alternatives could be compromised by overlooking groundwater transport
of nutrients. Understanding of the role of the hydrologic landscapes and the subsurface flow in
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transporting nitrate from the source to surface waters, is essential for an effective ecosystem
restoration approach. A three-year cooperative research project between the U.S. EPA and the
USGS was initiated in October 1997 with the aims at developing an understanding of the role
of the subsurface water and its associated nutrient loading to Chester-River watershed of the
Delmarva peninsula, and to develop management tools (maps and models) supporting
ecosystem restoration goals. The study emphasizes a comprehensive modeling approach to
understand nitrate loading to a Chester-River watershed (Locust Grove, MD) in response to
historic nutrient loading at the source. Two-dimensional hydrogeomorphic maps and three-
dimensional geologic model of the surficial aquifer will be constructed to support residence-
time and nutrient yield analyses. The modeling approach implements three-dimensional
numerical models to simulate groundwater/surface water interactions, fate and transport of
nitrate in groundwater, and base-flow loading of nitrate to streams. The U.S. Geological
Survey will support the modeling effort by supplying bore holes for constructing the
geological model, and conducting spatial and synoptic field measurements of hydraulic and
water quality properties. On the basis of the calibrated and verified models, the impact of
source control, denitrification in shallow
marine sediments, and nitrate removal by
riparian zones will be investigated using
state-of-the-art graphical displays. The
results of this project can be viewed as
decision support tools by resources
managers and policy makers for ecosystem
restoration.
Professional Biography, Mohamed Hantush
Dr. Hantush holds a Ph.D. in Civil
Engineering from the University of California at
Davis. He works as a hydrologist with EPA's
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory in Ada, OK.
How Much Water Does a River Need?
Brian D. Richter
Freshwater Initiative, The Nature Conservancy
Hereford, AZ
The natural flow paradigm suggests that protecting the full range of natural hydrologic
variability, and associated characteristics of timing, duration, frequency, and rate of change, is
critical in sustaining the native biodiversity and ecological functions of freshwater
ecosystems. Thus, the natural flow paradigm answers the question posed by the title of this
presentation, and forms the goal of flow restoration efforts. Applying the natural flow
paradigm in riverine ecosystem conservation requires that we quantitatively define the natural
flow targets; characterize the degree of flow alteration that has transpired; and move forward
in an adaptive ecosystem management context toward natural flow restoration. We have
developed an "Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration" (IHA) method for assessing hydrologic
alteration at locations where daily hydrologic records are available (e.g., USGS stream
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gauges). The method is based upon an evaluation of 33 different hydrologic parameters
describing the magnitude, timing, duration, frequency, and rates of change in hydrologic
conditions. This method reveals the
direction and magnitude of hydrologic
alterations associated with various human
activities such as river damming or
diversion, watershed conversion for
agriculture or silvicultural use, ground
water pumping, etc. When human land
and water uses have pushed one or more of
the IHA parameters outside of their natural
range of variation, native biodiversity and
natural ecosystem functions may be
compromised. Ecosystem or biodiversity
managers will want to consider
alternatives for restoring natural flow
characteristics, such as through modifying
reservoir operations or stream diversion
practices, restoring wetland or riparian
areas and associated functions within a
watershed, etc. Some examples of such
restorative efforts will be presented hi this
talk.
Professional Biography, Brian Richter
Mr. Richter is the Director of The Nature
Conservancy's new Freshwater Initiative. He
has served as the Conservancy's National
Biohydrologist during most of his 11 years with
the organization. His new responsibilities
include serving as a liaison to public agencies
and other organizations involved in freshwater
conservation, and leadership of a staff that
includes other biohydrologists, aquatic
ecologists, and educators. He works with
science staff and conservation project teams
across the U.S. and internationally to identify
key hydrologic processes supporting biotic
diversity, assess stresses to these processes, and
design conservation strategies for restoring
desired hydrologic conditions. He has
published numerous scientific papers on the
importance of restoring natural flow regimes, in
journals such as Conservation Biology,
Freshwater Biology, and BioScience.
Southwestern Riparian Sustainability
and Restoration in a Man-made Ecosystem
Nita Tallent-Halsell
National Exposure Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Las Vegas, NV
Southwestern, man-made riparian ecosystem reproduction and sustainability is adversely
affected by dramatic water-level fluctuations, increased soil salinization and interspecific
competition. Often these adverse conditions make natural reproduction and artificial
restoration efforts unsuccessful, driving existing communities to extinction. The effects of
these conditions were studied on existing and introduced Goodding willows (Salix
gooddingii) at Lake Mohave, a lower Colorado River impoundment bordering Nevada and
Arizona. Restoration research was conducted in a two tiered approach through first
characterizing existing stand habitat then following with greenhouse experiments. To
characterize the shoreline, vegetation measurements and soil samples were collected at
thirty-four 2,500 m2 plots established along the 100 km shoreline. This survey revealed that
there is a significant difference (p = .0002) between elevations at which S. gooddingii
(194.43 ± .84 m) and the invader Tamarix ramosissima (195.10 ± .55 m) establish. These
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results suggest shoreline flooding suppresses T. ramosissima invasion into the flooded S.
gooddingii-dominated zone. Additionally, I found that most willows are found in
monospecific stands where individuals are the same height, suggesting clonal reproduction.
Their survival depends on their ability to withstand 10 months of inundation per year. Such
extended periods of inundation have inhibited seed germination and establishment of cuttings
even though viable seeds are being produced. Such conditions are also prohibiting
out-planting success. At 95 percent of the sites with willow, herbivory by beaver (Castor
canadensis) and wind breakage were strongly evident. Active beaver dens were found at five
of the 53 sample sites. Invasion of saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) into adjacent willow
stands is restricted by the lower flood tolerance of saltcedar.
