New Jersey’s Wetlands

Kathleen Strakosch Walz Kathleen.Walz@dep.nj.gov

NJDEP, State Forestry Service, Office of Natural Lands

Management, Natural Heritage Program

May 19, 2016

New Jersey Water Monitoring Council Meeting

Stony Brook – Millstone Watershed Association

1. New Jersey Wetland Program Plan

2. Wetland Ecology Basics o Wetland Classification

o Wetland Diversity in New Jersey

o Ecosystem Services & Wetland Functions

3. Types of Wetland Assessments o Condition vs Functional Assessments

4. Monitoring & Assessment o EPA 3-tier approach

o Reference Standard & Reference Gradient

o Tools for Restoration & Mitigation

5. Data Management o Storing and Serving Wetland Data via Databases

6. Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Work Groups

OFFICE OF SCIENCE

WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Water Supply and GeoScience

Water Monitoring and Standards

Bureau of Environmental Analysis, Restoration and Standards

Bureau of Freshwater & Biological Monitoring

Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring

LAND USE MANAGEMENT

Division of Land Use Regulation

Office of Policy Implementation

Office of Coastal and Land Use Planning

NATURAL AND HISTORIC RESOURCES

Green Acres

State Land Acquisition Bureau

Office of Natural Resources Restoration

Historic Preservation Office

State Parks

State Forestry Services

Office of Natural Lands Management

Bureau of Forest Management

Bureau of Forest Fire Management

Forestry Regulation and Policy

Division of Fish and Wildlife

Endangered &Non-Game Species Program

Bureau of Land Management

Bureau of Wildlife Management

Bureau of Freshwater Fisheries

Bureau of Marine Fisheries

Bureau of Shellfisheries

Mosquito Control

SITE REMEDIATION PROGRAM

Bureau of Environmental Evaluation and Risk Assessment

1. New Jersey Wetland Program Plan

Monitoring & Assessment

Voluntary Restoration and Protection & Improved Coastal Shoreline Resiliency

Regulation

Public

Outreach

and

Education

NJ WPP 5 CORE ELEMENTS

Water Quality

Standards for

Wetlands

What is a Wetland Program Plan? A state or regional (e.g. Hackensack Meadowlands) guidance

document that outlines GOALS and ACTIONS

over a 3-6 year period, with a schedule for carrying out the

actions and achieving the goals.

NJ WPP Overall Goal: “Improving and protecting the significant ecosystem services

and functions provided by wetlands including flood control,

shoreline stabilization, coastal storm surge protection, water

purification, nutrient cycling, sediment retention, provision of

habitat for plants and wildlife, reservoirs of biological

diversity supporting food webs, as well as providing

meaningful recreation, sustainable economic benefits from

tourism, and excellent opportunities for environmental

education.”

2. Wetland Ecology Basics

USFWS Cowardin (1979) Ecological Definition:

Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems

where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is

covered by shallow water. Wetlands must have one or more of the

following three attributes:

• At least periodically, the land supports predominantly

hydrophytes (wetland vegetation)

• The substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil

(wetland soil)

• The substrate is non-soil and is saturated with water

or covered with shallow water at some point during

the growing season of each year (wetland hydrology)

Wetland Classification (Vegetation)

• Land Use Land Cover Classification LULC(Anderson 1976)

– CATEGORIES (Level I): Urban or Built-Up Land, Agricultural Land,

Rangeland, Forest Land, Water, Wetland, Barren Land, Tundra,

Perennial Snow or Ice

• Level II (& III) Categories: Saline Marshes (High Marsh)

• National Wetland Classification NWI (Cowardin 1979)

– CLASS: Marine, Estuarine, Riverine, Palustrine, Aquatic

– TYPE: Forested, Scrub-Shrub, Emergent, Aquatic Bed

• E2EM = Estuarine Intertidal Emergent Wetland (plus hydrology modifiers)

• National Vegetation Classification System NVC (ESA 2016)

– Detailed Floristic Hierarchy of Class, Subclass, Formation, Division,

Macrogroup, Group, Alliance, Association

• SALT MARSH Formation

• Saltmeadow Cordgrass - Saltgrass - (Black-grass) Herbaceous Vegetation

Wetland Classification (Hydrogeomorphic)

• HydroGeoMorphic Classification (HGM) (Brinson 1993 and

Smith et al 1995)

– CLASS: Riverine, Depression, Slope, Mineral Soil Flats, Organic Soil

Flats, Estuarine Fringe, Lacustrine Fringe

– REGIONAL SUBCLASS: Tidal Fringe (Euhaline)

• Mid-Atlantic Hydrogeomorphic Classification (Mid-A HGM)

(Brooks et al 2011)

– CLASS: Riverine, Depression, Slope, Mineral Soil Flats, Organic Soil

Flats, Estuarine Fringe, Lacustrine Fringe

– SUBCLASS: Estuarine lunar intertidal

Wetland Classification Crosswalk Table*

Vegetation Classification

Hydrogeomorphic Classification (HGM)

