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原文传递 WETLAND MITIGATION EFFECTIVENESS - DEVELOPMENT OF COSTEFFECTIVE METHODS AND PROCEDURES FOR KANSAS

题名：	WETLAND MITIGATION EFFECTIVENESS - DEVELOPMENT OF COSTEFFECTIVE METHODS AND PROCEDURES FOR KANSAS
作者：	Kelly Kindscher, Megan Mehaffey, Alexandra Fraser - Kansas Biological Survey and Ernie Pogge - University of Kansas
关键词：	Hydrology, Mitigation, Soil, Vegetation, Wetland
摘要：	In the last decade, efforts to create and restore wetlands have expanded in response to both increased awareness of wetland benefits and changes in governmental policy. By some estimates half of the United States’ original wetlands have been destroyed (Mitch and Gosselink 1993). Remaining wetlands are valuable for floodwater management, water quality and wildlife habitat as well as aesthetic and educational benefits to humans.(Hammer 1992). Section 4(M of the Clean Water Act (U.S. Congress 1987) requires mitigation of wetlands that will be destroyed, and is enforcedly the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. For any wetland to be developed, a dredge and fill permit must be obtained, and a wetland creation or enhancement must occur to compensate for the wetland to be impacted. In national regulations for wetland delineation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Environmental Labs 1987) defines wetlands as; “Those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water 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.” In both delineating and restoring or creating wetlands, it is essential to focus on three parameters: hydrology, wetland soils, and wetland vegetation. Monitoring of wetland mitigations is necessary to ensure that the wetlands’ criteria are met and the wetland is functioning as planned. At the time of planning, mitigation goals should be set based on hydrological criteria, soil and vegetation. These criteria are best established when based on local wetland ecology and careful consideration of the impacted wetland. To ensure success, monitoring should be conducted from the time of construction until the mitigation goals and criteria are met. Any site will support plant species adapted to localized conditions; therefore vegetation represents the integration of many site features, such as climate, soil type, and hydrology. A detailed look the vegetation of wetland mitigations can determine its ability to sustain wetland status into the future. Measurement of soil characteristics can help determine the site’s ability to maintain hydrology and the vegetation necessary for continued wetland development. The hydrology of each mitigation site should be analyzed based on mitigation project objectives. This does not infer a complete design type analysis, but instead a reconnaissance study of the existing hydrologic conditions overtime and under a variety of weather conditions to determine if the mitigation is able to support the planned, long term objectives of each mitigation project. The objective of our study was to examine wetland status, success rate, and the potential for continued development as wetlands of six Kansas Department of Transportation wetland mitigations. The wetlands were constructed to compensate for impacts caused by KDOT road projects in accordance with the Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit process. At each mitigation the vegetation, soils, and hydrology were studied to assess the site’s current and future ability to function as a wetland. Each site was monitored for the presence of wetland parameters, and the results were analyzed in the context of long-term site goals and objectives
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