Greenhouse experiments were conducted to study the response of the dominant native, S.
gooddingii and introduced T. ramosissima to different water levels and soil types comparable
to those influencing Lake Mohave riparian plant communities. Cuttings were grown in sand or
a sand-gravel mix in either inundated, surface-saturated or dry soils in a 2 x 2 x 3 factorial
design. Survival was significantly higher (p = .0010) for both species (T. ramosissima 91
percent and S. gooddingii 82.5 percent) in surface-saturated soils. The within-species biomass
was significantly different between water levels (p = .0000). The between species biomass
was higher for the T. ramosissima cutting grown in surface-saturated arid dry soils. Least
growth and highest mortality (for both species combined, 71 percent) resulted when
plants were kept flooded. My greenhouse
results suggest that S. gooddingii cuttings
are not flood-tolerant and therefore should
not be outplanted at the lower elevational
limit of mature S. gooddingii nor should be
inundated during establishment Based on
this research I suggest that shifting the
water-level cycle (lower the water level) to
correspond to the natural reproductive
i f i_ o jj- r Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada. She has worked
cycle of the 5. gooddingii may favor _ __. D e ' , . . T .,
J ° ° J at the EPA Research Laboratory in Las Vegas
establishment of seedlings and artificial
cuttings. However, it may also increase
interspecific competition from T.
ramosissima.
Notice: The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), through its
Office of Research and Development
(ORD), funded this research and approved Her curren! reseafch has focused on *e f
this abstract as a basis for an oral sustainability and restoration potential of
presentation. The actual presentation has
not been peer reviewed by EPA.
Professional Biography, Nita
Tallent-Halsell
Ms. Tallent-Halsell is a Research
Environmental Scientist with the Landscape
Ecology Branch, Environmental Sciences
Division, Las Vegas Nevada. She earned her
B.S. and M.S. in Biology from the University of
for nine years, first as a contractor with
Lockheed Martin then as a Natural Resource
Specialist with the U.S. Department of Interior,
Bureau of Land Management and for the past
four years as an EPA employee. Nita has
worked on many environmental projects dealing
with surface waters, forest health, rangeland
health, and monitoring ecological condition.
riparian ecosystems on the regulated waterways
using a watershed and landscape ecology
approach.
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Preliminary Downstream Hydraulic Geometry Relationships
for Hydro-physiographic Provinces in MD
Tamara L. McCandless and Richard A. Everett
U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service
Chesapeake Bay Coastal Ecosystem Program
Annapolis, MD
Increasingly, engineers and environmental managers are attempting to design with, rather
than against, the natural tendencies of rivers in flood protection, channel stabilization, stream
crossing, channel realignment, and watershed management projects. There is also a great
interest hi restoring the physical, biological, and aesthetic characteristics of previously
degraded rivers. For both these endeavors, designers need to predict the dimension, pattern,
and profile of natural rivers.
Empirical relationships between dimensions of bankfull channel geometry (i. e., width,
depth, meander length) and water discharge or drainage area have long been found useful in
designing and evaluating river channels. An increasing number of river channel design
approaches require or recommend the use of such relationships. As with all empirical
relationships, the applicability of the derived predictive equations is limited to rivers similar to
those providing the data. Thus, empirical relationships for channel geometry must be
developed for specific hydro-physiographic regions with relatively homogeneous climate,
geology, and vegetation.
The U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service and the Maryland State
Highway Administration are developing regional hydraulic geometry relationships for the five
major hydro-physiographic regions in Maryland. The first phase of the study involves
detailed channel geometry surveys at 26 active stream gages operated by the Maryland-
Delaware-DC District of the U. S. Geological Survey in the Piedmont region. Later phases of
the study, tentatively scheduled for 1999, will address the Coastal Plain, Blue Ridge, Ridge
and Valley, and Appalachian Plateau provinces.
Channel surveys and gage flow
records are used to establish discharge
magnitudes, recurrence intervals, cross-
section, planform, and longitudinal profile
dimensions corresponding to the bankfull
stage. Preliminary data reveal correlations
between drainage area and bankfull
channel dimensions and discharge.
Comparisons with relationships for other
regions hi eastern North America, and a
limited set of data from other
physiographic regions in Maryland,
suggest there are significant differences hi
the relationships between drainage area
and bankfull channel characteristics.
Professional Biographies, Tamara
McCandless and Richard Everett
Ms. McCandless is a habitat restoration
specialist and is a program co-leader for the
River Assessment and Restoration Program.
She holds a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in
Environmental Science from Indiana University.
Richard Everett is a biologist and co-leader
of the River Assessment and Restoration
Program. He holds a B.A. in Biology from the
University of California, Santa Cruz and a
Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of
California, Berkeley.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Large River Ecosystem Criteria Initiative
Susan P. Davies
Health and Ecological Criteria Division
US EPA
Washington, DC and
Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Augusta, ME
The United States Environmental Protection Agency is developing technical guidance for
bioassessment and biocriteria for non-wadeable rivers and riverine impoundments. In contrast
to wadeable streams, few states have experience assessing the biota of deep rivers, although
they are the site of the majority of point source and hydrologic modification impacts. Issues
to be addressed range from straightforward re-scaling of traditional stream biological
assessment approaches to account for non-wadeable conditions, to a comprehensive
restructuring of technical, regulatory and public policy approaches to accommodate an holistic
ecosystem management perspective. Technical issues include the need to assess multiple,.
interacting ecosystem components, issues of expanded temporal and spatial scales, the paucity
of reference conditions, and difficulties establishing criteria to "restore and
maintain...biological integrity" (U.S. Clean
Water Act) hi highly altered, unnatural
waterbodies. Public policy issues include
difficulties establishing criteria for
resources that traverse political
boundaries, and conflicting uses,
longitudinally as well as between Protection <**??>to *e United States
Environmental Protection Agency in
ecological and human values. A
multidisciplinary scoping panel of senior
aquatic scientists was convened in April,
1998 to identify critical scientific issues
for the development of criteria for
non-wadeable rivers. Criteria protective of
ecological integrity should address biota,
habitat, hydrology and water quality in an
integrated, multidisciplinary approach that
allows for data interpretation from the
basin-level to the macrohabitat scale.
