Document: EDW-3-75-3

The Indiana Wetlands Rapid Assessment Protocol: Development and testing.

SQUIERS, E.R.* ¹, P.ROTHOCK ¹, R.REBER ¹ and R.GRIZZLE ²

Taylor Unviversity, Upland, IN 46989 USA ¹
University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 USA ²

Abstract:
In1996, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources developed the Indiana Wetlands Conservation Plan to focus attention on the need for wetland protection in the state. The Plan identified the lack of a "standardized method for functional assessment of wetland quality" as a major impediment to wetland conservation in Indiana. In 1998, the Taylor Environmental Research Group, with USEPA funding, began the development of a wetland rapid assessment protocol and a GIS data management system. The protocol utilizes National Wetland Inventory polygons as the units of study and focuses on quality indicators related to landscape characteristics, animal habitat potential, plant community structure and biodiversity, and a variety of hydrologic functions. During 1998 and 1999, data were collected from 74 NWI polygons in 42 wetland systems in order to test the robustness of the protocol and the GIS database. Field teams from TERG and a variety of state and federal agencies participated in the data collection. Multiple samples of each NWI polygon allowed the use of paired comparisons to test the replicability of the results from different sampling dates and different field teams. Results ranged from no significant differences between the TERG and agency teams for most general characteristics to highly significant differences for characteristics that required specific knowledge of plant identification. In response, user guidance materials for species identification were upgraded.

Keywords: wetland, assessment, GIS, NWI

This abstract is being presented at: 10:30 AM in session:
RIPARIAN ECOLOGY