RIVERINE DEPRESSION SLOPE1 MINERAL

SOIL

FLATS

ORGANIC

SOIL

FLATS

ESTUARINE

FRINGE2 LACUSTRINE

FRINGE

NVC Formation4

NWI Class

Palustrine:

Riverine Palustrine Palustrine Palustrine Palustrine Estuarine:

Intertidal;

Riverine

Lacustrine:

Littoral

FLOODED &

SWAMP FOREST

(Tropical,

Temperate, Boreal)

Forested

(FO)

PFO PFO PFO PFO PFO E2FO PFO

MANGROVE - - - - - E2FO - FRESHWATER

MARSH, WET

MEADOW &

SHRUBLAND

(Tropical,

Temperate, Boreal)

Scrub-Shrub

(SS) PSS PSS PSS PSS PSS R1SS PSS

Emergent

(EM) PEM PEM PEM PEM PEM R1EM PEM

SALT MARSH

Scrub-Shrub

(SS) - - - - E2SS -

Emergent

(EM) - PEM3 - - - E2EM -

BOG & FEN

(Tropical,

Temperate, Boreal)

Moss-Lichen

(ML) - PML, PEM,

PSS PML, PEM,

PSS - PML, PEM,

PSS - -

AQUATIC

VEGETATION

(Freshwater,

Saltwater)

Aquatic Bed

(AB) R1AB PAB - - - E2AB L2AB

* NVC = National Vegetation Classification (FGDC 2008, Faber-Langendoen et al. 2009, Jennings et al. 2009) * NWI = National Wetland Inventory (Cowardin et al. 1979)

* HGM = Hydrogeomorphic Classification (Smith et al. 1995, NRCS 2008) 1Includes groundwater slope/riverine or "sliverine" wetlands (e.g., streamside fens/savannas) and freshwater wetlands on the coast with some tidal influence (e.g., sea level fens)

2Includes salt, brackish, oligohaline, and freshwater tidal wetlands

3Inland haline marsh

4 NWI - NVC classification crosswalk details may differ with respect to strata (e.g., NWI tree cover cutoff for PFO is 30% whereas NVC tree cover is 10%; NWI treats sapling stages as Scrub-Shrub whereas in NVC they are treated as part of the Flooded & Swamp Forest)

Wetland Diversity in New Jersey

Glacial Bog (PSS, Depressional, Precipitation)

Calcareous Fen (PSS/PEM, Slope, Groundwater)

Floodplain Forest (PFO, Riverine, Surface water)

Coastal Salt Marsh (E2EM, Estuarine, Tidal)

Wetland Ecosystem Services Link between the biological functions and the social value of

wetlands, often reported in terms of economic worth

Wetland Ecosystem Services (Ramsar International Wetland Conservation Treaty) include:

1. Flood control (floodplain water storage/flood attenuation)

2. Groundwater replenishment (marsh, swamp, fen – recharge/discharge)

3. Shoreline stabilization & storm protection (mangrove, salt marsh buffer)

4. Sediment & nutrient retention and export (riparian & coastal)

5. Water purification (“nature’s kidneys” filtering nutrients, pollutants)

6. Reservoirs of biodiversity (“nature’s supermarket” supporting food

chains; “nature’s birdbaths” attracting wildlife, rare plant habitat)

7. Wetland products (food, peat, fuel, textiles)

8. Cultural values (art, aesthetics)

9. Recreation and tourism (ecotourism)

10.Climate change mitigation and adaptation (carbon sequestration, sea

level rise migration of coastal marshes)

Wetland Functions (Tiner, 2005) Processes or series of processes that take place in a wetland that

relate to water quality, hydrology, and habitat

1. Surface-water detention

2. Coastal storm surge detention

3. Streamflow maintenance

4. Nutrient transformation

5. Sediment and particulate retention

6. Shoreline stabilization

7. Provision of fish and shellfish habitat

8. Provision of waterfowl and waterbird habitat

9. Provision of other wildlife habitat

10. Conservation of biodiversity (rare or imperiled wetland habitats and

associated species in the local region with regional significant for

biodiversity)

Wetland Condition Quality of a wetland, ranked from excellent to poor,

based on measures of biological and abiotic factors

1. Landscape Context

2. Vegetation Composition & Structure

3. Soils

4. Hydrology

5. Surface Water Chemistry

6. Other biota (e.g. Algae/Diatoms, Fauna)

7. Stressors (Assessment Area & Buffer)

Wetland Services, Functions & Condition

• Wetland Ecosystem Services: link between the biological

functions and the social value of wetlands, often reported in

terms of economic worth.

• Wetland Functions: processes or series of processes that

take place in a wetland, correlated to ecological significance

and condition

• Wetland Condition: quality of vegetation (composition and

structure), soils, hydrology, and presence/absence of stressors.

Condition affects the functional capacity of wetlands.

What type of assessment is appropriate?