Professional Biography, Susan Davies
Susan Davies is a river and stream benthic
biologist. She is currently on detail, from the
State of Maine Department of Environmental
Washington, D.C. She was recruited by the US
EPA Health and Ecological Criteria Division of
the Office of Water, Office of Science and
Technology, Bio-Criteria Program to initiate
technical guidance development for
bioassessment and biocriteria for non-wadeable
rivers. She has been an employee of the MDEP
for 16 years, where she directs the state's
Biological Monitoring and Criteria Program.
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Anadromous Fish Restoration
R. Scott Carney
Anadromous Fish Restoration Coordinator
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
PFBC Benner Spring Fish Research Station
State College, PA
At the turn of the century, American shad Alosa sapidissima were abundant in
Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River and tributaries with spring spawning migrations
supporting extensive fisheries throughout the basin. Overfishing, pollution, and loss of
spawning habitat through the construction of dams, reduced shad numbers. The final demise
of the American shad and other migratory fishes in the Susquehanna basin came between
1904 and 1932 with the construction of four hydroelectric dams in the lower 88 km of river.
Available spawning habitat was reduced by 99 percent. Since the early 1960s, federal and
state fisheries agencies and fisheries interests have worked cooperatively with private utilities
to restore American shad and other migratory fishes to the Susquehanna River. Spawning
habitat suitability and fish passage feasibility studies were completed during the 1960s.
Cooperative agreements among the parties were reached in 1970,1982,1985,1988, and 1993
which lead to the development offish trapping and passage facilities, stocking of adult shad
and river herring Alosa aestivalis, Alosa pseudoharengus into spawning areas above all dams,
construction and operation of a shad hatchery, and studies related to monitoring downstream
passage of juvenile shad, turbine survival, and stock assessment. Present day restoration
efforts are conducted under the auspices of the Susquehanna River Anadromous Fish
Restoration Cooperative whose membership includes U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National
Marine Fisheries Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Fish and
Boat Commission, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, and the
Susquehanna River Basin Commission. The Committee oversees all restoration activities,
develops annual work plans, and tracks expenditures amounting to over $400,000 each year.
Utility companies have additionally spent several hundred thousand dollars each year for trap
and transfer of adult shad and herring, and turbine survival and passage studies at their
projects. Funding provided by the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program has been used to conduct
an inventory of blockages to fish migration on tributaries to the Susquehanna, develop fish
passage at blockages, and support PFBC's Anadromous Fish Restoration Coordinator
position. A multi-million dollar fish lift was completed and began operation at Conowingo
Dam in 1991. An agreement with the licensees of the three upstream hydroelectric projects in
Pennsylvania resulted in the construction of similar facilities at Holtwood and Safe Harbor
which began operation in 1997 and York Haven which is scheduled to have fish passage hi
place by 2000. With the completion offish passage at York Haven, over 400 miles of main
stem river spawning habitat will be re-opened along with several hundred miles of tributaries.
PFBC Van Dyke Research Station for Anadromous Fishes has stocked over 150 million shad
fry and fingerlings since its establishment in 1976. Since the 1970s, the catch of American
shad in fish lifts at Conowingo increased from a few hundred to a record 104,000 in 1997.
Based on analysis of otoliths of returning shad in recent years, hatchery contribution has
ranged from 45 to 70 percent. Ultimate goals of the program is to develop self-sustaining runs
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of 2 million American shad and 15 million
river herring above all dams in the
Susquehanna River. At this level, it is
estimated that over 500,000 sport angling
trips will be created annually generating
$30 million for local communities. The
program to restore American shad and
other migratory fishes to their historic
range in the Susquehanna drainage is one
of the largest of its kind ever envisioned
and has been a model of persistence,
cooperation and long-term commitment
among federal and state fisheries agencies,
fisheries interests, and private utility
companies.
Professional Biography, Scott Carney
Mr. Carney received a B. S. in
Environmental Resource Management from the
Pennsylvania State University and his M.S. in
Biology from Clarion University of
Pennsylvania. He works out of the PFBC
Benner Spring Fish Research Station, State
College, PA. He has been employed by PFBC
for six years. Past employers include the
Virginia Department of Game and Inland
Fisheries and U. S. Forest Service. He is
President of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the
American Fisheries Society.
Forest Fragmentation in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed:
Addressing its Impacts and Seeking Solutions
Richard A. Cooksey
USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Area
Annapolis, MD
In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, forests are the dominant land cover at 59 percent of the
land base or 24 million of the 41 million acres in the basin. However, we are losing forest
land at more than 100 acres per day, mostly due to development. Forests are being
fragmented by sprawling development patterns that carve into unbroken tracts of forest, and
frequently change associated land ownerships from one owner to many as the land area is
parcelized. The results of this loss of contiguous forest and land ownership contiguity is
potentially negative for our forest ecosystems' ability to protect water quality, provide diverse
habitat, and as a viable economic resource to provide recreation, timber and other forest
products.
