WETLANDS
MAIN INDEX | Federal legislation | Florida legislation |Wetland terminology explained | Altering wetlands |
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Wetlands are the transition zones between dry upland ecosystems and deeper aquatic habitats. Each Florida wetland area is unique according to its surrounding geologic, hydrologic, and climatic conditions. Wetlands are key to maintaining the health of Florida's naturally watery places; they provide flood control, aquifer recharge, coastal protection, and they also act as "kidneys" that help filter pollutants from the ecosystem.
Wetlands support a wide range of rare and endangered aquatic plants and wildlife, and humans have relied on Florida's wetlands as a source of food and recreation for centuries.
Prior to European colonization, more than half of Florida's original landscape was comprised of wetlands. In recent years, Florida's increasing population and growing need for homes, agriculture and industry have led to the rapid destruction of wetland regions, areas previously misunderstood as wastelands.
By 2003, nearly half of Florida's original wetlands have been severely altered, or destroyed.
Wetland alteration adversely affects native species, disrupts flood pattern, degrades water quality, and threatens numerous freshwater habitats that depend on wetlands.
The 21st century begins with a growing desire to preserve, conserve, and restore Florida's, and the nation's, precious wetland ecosystems. Federal and local governments, activists, and biologists are struggling to understand and protect our dynamic and multifaceted wetland environments.
Although experts may not agree on a single system for classifying various types of wetlands or the means to save them, an appreciation for the ecologic, scientific, and economic value of wetlands ecosystems is shared by all.
Florida's wetlands depend on protective legislation and cooperation from Florida residents and tourists alike. Water conservation, proper disposal of waste, management of invasive species, and responsible recreation are positive steps that can ensure a healthy future for Florida's wetlands.
visit our swamps page, and visit our marshes page.
Federal Legislation for Wetland Protection
Several federal agencies regulate the protection and management of wetlands throughout the
United States.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers addresses wetland issues related to watercraft navigation and water supply. The Corps also produced the Wetland Delineation Manual (PDF downloadable file) which is used by all federal agencies (and many others) for legally determining wetlands boundaries.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authority related to protecting wetlands and their contribution to the water quality of surrounding water bodies.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior manages fish and wildlife game species and protects threatened and endangered species within wetlands.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association manages coastal resources.
The Natural Resource and Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates agricultural activity that may impact wetland ecosystems.
In 1972, Congress substantially amended the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and initiated the Clean Water Act. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act is the foundation for Federal regulation of some activities that occur in or near the nation's wetlands. The regulatory plan intends to control discharge from dredge or fill materials into wetlands and other water bodies throughout the U.S. Under section 404, the Army Corps and the EPA share responsibility for implementing a permitting program for dredging and filling wetland areas. The EPA has authority to veto a permit if discharge materials will adversely affect surrounding areas.
In 1977, President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 11988 Floodplain Management and Executive Order 11990 Protection of Wetlands to ensure the proper management of wetlands and floodplains. Here are both of Carter's Executive Orders. The orders direct federal agencies to consider direct and indirect adverse effects of federal activities on or near wetlands and floodplains.
The Food Security Act of 1985 implemented "Swampbusters," a program that seeks to remove federal incentives for the agricultural conversion of wetlands by rendering farmers who have drained or converted wetlands after 1985 ineligible for most farm subsidies. Government programs affected by "Swampbusters" is listed in Section 1221 of the Food Security Act.
The Food Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act of 1990 amended "Swampbusters" and created the Wetland Reserve Program which provides financial incentives to farmers to restore and protect wetlands through the use of long-term easements.
Florida Legislation for Wetland Protection
Arguably, the most effective way to protect wetlands is for the state
to purchase them. In Florida, wetlands and other ecologically important lands, as
well as recreational lands, have been acquired through unique funding and
purchasing programs, which were and continue to be strongly supported by
the taxpayers.
The 1980 CARL program was the first major such program in the state.
Since its inception, CARL (Conservation And Recreational
Lands) has
acquired well over 1 million acres at a cost of nearly $2 billion. Increased
efforts were mandated and more stable funding was instituted in 1990 with the
Preservation 2000 program; the most recent, $3 billion, programming and funding effort
is called Florida Forever.
