Wetland and Stream Rapid Assessments: Development, Validation, and Application

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

John Dorney has been employed by Moffat and Nichol since March 2014. His responsibilities include environmental permitting, wetland and stream functional assessment, as well as teaching classes in stream identification and functional assessment. He retired from the N.C. Division of Water Quality after twenty-eight years. During that time, he was in charge of the 401 Water Quality Certification Program that was responsible for regulatory review of development projects to ensure compliance with the state’s wetland, stream and buffer regulations as well as the Wetlands Program Development Unit which developed and implemented new or modified wetland regulatory and monitoring policies.

Rick Savage has worked with the NC Department of Natural Resources as a wetland scientist since 2004. He has conducted intensive surveys of wetlands in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions including collection and analysis of data on water and soil chemistry, vegetation, amphibians, aquatic macroinvertebrates, hydrology and rapid assessments. He participated in the EPA’s National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) in 2011 and worked with the EPA to define the wetland survey methodology. Rick led the Southeast Wetlands Monitoring project with South Carolina, Alabama, and Georgia to expand the NWCA database and allow a regional analysis of wetland condition.

Ralph Tiner is a wetland ecologist with over 40 years of experience in wetland classification, mapping, and functional assessment. A former adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts and recently retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, he coordinated the National Wetlands Inventory for the northeastern United States for nearly 40 years. For the past two decades, he worked on landscape-level functional assessments, developing classification and assessment protocols to predict wetland functions at the watershed level. Ralph is the author of over 250 publications including several books including “Tidal Wetlands Primer” and “Remote Sensing of Wetlands”. He is editor of the Society of Wetland Scientists’ journal – Wetland Science & Practice. He currently teaches wetland short courses at Rutgers University's Office of Continuing Professional Education.

Dr. Paul Adamus is retired from Oregon State University where he was Courtesy Faculty in the Water Resources, Marine Resource Management, and Environmental Sciences Graduate Programs. He has assisted government agencies and NGOs with developing and field-calibrating detailed models of wetland functions in nine states and provinces, has twice been invited to testify on wetlands to the U.S. Congress, and was Coordinator of the Oregon Breeding Bird Atlas Project