Forest fragmentation can have several meanings, but the term has been widely used to
describe various removals of forest overstory; ranging from small to large areas, temporary to
permanent But, put simply, it is the process by which larger contiguous forest lands are
broken into smaller, more isolated fragments or islands, surrounded by human-modified
environments — agriculture and urban land uses. The importance of such removals and "forest
islands" to wildlife, fish, and people habitats, is directly related to their size and permanence.
The area of greatest concern and primary focus of the Bay's effort is the effects on forest lands
with long-term or permanent conversion to non-forest use.
The U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Area, State and Private Forestry (S&PF), Society
of American Foresters (SAP) and the Chesapeake Bay Program (CBP) have formed a
partnership to assess the impacts of forest fragmentation and find ways to address it. The
Forestry Workgroup (FWG) of the CBP, which has representatives from each Bay state
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forestry agency, federal agencies, industry,
and nonprofit organizations, has concluded
that forest fragmentation is occurring in
the Bay states and that the declining forest
land base, forest fragmentation, and
ownership parcelization are among the
most important issues facing forest
management today, with possible
ecological and economic consequences.
The Bay Workgroup are focusing on three
key areas to study forest fragmentation and
to ultimately develop recommendations
and sensible conservation and restoration
solutions. They are:
1. A better scientific definition and
characterization of forest
fragmentation in the context of
various management objectives;
2. Data showing the current condition
and trends; and
3. Consensus on the issues related to
fragmentation and its impacts, with
input from the scientific,
management, and stakeholder
communities.
Professional Biography, Richard Cooksey
Mr. Cooksey has a diverse background
which includes training in social science, law,
finance, forest resource management and policy.
Rick holds a B.A. in social science from
Western Connecticut State University and an
M.S. in Forestry from the University of New
Hampshire that focused on forest economic
applications to forest conservation policy. He
works for the USDA Forest Service, State and
Private Forestry, Northeastern Area and is
currently a liaison to the Chesapeake Bay
Program in Annapolis, Maryland. Rick assists
in developing Bay Program, Forest Service, and
State policies and programs related to forest
resources. He represents the Forest Service on
Bay Program task forces and implementation
committees, and serves as the principal staff for
its Forestry Work Group. As liaison, Rick
works to integrate forests as part of solution to
Bay restoration issues and integrates forest
resource planning and consensus-building into
land use and water quality programs. Rick has
written many articles related to the status and
trends of forests in the Bay region, forest
conservation strategies and planning, the
economics of riparian forest buffers to
landowners, riparian forest dynamics, and forest
fragmentation.
Maintenance and Restoration of Northern Spotted Owl
Habitat in the Pacific Northwest
Thrailkill, James A., R.G. Anthony, E.D. Forsman1, and K.A. Swindle2
!USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
Corvallis, OR
2Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon
State University
Corvallis, OR
Forest ecosystems hi the Pacific Northwest have been markedly altered by past land
management activities carried out to implement public policy. As a result of these activities,
significant fragmentation and reduction in the amount of old-growth (200 years and older)
forest occurred over the past 25 years. Changing social values, in conjunction with a greater
scientific understanding of the effects of past management practices on fish and wildlife, have
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resulted in a closer scrutiny of the consequences of forest management practices on public
lands. Consequently, listing under the Endangered Species Act of the northern spotted owl
(Strix occidentalis caurind) have occurred (1990). Studies of the northern spotted owl during
the last 20 years have shown the subspecies to be strongly associated with late-
successional/old-growth forests throughout much of its range in the Pacific Northwest, leading
to much stronger efforts to protect remaining late-successional habitat.
hi 1993, the Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team developed the Northwest
Forest Plan (NWFP). A primary objective of the NWFP is to ensure the long-term
maintenance and restoration of late-successional habitat conditions in the Pacific Northwest,
which will lead to a well-distributed and viable population of spotted owls. To accomplish
this, a system of late-successional reserves (LSRs) were established, in part, as a means of
achieving recovery of the northern spotted owl. Two prominent factors related to the owl were
considered in this reserve design: 1) appropriately sized reserves for demographic
considerations and 2) reserve spacing to
facilitate genetic interchange In addition, Professional Biographyi James Tfortw
where disturbance has set back succession ^ ThrailkUI is a Faculty Research
within the LSRs, management strategies
such as the use of silvicultural treatments
in forest plantations have been suggested
to hasten restoration of late-successional
conditions.
Monitoring of late-successional forest
amount and process is a key component
under the NWFP. Monitoring, as it relates
to northern spotted owls, includes the . _ . T , .
, r- i j i-- served as Project Leader on a succession of
continued assessment of owl demographic ^^ ^ research projects ^ ^^ he
trends in response to the LSR system and
habitat restoration activities. We provide
an overview of the range-wide
demographic and habitat monitoring
strategy for spotted owls under the NWFP,
our study's role in this strategy, and
examples of planned habitat restoration
activities.
Assistant and Project Leader for the Central
Oregon Cascades Northern Spotted Owl
Ecology Research Project. He is employed by
the Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
Research Unit, located in the Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State
University, Corvallis, OR. He has worked for
the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit for
10 years. During this time, he has
has served on several other projects studying
the relationships of forest-wildlife species in
Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
He holds a B.S. in Wildlife Science and a
minor in Forestry from Humboldt State
University, Arcata, CA.
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The Landscape Project: New Jersey's Ecosystem
Approach to the Conservation of Biodiversity
Lawrence J. Niles, Chief and M. Valent, Zoologist
Endangered and Nongame Species Program
New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife
Trenton, NJ
The primary goal of the Landscape Project is to create a large scale and long-term
perspective for the protection of our state's wildlife diversity. Animals need a variety of
habitats that are both interconnected and of sufficient size to support viable populations. We
see this as necessary if we are to preserve wildlife populations into the next generation.
