ClarkMattAaron

Wetlands

wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor

determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and

animal communities living in the soil and on its surface

What are Wetlands?

Soil typetopographyclimatehydrologywater chemistryvegetationincluding human disturbance found from the tundra to the tropics and on every

continent except Antarctica

Wetlands vary by:

Tundra wetlands

Tropical wetlands

term wetlands means "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas."

Clean Water Act

immense variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish, and mammals can be part of a wetland ecosystem

animals use wetlands for part of or all of their life-cycle

wetlands help to moderate global climate conditions.

Why protect wetlands

ducks, geese, woodpeckers, hawks, wading birds, and many song-birds, feed, nest, and raise their young in wetlands

some species of migratory birds are completely dependent on certain wetlands and would become extinct if those wetlands were destroyed

Birds and wetlands

function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters

trees, root mats, and other wetland vegetation slow the speed of flood waters and distribute them more slowly over the floodplain

wetlands protect shorelines and stream banks against erosion

Flood Protection

filtering capabilitieswetlands retain excess nutrients and some

pollutantsreduce sediment that clogs waterwaysreplenish groundwater

Water Quality

protects wetlands and the public interests they serve, including:

flood controlprevention of pollution and storm damageprotection of public and private water

suppliesgroundwater supplyFisheriesland containing shellfishwildlife habitat

Mass Wetlands Protection Act

Cannot alter or destroy wetlands unless:They are on existing structure that are used

for public servicesThe Wetlands that are destroyed are replaced

in another locationProper paperwork must be submitted and

reviewed in order to do such projects

Mass Wetlands Protection Act

Three Characteristics for Identifying Wetlands1. Hydrology – amount of soil saturation

2. Hydrophytes – is there wetland vegetation

3. Hydric Soils – soil wet enough to periodically produce anaerobic conditions (no air circulates the soil because of amount of water)

Classification of Hydrophytes

Indicator Category Probability of Wetland

Obligate wetland (OBL) > 99%

Facultative wetland (FACW) 67-99%Facultative (FAC) 34-66%Facultative Upland (FACU) 1-33%Upland Plants (UPL) < 1%

Examples of Indicators

Obligate wetland (OBL)

Cattail

Facultative wetland (FACW)

Poison Ivy

Facultative (FAC)Witch Hazel

Facultative UplandMountain Laurel

Upland PlantsGround Juniper

Used ground-truthing to delineate wetland behind WSU

Walked around the perimeter of the wetlandUsed a GPS that took lat/long every 2 secondsMarked waypoints at spots of interestDownloaded data into ArcGISOver-layed MassDEP wetlands layer and NWI

wetlands layerConverted all 3 layers to KML filesProjected into Google Earth

What We Did

Mass DEP Wetlands layer (Westfield)

National Wetlands Inventory

Both layers combined with ours