1. Water of Life Justin Borevitz Prairie Ecosystems 4/17/07

2. Wetlands Fish biodiversity as a biomarker of water quality Flooding bring in fertility Diverse habitats == diverse life forms –Niche exploitation Foods are part of the prairie drainage of the Rockies and part of the ecosystem evolution

3. Ephemeral Pools Water provides constant flux –El nino, heavy rains, floods, fill new lakes Ox-box lakes, connect isolated regions Mixing of biodiversity –La nina, drought, lakes dry isolation of ecoregions life concentrates in deeper reserves Prairie Potholes

4. Wetlands Wetlands are areas that are periodically or permanently inundated by surface or ground water and support vegetation adapted for life in saturated soil. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.

5. What do wetlands do? Wetland Functions Habitat nesting, spawning, rearing and resting sites for aquatic and land species, food chain production Hydrology protection of other areas from wave action and erosion, storage areas for storm water and flood water, ground and surface water aquifer recharge Water water quality protection, water filtration and Quality purification, treatment of nonpoint source runoff

6. DCM Wetland Classification DCM Wetland Types: Swamp Forest Bottomland Hardwood Pocosin Pine Flat Hardwood Flat Managed Pine Freshwater Marsh Salt/Brackish Marsh Estuarine Scrub Shrub Estuarine Forest Maritime Forest Headwater Swamp Human Impacted Modifiers: l Partially Drained/ Ditched l Cut-over l Cleared

7. maintain biodiversity maintain biodiversity provide habitat for animals provide habitat for animals maintain water quality maintain water quality support commercial fishing, forestry support commercial fishing, forestry reduce flood damage reduce flood damage hiking, fishing, hunting, hiking, fishing, hunting, bird watching, boating bird watching, boating aesthetic value aesthetic value Why are wetlands important? Wetland Values Did you know? Nationwide, an estimated 50 million people spend approximately $10 billion annually observing and photographing wetland-dependent birds.

8. Wetland and Water Quality Trading: Limits and Trade-Offs Albert F. Ettinger Senior Attorney Environmental Law and Policy Center aettinger@elpc.org Feb. 16, 2006 Environmental Law & Policy Center

9. Legal Framework – TMDLs Under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act a total maximum daily load (TMDL) study must be completed for impaired waters NPDES permits cannot be granted that are inconsistent with a TMDL Environmental Law & Policy Center

10. Legal Framework – 40 CFR §122.4(i) No permit may be issued: (i) To a new source or a new discharger, if the discharge from its construction will cause or contribute to the violation of water quality standards. The owner or operator of a new source or new discharger proposing to discharge into a water segment that does not meet applicable water quality standards … must demonstrate … (1) There are sufficient remaining pollutant load allocations to allow for the discharge; and (2) The existing dischargers into that segment are subject to compliance schedules designed to bring the segment into compliance with applicable water quality standards. Environmental Law & Policy Center

11. Controls should be place on nutrient pollution now Impose permit limits under antidegradation rules – New pollution is not necessary to accommodate important social or economic development under 40 CFR 131.12(a)(2) if it can be avoided through affordable controls Enforce narrative standards as required by law Develop numeric nutrient standards asap Environmental Law & Policy Center

12. Nutrient Controls Nutrient limits are already in place in Great Lakes, in discharges to many other lakes and in discharges to some rivers Illinois just established a 1 mg/L P limit for major new or increasing discharges Environmental Law & Policy Center

13. Using Wetlands to reduce nutrient loadings Nitrogen farming clearly seems to be a way to reduce nitrogen pollution Jury still out on phosphorus Environmentalists certainly will generally support wetlands restoration Environmental Law & Policy Center

14. Enforceability 2 How do we detect violations if a discharger has bought a credit? Does monitoring of performance of the wetland credit appear on the discharger’s DMRs? How do we quantify and report the reduction of pollution created by the wetland? Will it be possible to take enforcement action against the discharger if the wetland fails to produce the expected pollution reduction? Environmental Law & Policy Center

15. The Environment must win Either persons benefiting from trading should pay for it through fees or a substantial “fee” should be charged by the state in the form of a much larger reduction being required than 1:1 We generally cannot allow Peter to be robbed to help Paul Environmental Law & Policy Center

16. Notice: The views expressed here are those of the individual authors and may not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Scientists in EPA have prepared the EPA sections, and those sections have been reviewed in accordance with EPA’s peer and administrative review policies and approved for presentation and publication. The EPA contributed funding to the construction of this website but is not responsible for it's contents. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

17. Stressor Checklist Hydrologic Modification Sedimentation Dissolved oxygen Contaminant toxicity Vegetation alteration Eutrophication Acidification Turbidity Thermal Alteration Salinity

18. Plant-based IBI metrics - S. Miller Tested over 40 potential plant metrics Selected 8 to build IBI –Adjusted FQAI –% Annuals –% Non-natives –% Invasives –% Trees –% Cryptogams (ferns and fern allies) –% Cover of tolerant plant species –% Cover of Phalaris arundinacea

19. r = -0.889 P < 0.001

20. The Dead Zone: Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico

21. Condition that occurs in coastal waters where: Little or no oxygen is present Little or no marine life can survive The term for low oxygen is hypoxia. Hypoxia=<2 mg/l dissolved oxygen (DO) The term for no oxygen is anoxia. Anoxia =0 mg/l dissolved oxygen

22. In the U.S., hypoxia occurs in coastal waters in New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Texas and Louisiana.