The second goal is to provide a usable mechanism for integrating habitat protection needs
into existing systems. The Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) will provide
agencies within the NJ Department of Environmental Protection with digital and hard copy
maps depicting critical areas for rare species. The ENSP will also provide technical support
for interpreting critical areas maps as well as helping users to realize the strengths and
limitations of the products. The maps will help guide land acquisition, habitat management,
the purchase of development rights, and easements, CAFRA and freshwater wetland permits
(under the current policy), state planning, and other land protection initiatives. The maps are
not intended to delineate regulatory boundaries but instead will serve as a guide for identifying
the most important critical areas of rare species habitats. The products from the Landscape
Project will provide users with the ability to understand the long-term needs of wildlife. At
this point the ENSP intends to use the data from the Landscape Project to guide existing
protection efforts. However, the products will be useful to any future protection initiatives
that may arise.
Finally, products from the Landscape Project will be made available to any individual,
group or agency that has a need for this type of information. This may include local and
county planning boards, county open space
programs, consultants and any other
individual or organization that can benefit
from it.
T-» * *u • + A A „„««. nf +v,~ Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife s
Due to the intended uses
, , _ , T , Endangered and Nongame Species Program and
products generated from the Landscape has ^ ^ itionsfor mePlast cight *ears
Project, it is essential that the information
be updated on a frequent and regular basis.
We are currently working to develop
habitat classifications based on reflectance
values from satellite images. The work
has already been completed for the
Delaware Bay Landscape and is underway
for the Highlands Landscape. Once
completed, we will have the ability to
, i I_M * A
update our habitat maps as often as ^^ ^ .^ eco,ogy ^ protection
necessary.
The Landscape Project has, from its
Professional Biography, Larry Niles
Dr. Niles is now Chief of the New Jersey
He has worked with the Endangered and
Nongame Species Program since 1982 and,
prior to that, as a regional biologist for Georgia
Fish and Game for five years. He received his
Ph.D. in Ecology at Rutgers University, his
dissertation focusing on migrant bird ecology.
He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from
Penn State University. His primary research
interests are landscape level protection of rare
and endangered species, as well as migrant
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inception, been a cooperative partnership and we have maintained regular interaction with
experts from a variety of disciplines in an attempt to stay on the cutting edge of wildlife
science. It is our intention to provide users with the most useful, accurate and up-to-date
products available.
Managing Restoration Projects for Functional and Structural Objectives
John R. Heckman
Roy F. Weston, Inc
Lakewood, CO
John Cairns, Jr.
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA
Restoration projects need to be designed with specific, measurable performance goals
integrated within the project's entire life cycle. To meet the challenges of ecological
sustainability, these goals must include two categories: structural components chosen to
ensure compatibility with the surrounding landscape and functional components chosen to
ensure the broader provision of ecological services within a human-dominated ecosystem.
The authors explore the requirements for these goals through experiences in three areas: 1)
field experiments designed to compare functional and structural measurements of restoration
success on disturbed old-field sites, 2) management programs on active landfills that included
restoration activities concurrent to the actual disturbance, and 3) comparisons of natural vs.
facilitated succession on reclaimed coal mined land in southwestern Virginia. Functional
objectives prove to have more difficult
data collection challenges but they are far
from insurmountable and offer specific
benefits unavailable from structural
measurements. Chief among the benefits
is the ability to extrapolate functional
measurements to economically important
ecological services. Well-designed
restoration projects should take both types
of objectives into account; the resulting
data may be extremely important for
, , x, i • i j Management Group at Roy F. Weston, Inc.
monitoring both the ecological and & *
economic importance of restoration.
Professional Biography, John Heckman
Dr. Heckman's research has focused on the
interplay between structural and functional
methods for assessing restoration success. It
has involved a variety of ecosystem restoration
experiments as a part of the Virginia Tech
Center for Environmental Studies, the Powell
River Project, and the Rocky Mountain
Biological Station. He is currently a Scientist
and Project Manager within the Strategic
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Disease, Insects, and "Exotic" Ecosystems:
Implications for Restoration Goals
William J. Otrosina
USDA Forest Service, Tree Root Biology
Athens, GA
The potential exists for novel disease problems to arise as a consequence of ecosystem
restoration efforts. A case in point is the longleaf pine ecosystem in the southeastern United
States. This tree species once occupied nearly 30 million ha but now its range is reduced to
approximately 1.5 million ha. Restoring this species to many sites in its former range is an
important goal involving several natural resource organizations. Increased mortality has been
observed in 30-40 year-old stands on many sites where this tree species was established. This
mortality is associated with prescribed burning. Several species of root infecting fungi
(Leptographium species, Heterobasidion annosum) and certain root colonizing insects are
also associated with this mortality. However, longleaf pine has evolved with frequent fires
and is dependent upon fire for successful regeneration and for maintenance of stand health.
This tree species is generally regarded to be either resistant to or highly tolerant of these fungi.
It may be that many sites no longer have certain edaphic and environmental conditions under
which the species evolved. Such "exotic" ecosystems may result from altered fire regimes,
changes in soil conditions, or many other factors that create mal-adaptation of a given species
to current conditions. Why, in a species
that has evolved for eons with fire and is
dependent upon regular fire regimes, are
we now observing root pathogenic fungi
that heretofore have not been regarded as
pathogens in this tree species? What role
do these fungi play in mortality and
productivity loss in affected stands?
Could the presence of these fungi serve as
indicators of ecosystem health and
therefore a measure of success at
restoration? The answers to these
questions are important in assessing the
degree of success in restoration, for
addressing potential problems, and for
increasing awareness of the potential that
exists for unforseen problems to arise
through the course of restoration efforts in
other ecosystems.