Here is a
5-year-out-of-date-but-somewhat-informative DEP web site about CARL, Preservation
2000, and
Florida Forever.
Between July, 2001 and __________, more than 126,000 acres, including
wetlands, were acquired by the
state of Florida through the Florida Forever legislation.
* Benefit threatened and endangered species
For more information on what you can do to conserve Florida's waters, go to this page on our website.
SOME WETLAND TERMINOLOGY EXPLAINED
In 1987, the Corps of Engineers'
Wetland Delineation Manual (PDF downloadable file) described
wetland field indicators such as geologic characteristics, plant species, water levels, and water
and soil chemistry to assist federal agencies in delineating wetland boundaries.
Several federal and local agencies followed with
separate
recipes
for delineation,
and two years later the so-called "Federal
Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands" was
produced.
Yet, concerns over the accuracy of the newer 1989 "Federal" manual prompted
the Clinton
administration to proclaim that, "Federal wetlands policy should be based upon the best science
available," and the Corps, 1987 manual became the sole reference for federal
wetland delineation.
In 2003, this remains the case until the National Academy
of Science completes a study of the matter.
Not all of Florida's wetlands are lost!
In Florida, wetland preservation has become the focus of many conservation
efforts by legislators
and environmental advocates. Through research, legislation, and state land
acquisition,
policymakers and conservationists are now struggling to preserve and restore
many of the state's
precious wetland regions. By all measures, Florida has one of the most
comprehensive
state-mandated
programs for wetland protection in the nation.
Florida's goals for wetland protection:
* Create buffers for existing natural areas
* Expand, restore, and enhance the natural community
* Improve and protect aquifer recharge
* Improve and protect water quality
* Improve and restore fish and wildlife habitats
* Improve and restore hydrologic connections between water bodies
* Protect cultural resources
Wetland Delineation
Wetland conservation begins with the delineation, or identification, of wetland habitats.
However, the dynamic and complex character of wetland regions complicates their
identification.
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Florida's wetlands delineation guidelines may be found here.
Once a wetland habitat is identified, the region falls under the authority of state laws as
well as federal laws. In Florida, policy-makers
have adopted a "no net loss" strategy that aims to maintain a minimum number of wetland acres
throughout the state. However, because of the state's increasing population and growing demand
for development, state agencies must continue to issue permits for wetland
destruction to land developers. In order to maintain a "no net loss" of wetland habitats,
policymakers have adopted a number of strategies such as wetland restoration, creation,
enhancement, reallocation and mitigation.
Wetland restoration is "the return of an ecosystem to a close approximation of its
condition prior to disturbance." (National Research Council, 1992 report, Restoration of Aquatic
Ecosystems) Proper restoration includes the reestablishment of key ecological functions related
to chemical, physical and biological characteristics. Environmental researchers address wetland
restoration as a holistic process. Re-establishment aims to rebuild a former wetland area and
results in additional wetland acres. Rehabilitation aims to restore a degraded wetland region and
does not result in additional wetland acres.
Thus, the primary goal of a wetland restoration project is to
allow and encourage ecological processes that are
specific to wetland regions and allow the processes to proceed without interruption. A successful
restoration project will result in a resilient, sustainable, and naturally functioning wetland
ecosystem.
Some guiding principles for wetland restoration:
* Preserve aquatic resources and address water quality issues
* Restore ecological integrity, natural structure, and natural function
* Understand watershed potential
* Address ongoing causes of degradation
* Develop clear, feasible and achievable goals
* Restore native species & avoid non-native species
* Select an appropriate site that is compatible with surrounding land uses
* Buffer and protect site from nearby development
* Maintain long term management and monitoring for success
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| Planting Sagittaria |
Wetland enhancement is the modification of an existing wetland in order to heighten specific ecological functions and facilitate management objectives such as water quality improvement, wildlife habitat, and flood retention. Although the term enhancement implies a positive improvement, critics point out that changes in one wetland ecosystem can negatively affect surrounding wetlands. Enhancement includes activities associated with the terms management, manipulation, and directed alteration. Enhancement does not result in additional wetland acres.
