Freshwater Wetlands Final Exam

Differentiate between aquatic and hydraulic civilizations.

Aquatic civilizations adapt to water abundant floodplains and deltas, working within the aquatic landscape (though sometimes in heavily managed ways)

Hydraulic civilizations control water flow with dikes, dams, pumps, and drainage tile, seeking to control the natural world. It is associated with high losses of wetlands.

Describe historic attitudes in the U.S. towards wetlands—including how this influenced early U.S. policy.

In most of recorded history, wetlands were regarded as wastelands if not bogs of treachery, mires of despair, homes of pests, and refuges for outlaws and rebels. This negative perception led to policies aimed at draining and converting wetlands for development, agriculture, and urban expansion, significantly altering the landscape and compromising ecological functions.

Identify examples of direct, indirect, and natural wetland loss.

Direct wetland loss examples include agriculture, forestry, flood control, filling for development, dikes, dams, water pollution, mining of materials and peat, and groundwater withdrawal.

Indirect wetland loss examples include sediment retention by dams and other structures, hydrologic alterations by roads and canals, land subsidence due to groundwater, resource extraction, and river alternations

Natural wetland loss examples include subsidence, sea-level rise, drought, natural disasters, erosion, and biotic effects.

Explain typical types of wetland drainage and alteration in the U.S (e.g., conversion, etc.).

Conversion (which includes draining, dredging and filling) mostly due to agriculture, and in coastal areas, for urban and industrial development. Loss is strongly correlated with population density.

Hydrologic modifications for flood control where canals, ditches, and levees, change the natural flow to more efficient channel flow to drain wetlands and adjacent uplands. For navigation and transportation where canals are built and highway development isolates hydrologic systems. For industrial activity like canals being dredges for oil well access and pipelines.

Peat mining which mostly occurs in Ireland and NE Europe. It’s harvested for fuel, horticulture, and agriculture.

Water pollution as it has negative affects on a wetland’s structure and function through processes like eutrophication and toxic inputs.

Explain the current status of legal protection of wetlands in the U.S.

There is currently no specific national wetland laws in the U.S. Wetlands have been managed under regulations related to both land use and water quality. Jurisdiction is spread over many agencies, and requires lots of cooperation among different agencies. A regulatory split favors terrestrial and aquatic science rather than wetland-specific science.

Compare U.S. (national) wetland protection policies, including No Net Loss, Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, the Swampbuster provision, and wetland delineation (what is it? and how does it fit w/ policy?).

The “no net loss” policy whose goal was to achieve no net loss in national wetlands with the future goal to have a net gain in national wetlands. It is not legally binding, but provides a direction and focus and was the cornerstone of wetland conservation in the U.S.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) is the “primary vehicle” for wetland protection in the U.S. Specifically, section 404 of the CWA states that dredging or filling waters of the United States requires a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Swampbuster provision emphasizes the soils component of wetland designation. It denies federal subsidies to any farm owner who knowingly converts wetlands to farmlands. Prior to this provision, normal ag activities were exempt from Section 404.

Wetland delineation are USACE developed guidelines to determine regulatory wetlands through the process of marking the boundaries of a wetland.

Explain how wetland policy has changed over time, including the definitions of WOTUS.

U.S. wetland policy has evolved significantly, primarily shifting definitions of "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) to determine federal jurisdiction over wetlands. Changes in WOTUS definitions reflect ongoing debates about ecological importance, land use, and regulatory authority, impacting conservation efforts and state versus federal roles in wetland management. This is also extremely hard for wetland specialists to keep up with ever changing wetland regulation.

Describe the process of wetland mitigation: who is involved? how do the finances work? etc.

The process: Property is acquired, project is designed, mitigation plan approved, site is constructed and vegetation is planted, site access and management agreement executed (access for managing and monitoring), long-term management plan executed, conservation easement executed. Ducks Unlimited (DU) is most commonly involved in this process. The DU will often use a long-term steward which is a donation agreement.

Differentiate between the three main types of (“preferred options for”) mitigation.

The mitigation bank option is built ahead of impacts, privately capitalized and profit driven, liability is transferred to bank sponsor through simple credit transaction.

The In Lieu Fee program option is built within 3 years of credit sale, it is capitalized from credit sales, liability is transferred to ILF sponsor through simple credit transfer, programs usually have many watersheds.

The permittee responsible option is built concurrent with impacts, there is no transfer of liability but one-off contracts, usually more expensive for permittee.

Describe (generally) the performance criteria and monitoring requirements for mitigation-restored wetlands.

Performance criteria: ‘87 manual criteria for a wetland, 85% cover of native perennial hydrophytes (OBL or FACW), <5% over of invasive species, >400 woody stems per acre surviving in areas where planted, plant diversity of 40 or higher.

Monitoring requirements: 5-10 years of monitoring and adaptive management, long term oversight in terms of conservation easement, and long-term stewardship.

Briefly explain the history of humans and Onondaga Lake and its shorelines (including wetlands)—from Haudenosaunee to European colonizers. How did indigenous people use the wetlands around the Lake? How did settlers use the wetlands around the Lake?

Natives would live near the swamps as resource rich areas and used it for food, medicine, and utensils/tools. The lake level was lowered and wetlands partially drained due to lakeshore industrialization by non-natives. Settlers thought of the wetlands to be gross and undesirable.

Describe the nature of historical ecology, and its potential purposes.

Historical ecology is the meeting of ecology and geography and helps to discover studies lost or degenerated ecosystems. It synthesizes historical records to learn about habitats and ecological functions in a landscape and tells about the people’s land history. The sources are paleoecology, archaeology, missionary records, maps, botanists, ethnobiology, and oral history

Name some example data sources that Dr. Landis used to characterize the natural communities around Onondaga Lake just before European contact (ca. 1600). What wetland community types did she find?

She found inland salt marshes, cedar swamps, shallow emergent marsh, deep emergent marsh, rich fen, floodplain forest, beech-maple forest, and rich mesophytic hardwood forest.