23. In Louisiana, the dead zone occurs west of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers hypoxia occurs from late spring until late summer. Since 1985, the dead zone has ranged in size from about 100 square miles in 1988 to over 8,500 square miles in 2002, one of the largest coastal dead zones in the world

24. Stressed or die Decreased diversity Degraded environment Benthos Starfish, oysters, clams, sea cucumbers, brittlestars and anemone are all benthos

25. Food base is reduced and/or lost Habitat is reduced and/or lost Recruitment is disrupted Migratory patterns are disrupted Species diversity is reduced Mortality increases Fisheries

26. Commercial fisheries Recreational fisheries Tourism Economy The dead zone decreases the ability of the Gulf to produce seafood. This affects the local economy. People

27. Warm spring and summer temperatures heat the water surface. Warm Temperatures

28. Calm seas decrease oxygen exchange at the surface. O2O2

29. Nutrients Warm fresh water and nutrients are delivered by the Mississippi River and float on the denser saltwater.

30. A stratified layer is formed with lighter, fresher, warmer water at the surface and heavier, saltier, cooler water near the bottom limiting oxygen mixing throughout the water column. Lighter Fresher Warmer Water Stratified Layer Heavier Saltier Cooler Water No O 2 mixing

31. Fertilizers Cattle, pig and poultry farm runoff Atmosphere Wastewater treatment Municipal & industrial runoff Nutrients include compounds which contain: Phosphorus Nitrogen Silica The Mississippi River drains 41% of the lower 48 United States. It carries water and sediment hundreds of miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

32. Microscopic algae or phytoplankton use these nutrients to reproduce. Excess nutrients enable plankton populations to explode, causing a plankton or algal bloom.

33. At the surface, plankton blooms occur when excess nutrients are present Plankton bloom

34. When plankton die, they sink and decompose

35. When plankton die, they sink to the bottom and decompose. During decomposition bacteria use up most or all of the available oxygen. Dead Plankton No O 2 Decomposers

36. Agriculture Industry Flood control Urban expansion Lead to: Loss of natural habitat Changes in land use from Land use practices Fertilizer use Poor management practices

38. Change flood control practices Use fertilizers more efficiently Control discharges of nitrogen Create and restore wetlands Reduce nutrient loading Manage the whole system

39. http://geog-www.sbs.ohio-state.edu/courses/G210/bmark

40. Hydrological cycle accelerated (1) Mountain snow/ice lost (2) Trees removal increases runoff, reduces transpiration, affects water table and landscape salinity (3) Wetlands dried up or drained (4) Ground- and surface water used for irrigated agriculture (5,6) Dams alter flow and reservoirs increase evaporation (7,8) Industrial water coolers release water vapour (9) Transfers between basins (10) Urban, mining and construction areas alter water flows and quality (11) Coastal salt water intrudes inland (12) Impoundments reduce flows (13) Siltation, erosion and nutrient flows change coastlines and affect water quality (14) Levees and locks modify flows and channels (15) Settlements alter floodplain landscapes (16) Grazing affects runoff and water quality (17) Industry causes acid rain (18) Coastal waters polluted and species lost (19)

41. Dams and the Environment Not only bad for migrating fish… Loss of land, cultural & biological resources Sediment traps –Reduce reservoir –Less sand for beaches Change entire downstream river & organisms Hoover Dam, Source: US Bureau of Reclamations

44. Case study: Edwards Dam removal

45. Case study: Olentangy River FLOW Issues: water quality, habitat, recreation Dams no longer useful Project to demolish unused ‘low-head’ dam, with integrated OSU research-education opportunitiesProject to demolish unused ‘low-head’ dam, with integrated OSU research-education opportunities Increase species diversity, safer for recreation, better fishing, swimming(?) Funded by ‘scenic-river’ license plates and donations Sierra Club sued Columbus from sewage releases into Olentangy, settled to remove 5 th Ave dam. 11 remaining dams, EPA cites them as top threat to Olentangy

46. NC Bay of Pigs Hurricane Floyd, 1999 Unrestricted pig farming…on floodplains…20 mil tons waste per year…in low cost “lagoons”

48. Can wetlands help stop the “dead zone” in Gulf of Mexico? Mitch et al., 2001 Mitch et al., 2001“Ecotechnology”

49. © 2003 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Map of artificial wetlands project for treatment of agricultural wastewater at Avondale (near Phoenix) Arizona.

50. (PHOTO BY ELLIS LUCIA / The Times-Picayune) Coastal wetland loss and Katrina: losing a storm buffer Each year an area of marsh close to the size of Manhattan is lost.

51. 2000 1973 Tracking the Loss Source: http://www.publichealth.hurricane.lsu.edu/Louisian a%20Coastal%20Land%20Loss.htm

52. Causes of Loss: Lack of Sediment Reaching Gulf Sources: http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1412http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1412 http://www.industcards.com/hydro-usa-ne-dakotas.htm

53. Causes of Loss: Sediment Sent Out to Sea The sediment is “shot over the shelf like peas through a peashooter, and lost to the abyssal plain.” - John McPhee

54. Causes of Loss: Dredging of Canals Source: http://marine.usgs.gov/fact-sheets/LAwetlands/lawetlands.html Other causes of loss: subsidence due to lack of sediment and exacerbated by withdrawals of oil and natural gas

55. MRGO (Mississippi River Gulf Outlet) http://www.saveourlake.org/wetlands.htm