Wetland reallocation or replacement refers to actions that transform an existing wetland into a different type of wetland.
Wetland protection or maintenance includes defense from ecological threats and
purchase of land or easement such as buffer zones between wetlands and developed areas. The
term also applies to activities associated with wetland preservation. Protection and maintenance
does not result in additional wetland acres.
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In Florida, the Department of Environmental Protection issues legal permits (here are the forms) that allow for the destruction of wetlands provided a mitigation plan is set forth.
However, opponents of this controversial strategy claim that mitigation fails to compensate for the large-scale destruction of natural wetlands because complex ecological systems such as soil chemistry, food chains, and vegetation that are specific to wetlands will take hundreds of years to become established. Today, most wetland mitigation projects are less than a decade old and their success remains to be discovered. The feasibility of mitigation is further complicated because Florida has so many different types of wetlands and the mitigated wetland may not support the same habitats that existed in the destroyed wetland. For more information on mitigation criticisms, visit this site.
The 1984 Henderson Wetlands Protection Act requires the DEP to consider
mitigation projects prior to issuing a permit to dredge and fill a wetland region.
The rules for this
are spelled out in
Florida DEP's wetlands permitting guidelines.
Mitigation banking refers to wetland acres that have been restored, enhanced, created, or
preserved and are set aside to compensate for future "conversion" of wetland habitats. Banking
allows land developers to trade off planned wetland destruction by establishing a mitigation
bank, or buffer, that protects existing habitats elsewhere.
The Environmental
Reorganization Act of 1993 directed the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection and state water management districts to adopt rules governing
mitigation banking, such as these two
projects in the South Florida Water Management District. Although mitigation banking
encourages restoration and promotes
interconnected tracts of wetlands, it allows the destruction of smaller wetlands that provide
important habitats for certain species such as the wood stork.
For more information on mitigation banking,
visit the DEP mitigation banking web page.
Physical
Center for Wetlands web site,
This page was authored by Sarah Cervone, with research assistance from Becca Hassell.
Vic Ramey is the editor.
DEP review by Jeff Schardt and Judy Ludlow.
This project is a collaboration of
[Source: The Conservation Foundation, Protecting America's Wetlands, 1988 p.
15]
Filling: adding any material to raise the bottom level of a wetland or to replace the
wetland with dry
land
Draining: removing the water from a wetland by ditching, tiling, pumping, and so
forth
Excavating: dredging and removing soil and vegetation from a wetland
Diverting water away: preventing the flow of water into a wetland by removing water
upstream, lowering
lake levels, or lowering ground-water tables
Clearing: removing vegetation by burning, digging, application of herbicide, scraping,
mowing, or
otherwise cutting
Flooding: raising water levels, either behind dams, by pumping, or otherwise channeling
water into a
wetland
Diverting or withholding sediment: trapping sediment by constructing dams, channels, or
other types of
projects, thereby inhibiting wetland regeneration in natural deposition areas such as deltas
Shading placing pile-supported platforms or bridges over wetlands, causing vegetation to
die because of a
lack of adequate sunlight
Conducting activities in adjacent areas: disrupting the interactions between wetlands and
adjacent land
areas, or incidentally affecting wetlands through activities at adjoining sites
Changing nutrient levels: increasing or decreasing nutrient levels within the local water
and or soil
system, forcing wetland plant community changes
Introducing toxics: adding toxic compounds to a wetland either intentionally (for
example, herbicide
treatment to reduce vegetation) or unintentionally, adversely affecting wetland plants and animals
Grazing: consumption and compaction of vegetation by domestic or wild animals
Disrupting natural populations: reducing populations of existing species, introducing
exotic species, or otherwise disturbing resident organisms
visit this page on our web site.
University of Florida
Data is from the APIRS
Database.
This page was designed by Sara Reinhart.
Photography and graphics are by Ann Murray, Sara Reinhart and Vic Ramey.
the
Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants, University of Florida,
and the
Bureau of Invasive Plant Management, Florida Department of Environmental
Protection
CAIP-WEBSITE@ufl.edu
Copyright
2003 University of Florida