Wetland And Stream Rapid Assessments

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

Wetlands are among the world’s most productive environments with countless species of plants and animals, as well as humans, dependent upon them for survival. Moreover, they provide many societal benefits including water quality improvement, flood storage, shoreline erosion control, and opportunities for recreation, education, and research. The conservation of inland wetlands is thus critical, and it is vital that they are protected in situ. The Handbook of Research on Monitoring and Evaluating the Ecological Health of Wetlands highlights the challenges of wetland conservation and current scenarios of existing wetlands and their effective management. The book also promotes the inventory, assessment, and monitoring of wetlands through a discussion of practical approaches, methodologies, and techniques. The strategies covered in this book can be applied in situ, depending on the wetland in which they will be applied. It covers the most cost-effective techniques in conservation of wetland technologies and the most cutting-edge research on monitoring of wetland health and its applications. Covering topics such as forest soil, greenhouse gasses, and ecological rejuvenation, it is an ideal resource for conservators, environmentalists, executives, policymakers, government officials, professionals, researchers, academicians, and students working in ecological management and wetland conservation fields.

This practical manual of freshwater ecology and conservation provides a state-of-the-art review of the approaches and techniques used to measure, monitor, and conserve freshwater ecosystems. It offers a single, comprehensive, and accessible synthesis of the vast amount of literature for freshwater ecology and conservation that is currently dispersed in manuals, toolkits, journals, handbooks, 'grey' literature, and websites. Successful conservation outcomes are ultimately built on a sound ecological framework in which every species must be assessed and understood at the individual, community, catchment and landscape level of interaction. For example, freshwater ecologists need to understand hydrochemical storages and fluxes, the physical systems influencing freshwaters at the catchment and landscape scale, and the spatial and temporal processes that maintain species assemblages and their dynamics. A thorough understanding of all these varied processes, and the techniques for studying them, is essential for the effective conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems.

"This manual is based on the authors' experience teaching the Wetland Assessment Training Course to employees of the Chinese National Environmental Protection Agency (CNEPA) at Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, October 1986 and at Tongliao, Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, august 1987, Peoples Republic of China. the object of the course was to provide a basic introduction to freshwater wetlands, their functions and preliminary techniques by which to screen wetlands for potential functions. Minimal acquaintance with wetlands, as systems, was assumed and emphasis was put on functions important to subsistence economies and sustainable utilization. The manual is designed to be used by an instructor who has taken the course or who has had training in wetland functions and assessment. It is an outline on which not all of the concepts and procedures are fully developed. It is intended to serve as an instructional guide to course topics and organization, and a framework for student note taking, discussion, and as an aide to bridging a language barrier. We recommend that instructors use the books listed in section 11.0 as prime sources while instructing the course. We have drawn from them extensively."--Page ii.

This annotated bibliography contains 1,905 citations from professional journals, symposia, workshops, proceedings, technical reports, and other sources. The intent of this compilation was to: (1) assemble, to the extent possible, all available and accessible publications relating to riparian management within a single source or document; (2) provide managers, field biologists, researchers, and others, a point of access for locating scientific literature relevent to their specific interest; and (3) provide, under one cover, a comprehensive collection of annotated publications that could dessiminate basic information relative to the status of our knowledge.

The first resource of its kind-essential practical guidance on wetlands bioassessment and management Although bioassessment has become a vital tool in the successful management of many aquatic ecosystems, to date there has been no single book that covers the application of bioassessment principles to wetland ecosystems. This contributed volume fills this important gap in the literature, with a multifaceted look at the issues and techniques involved in the successful bioassessment and management of freshwater wetlands. The book is divided into two parts-bioassessment and wildlife management. After a review of general bioassessment principles, Part I discusses the statistical issues related to sampling numerous sites, as well as the application of multivariate procedures and invertebrate functional groups to wetland bioassessment. A series of case studies examines bioassessment results using various organismal groups, followed by several chapters that trace the relationship between bioassessment and wetland restoration. Coverage also explores how to use and sample bacteria, algae, macrophytes, and invertebrates. Part II covers key management topics, including many that are frequently overlooked in other treatments of the subject. Separate chapters discuss how to manage fish, waterbirds, and mosquitoes in wetlands. Other chapters address timber harvest strategies and impact assessment, as well as the biological control of an invasive wetland plant. As wetland managers work to strike a vital balance between resource exploitation and resource protection, this book offers an important repository of practical information to use in meeting this formidable challenge. It will be welcomed by wetland managers and scientists, environmental engineers, ecologists, civil engineers, and others whose work involves wetlands study and management.

The Hydrogeomorphic (HGM) Approach is a collection of concepts and methods for developing functional indices and subsequently using them to assess the capacity of a wetland to perform functions relative to similar wetlands in a region. The approach was initially designed to be used in the context of the Clean Water Act Section 404 Regulatory Program permit review sequence to consider alternatives, minimize impacts, assess unavoidable project impacts, determine mitigation requirements, and monitor the success of mitigation projects. However, a variety of other potential applications for the approach have been identified including: determining minimal effects under the Food Security Act, designing mitigation projects, and managing wetlands. This report uses the HGM Approach to develop a Regional Guidebook for assessing the functions of low gradient, riverine wetlands in western Kentucky. The report begins with a characterization of low gradient, riverine wetlands in the western Kentucky, then discusses (a) the rationale used to select functions, (b)the rationale used to select model variables and metrics, (c) the rational used to develop assessment models, and (d) the data from reference wetlands used to calibrate model variables and assessment models. Finally, it outlines an assessment protocol for using the model variables and functional indices to assess low gradient, riverine wetlands in western Kentucky.