3. Types of Wetland Assessments

• Wetland Functional Assessment – Evaluate changes in wetland function over time (historical vs current)

– Landscape or Watershed scale assessments of wetland function (HGM)

• Wetland Condition Assessment – Evaluation of wetland condition by type

– All wetlands in a watershed, state, or region

• Combination of Wetland Function & Condition

Assessment – Landscape level approach in combination with local site-specific field

evaluation e.g. NovaWET (Nova Scotia Wetland Assessment)

– Useful in applying to specific projects for information related to

wetland mitigation, restoration, regulation, protection

EPA’s “Three-Tier Framework” for

Wetland Monitoring and Assessment

Tier I/Level I: Landscape (Broad Scale - Remote Sensing - GIS)

Tier II/Level 2: Rapid Assessment Method (Field RAM)

Tier III/Level 3: Intensive Biological & Physical-Chemical Survey Vegetation

Soils

Hydrology

Water Quality

Algae or Other Biota

Stressors

Tier IV/Level 4: Intensive Fixed Wetland Monitoring Stations

Level 1 Assessment –

Landscape Level GIS

Level 2 Assessment –

Rapid Field Method (RAM)

• CRAM (California)

• ORAM (Ohio)

• EIA (NatureServe’s Ecological

Integrity Assessment)

Level 3 Assessment (NARS - NWCA) (Source: EPA NWCA Field Operations Manual)

AA 40m (0.5ha) + BUFFER 100m =

140m radius (20ha)

VEG 5 separate 10m x 10m

plots

10 nested plots

7 veg strata classes

unvegetated surface

SOILS soil pit

Soil drainage

Soil texture

Matrix / Mottle Soil

Hue/Chroma

Redoximorphic Features

Soil Chemistry (C,N,P)

Soil Bulk Density

WQ Surface Water Chemistry

Chl-a

HYDRO Cowardin hydrologic

regime

Evidence of flooding

Water source

Standing water depth

Groundwater depth

BUFFER Presence and

amount of

cover of

natural

vegetation

Residential and

urban

indicators

Hydrology

stressors

Agricultural and

rural

stressors

Industrial

development

stressors

Habitat/vegetation

stressors

Targeted alien

vegetation

species

Examples of Stressor Information Collected in

L2 and L3 Wetland Assessments

Hydrology alterations due to

Open Marsh Water

Management (OMWM) Non-native Invasive species

(Phragmites australis)

Eutrophication and algal mats

OMWM ponds

and ditches

Level 4 Intensive Fixed Wetland

Monitoring Stations

Barnegat Bay Partnership, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary,

Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, NJDEP

Example: Surface Elevation Table (SET) used to monitor

sediment accretion on tidal marshes over time (and subsidence in

response to sea level rise).

Drexel Scientist Studies Hurricane Sandy Impact on NJ Coastal Wetlands One Year Later

Wetland Reference Sites

Reference Standard = minimally impacted, high

quality sites (A or excellent condition/function)

Reference Gradient = a network of sites across a

condition gradient presenting Excellent to Poor (A-C)

condition (e.g. IBI)

“Once established, data from reference wetlands can be used

to set the standard by which mitigation and management (e.g.

restoration, creation, or enhancement) projects can be

designed and evaluated. These benchmarks can also represent

the starting point in time for trend analyses.” (Brooks et al.

2016, National Wetland Newsletter)

Reference Networks as Tools for

Wetland Restoration & Mitigation

“The time has come for science to busy

itself with the earth itself. The first step is to

reconstruct a sample of what we had to

begin with.” Aldo Leopold (1934)

5. Data Management

Databases for Storing and Serving

Wetland Monitoring Data • Storet/WQDE

• Riparia (Penn State)

• EcoObs (NatureServe’s Ecological Integrity

Assessment Database)

• VegBank (National Vegetation Plot Database)

• Floristic Quality Assessment Database (FQA)

6. National and Regional Wetland

Monitoring Groups

EPA National Wetland Monitoring and Assessment

Work Group (NWMAWG)

New England Biological Assessment of Wetlands

Workgroup (NEBAWWG)

Mid-Atlantic Wetland Monitoring Work Group

(MAWWG)

Mid-Atlantic Coastal Wetland Assessment

(MACWA)

Collaboration ~ Monitoring ~ Assessment

• DEP Water Monitoring & Standards

– Bureau of Freshwater & Biological Monitoring (BFBM)

– Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring (BMWM)

• DEP NJGWS, DSREH, OCLUP, etc.

• EPA Mid-Atlantic Wetland Assessment Workgroups (MAWWG and MACWA)

• Barnegat Bay Partnership (BBP)

• Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE)

• Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute (MERI)

• USFWS Forsythe, Cape May, Great Swamp, Wallkill Refuges

• Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University

• Rutgers University, Montclair State University, Ramapo College

• NJ Water Monitoring Council

Thank you! Questions? Kathleen.Walz@dep.nj.gov