Professional Biography, William Otrosina
Dr. Otrosina is a Research Plant (Forest)
Pathologist, USDA Forest Service, Southern
Research Station, Tree Root Biology Team,
Athens, Georgia. His research interests include
root diseases, causal fungi, and their ecological
relationships with forest ecosystems. Effects of
prescribed burning, disturbances, and stress on
susceptibility to insects and diseases. Also,
research on root disease-bark beetle
interactions. Prior to coming to Georgia, he
was with USDA FS at the Pacific Southwest
Research Station in Berkeley and Albany,
California as Research Forest Pathologist. He
studied root disease- insect interactions and
population structure of root disease fungi. He
hold a B.S. in forestry from Penn State
University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in forestry
from the University of Georgia .
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Twenty-year Woody Vegetation Changes in Northeastern Illinois
Upland Forest Ecosystems and Their Management
and Restoration Implications
Marlin Bowles, Jenny McBride, Christopher Dunn, Michael Jones, & Tim Bell
The Morton Arboretum
Lisle, IL
Conservationists in the upper Midwest are concerned that forest fragmentation and loss
of natural processes such as fire allow an increase in shade-tolerant fire-intolerant maples and
a decline of fire-adapted shade-intolerant oaks and understory species. The expected result is
a negative impact on forest biodiversity. We tested these hypotheses by resampling woody
vegetation in 28 old growth forest stands comprising a species gradient dominated by maple,
red oak, and white oak. The results were compared with data collected from these stands in
1976, allowing temporal comparison of changes in composition and structure within and
among stands. Maple stem densities and basal area increased in both lower and upper size
classes in maple and red oak stands. But in white oak stands, maples were less abundant and
increased only in lower size classes. Substantial declines occurred across all stands for
density and basal area of mid-size class oaks, and for density and species richness of shrub
layer vegetation. Because oak and shrub layer decline was significant in white oak stands that
had little maple invasion, other factors must be involved. We attribute these changes to a
combination of reduced fire and other historic disturbance processes allowing canopy closure
associated with forest development and maturation, and a shift from wide-scale disturbance to
canopy gap-dynamics in old-growth stands. Ground layer species richness was lowest in
maple stands and highest hi white oak
stands, probably due to greater shade under
maple canopy cover. Browsing from
white-tail deer was frequent and has
reduced shrub and ground layer species in
some stands. These changes indicate that
loss of structural and biological diversity A, *-,,,. *,<,*•
, , . i j i r _* • Arboretum. He holds an M.S. from the
has occurred in maple and oak forests in TT . . ~TI1. . ,TT,
J, University of Illinois at Urbana.
the past 20 years. Forest ecosystem
management and restoration priorities and
research needs will be discussed.
Professional Biography, Marlin Bowles
Mr. Bowles is a plant conservation biologist
and administers the Morton Arboretum Rare
Plant Program and conducts research on
vegetation management at the Morton
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The Sawmill Creek Watershed Restoration Project
Larry Lubbers
Watershed Assessment & Targeting Program
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Annapolis, MD
The Sawmill Creek project is a comprehensive watershed restoration effort. The goal is
to demonstrate that existing programs can be coordinated in order to improve water quality
and habitat for living resources. Coordination of multiple restoration projects has been key to
addressing the cumulative impacts in the
watershed.
Water quantity management includes
reducing stormwater discharge rates and
increasing stream base flow. Habitat
improvement projects were designed to
match the best possible stormwater
discharge rates. The habitat projects
include stabilizing and revegetating 1,737
meters of eroded stream channels with
natural materials. These projects will
provide sediment and erosion control as
well as restore fish, invertebrate, and
riparian habitat and eliminate five fish
passage blockages.
Water quality improvements include
reducing nutrient loadings through bio-
retention as well as isolating and treating
deicing chemicals associated with airport
storm water valley runoff. Funding for
most of these restoration projects has been
incorporated into existing budgets for the
development and maintenance of the
business and community infrastructure.
Professional Biography, Larry Lubbers
Mr. Lubbers has been employed by the
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
since 1985. His original position in the
Fisheries Division was to review state and
federal environmental permits to provide
recommendations on how to minimize impacts
to aquatic resources. Currently, he is Chief of
the Watershed Assessment & Targeting
Program where he works with local
communities and other government agencies to
develop and implement watershed restoration
and management plans. He also is the
Restoration Team Leader for the multi-agency
Sawmill Creek Targeted Watershed Project. He
has also worked at the University of Maryland's
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory where he
performed research on estuarine nutrient
cycling, fish population dynamics, and
ecological characterizations of submerged
vascular plant communities.
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Development of Isotope Hydrology Techniques for Resolution
of Recharge-discharge Processes in Natural and Constructed Wetlands:
Application to the Grand Kankakee Marsh Within
the Calumet Lacustrine Plain Ecosystem
William C. Sidle1 Leslie D. Arihood2 Randy Bayless3 Noel Pavlovic4
'National Risk Mananagement Research Laboratory
U.S. EPA
Cincinnati, OH
2USGS, WRD, Indiana District Office, Indianapolis, 3USGS, WRD, Indiana District Office,
Indianapolis, 4USGS, BRD, Porter
Recharge-discharge processes influence wetland functions in an ecosystem. Efforts to
restore and construct wetlands are constrained by insufficient hydrologic information
pertaining to water sources, pathways, and residence times contributing to a water budget. It
is generally uncertain if developed wetlands will evolve into sinks for contaminants and
transported into receiving waters; or evolve into infiltration galleries recharging local water
supplies.
This research investigates how environmental isotopes can better define hydrologic
processes occurring in the Grand Kankakee Marsh, once the largest wetland in Midwest
America hi the last century. Intensive efforts to reconstruct this ecosystem of northern Indiana
has prompted a revaluation of the regional hydrologic regime which was altered by decades of
channelization, ditching, and over-withdrawals of local aquifers.
Naturally-occurring isotopes hi surface waters and ground waters are direct tracers of
fluid properties of the water cycle. These stable and radiogenic isotopes can be measured with
unproved precision such that water sources, flow pathways, and residence times may be
distinguished. Isotope behavior in dissolved gases, solutes, and in the water molecule permit
less ambiguous evidence of transport phenomenon than is gained from chemical analyses.
Isotope analyses will be integrated with water quality analyses and hydrologic
measurements hi monthly intervals over three years. Measured isotopes include the water
isotopes (0-18, H-2, H-3), stable solute isotopes (C-13, N-15, S-34), and specific
radionuclides (Sr-87, Pb-210, Pb206-208, C-14, Kr-85, He-3, and Cl-36). Ongoing flow
modeling in the Kankakee watershed will be updated and telescoped to include a finer mesh
of transport simulations based on isotope data. The combined GIS-formatted database will aid
the performance assessment of individual isotopes hi discerning stressor transport processes.
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Session I- Plenary
Lee A. Mulkey
Associate Director of Ecology
National Risk Management Research Lab.
U.S. EPA
26 W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45268
513-569-7689
513-569-7549 (fax)
mulkey.lee@epamail.epa.gov
Stanley L. Laskowski
Director, Environmental Services Division
U.S. EPA, Region III
1650 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029
215-814-2989
215-814-2783 (fax)
laskowski.stanley@epamail.epa.gov
Glenn Suter
U.S. EPA, NCEA
26. W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45268
513-569-7808
513-569-7475 (fax)
suter.glenn@epamail.epa.gov
Eric Jorgensen
U.S. EPA,NRMRL
919 Research Dr.
Ada, OK 74820
580-436-8545
580-436-8703 (fax)
jorgensen.eric@epamail.epa.gov
George Gann
Society for Ecological Restoration
Chair, Board of Directors
Institute for Regional Conservation
22601 SW152ndAve.
Miami, FL 33170
305-247-6547
305-245-9797 (fax)
gannl@gate.net
Milt Friend
USGS-WRD
8505 Research Way
Middleton, WI 53562
608-821-3859
608-821-3817 (fax)
Milton_Friend@usgs.gov
Session II - Management Issues/Case
Studies
Kent Thornton
FTN Associates, Ltd.
3 Innwood Circle, Ste. 220
Little Rock, AR 72211
501-225-7779
501-225-6738 (fax)
kwt@ftn-assoc.com
Jeff Farrah
Wayne State University
Department of Political Science
609 St. Louis
Ferndale, MI 48220
248-541-2069
j farrah@igc.apc.org
Steve Funderburk
Chief, Living Resources Branch
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Chesapeake Bay Field Office
177 Admiral Cochrane Dr.
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-4555
410-224-2781 (fax)
steve_funderburk@fws.gov
Tim Canfied
U.S. EPA
R.S. Kerr Environmental Research Center
919 Kerr Research Dr.
Ada, OK 74820
580-436-8535
580-436-8703 (fax)
canfield.tim@epamail.epa.gov
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R. Peter Richards
Water Quality Laboratory
Heidelberg College
310 East Market Street
Tiffin, OH 44883
419-448-2313
419-448-2124 (fax)
prichard@nike.heidelerg.edu
Sudhir Kshirsagar
Global Quality Corp.
7828 Beechmont Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45255
513-474-9780
513-474-9781 (fax)
president@gqc.com
Paul Koch
Pacific Environmental Services
4700 Duke Dr., Suite 150
Mason, OH 45050
513-398-2446
513-398-3342 (fax)
pkoch@cin.pes.com
Rochelle Araujo
Ecosystems Research Division
U.S. EPA
960 College Station Road
Athens GA 30605-2700
706-355-8133
706-355-8104 (fax)
araujo.rochelle@epamail.epa.gov
Session III - Mid-Atlantic Integrated
Assessment
Tom DeMoss
U.S. EPA
201 Defense Highway, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21410
410-573-2739
410-573-2771 (fax)
demoss.thomas@epamail.epa.gov
Frederick W. (Rick) Kutz
U.S. EPA
201 Defense Highway, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-2742
410-573-2771 (fax)
kutz.rick@epamail.epa.gov
Ronald B. Landy
U.S. EPA
201 Defense Highway, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-2757
410-573-2771 (fax)
landy.ronald@epamail.epa.gov
Session IV- Wetlands & Shallow Waters
Jerry Stober
Science and Ecosystem Support Division
U.S. EPA, Region IV
980 College Station Road
Athens, GA 30605-2700
706-355-8705
706-355-8726 (fax)
stober.j erry@epamail.epa.gov
Stephen M. Smith
South Florida Water Management District
Everglades Systems Research Division
Ecosystems Restoration Department
3301 Gun Club Road
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
561-682-2844
561-687-6442 (fax)
stephen.smith@sfwmd.gov
Christopher C. Spaur
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore
District
Attn: CENAB-PL-P
P.O. Box 1715
Baltimore, MD 21203-1715
410-962-6134
410-962-2948 (fax)
Christopher.C.Spaur@nab02.usace.army.mil
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Michael Norland
Everglades National Park
South Florida Natural Resources Center
40001 State Road 9336
Homestead, FL 33034
305-242-7806
305-242-7836 (fax)
Mike_Norland@nps.gov
Mark C. McKinstry
Research Associate
Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
Research Unit
Box 3166
Laramie, WY 92071
307-766-5491
307-766-5400 (fax)
markmck@uwyo. edu
Daniel T. Heggem
Landscape Ecology Branch
Environmental Sciences Division
U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Lab
P.O. Box 93478
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
702-798-2278
702-798-2692 (fax)
heggem.daniel@epamail.epa.gov
Albert Rizzo
Chesapeake Bay Field Office
177 Admiral Cochrane Dr.
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-4543
410-224-2781 (fax)
al_rizzo@mail.fws.gov
Michael Duever
DWP/TNC
6075 Scrub Jay Trail
Kissimmee, FL 34759
407-935-0002
407-935-0005 (fax)
ecology@phoenixat.com
Dave Goshorn
Resource Assessment Service
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Tawes State Office Building, D-2
580 Taylor Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-260-8639
410-260-8640 (fax)
dgoshorn@dnr.state.md.us
Rob Northrop
Regional Watershed Forester
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
130 McKinneytown Road
North East, MD 21901
410-287-2918
410-287-0010 (fax)
morthrop@remote.dnr.state.md.us
Bernadette Turner
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 116
W. Bowie, MD 20719-0116
410-287-2918
410-287-0010 (fax)
Dan Hedderick
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Western Region Forest Office
3 Pershing St.
Room 101
Cumberland MD 21502
410-287-2918
410-287-0010 (fax)
Wayne Merkel
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Harford County Project Office
2 S. Bond St.
Bel Air, MD 21014
410-836-4551
410-836-4552 (fax)
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Session V— Rivers, Streams, & Riparian
Areas
Mohamed Hantush
U.S. EPA
919 Kerr Research Dr.
Ada, OK 74820
580-436-8531
580-436-8703 (fax)
hantush.mohamed@epamail.epa.gov
Brian D. Richter
Freshwater Initiative
The Nature Conservancy
4774 E. Green Oak Lane
Hereford, AZ 85615
520-803-0882
520-803-0883 (fax)
brichter@tnc.org
NitaTallent-Halsell
U.S.EPA,NERL
P.O. Box 93478
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
702-798-2487
702-798-2692 (fax)
tallent-halsell.nita@epamail.epa.gov
Tamara McCandless
Chesapeake Bay Field Office
USWS
177 Admiral Cochrane Dr.
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-673-4552
410-224-2781 (fax)
Richard Everett
Chesapeake Bay Field Office
USFWS
177 Admiral Cochrane Dr.
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-573-4518
410-224-2781 (fax)
rich_everett@fws.gov
Susan Davies
Health and Ecological Criteria Division
U.S. EPA
401 M St. SW
Mail Code 4304
Washington, DC 20460
202-260-2352
202-260-1036 (fax)
davies.susan@epamail.epa.gov
Scott Carney
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
PFBC Benner Spring Fish Research Station
State College, PA
814-353-2225
814-355-8264 (fax)
scamey@lazerlink.com
Session VI— Terrestrial/Uplands
Rick Cooksey
USDA Forest Service
Chesapeake Bay Program
410 Severn Ave., Suite 109
Annapolis, MD 21403
410-267-5706
410-267-5777 (fax)
Jim Thrailkill
Oregon Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit
H.J. Andrews Exper. Forest
P.O. Box 300
Blue River, OR 97413
541-822-3359
541-822-6329 (fax)
thrail@fsl.orst.edu
Larry Niles
New Jersey Div. of Fish, Game, & Wildlife
Endangered & Nongame Species Program
P.O. Box 400
Trenton, NJ 08625-0400
609-292-9101
609-628-2436 (fax)
lniles@dep.state.nj .us
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John R. Heckman
Strategic Management Consulting
Roy F. Weston, Inc.
215 Union Boulevard, Suite 600
Lakewood,CO 80228-1842
303-980-6800
303-980-1622 (fax)
heckmanj @mail.rfweston.com
William J. Otrosina
USDA Forest Service
Tree Root Biology
3200 Green Street
Athens, GA 30602
706-559-4290
706-546-2143 (fax)
otrosina@negia.net
Martin Bowles
The Morton Arboretum
Rt.53
Lisle, IL 60532
630-719-2422
630-719-2433 (fax)
mbowles@mortonarb.org
Larry Lubbers
Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Tawes State Office Building
Annapolis, MD 21401
410-260-8811
410-260-8779 (fax)
llubbers@dnr.state.md.us
Moderators
Sue Shock
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory
U.S. EPA
26 W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45268
513-569-7551
513-569-7585 (fax)
shock.sue@epamail.epa.gov
Tim Canfied
U.S. EPA
919 Kerr Research Dr.
Ada, OK 74820
580-436-8535
580-436-8703 (fax)
canfield.tim@epamail.epa.gov
Thomas DeMoss
U.S. EPA
201 Defense Highway, Suite 200
Annapolis, MD 21410
410-573-2739
410-573-2771 (fax)
demoss.thomas@epamail.epa.gov
Daniel T. Heggem
Landscape Ecology Branch
Environmental Sciences Division
U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Lab
P.O. Box 93478
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
702-798-2278
702-798-2692 (fax)
heggem.daniel@epamail.epa.gov
Joan Colson
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory
U.S. EPA
26 W. Martin Luther King Dr.
Cincinnati, OH 45268
513-569-7501
513-569-7585 (fax)
colson.joan@epmail.epa.gov
Eric Jorgensen
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory
U.S. EPA
919 Research Dr.
Ada, OK 74820
580-436-8545
580-436-8703 (fax)
jorgensen.eric@epamail.epa.gov
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