Performance Criteria, Compliance Success, and Vegetation Development in Compensatory Mitigation Wetlands |
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Authors: | Jeffrey W Matthews Anton G Endress |
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Institution: | (1) Illinois Natural History Survey, 1816 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA;(2) Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, 1101 West Peabody Drive, Urbana, IL 61801, USA |
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Abstract: | The US Army Corps of Engineers often requires wetland creation or restoration as compensation for wetlands damaged during
development. These wetlands are typically monitored postconstruction to determine the level of compliance with respect to
site-specific performance standards. However, defining appropriate goals and measuring success of restorations has proven
difficult. We reviewed monitoring information for 76 wetlands constructed between 1992 and 2002 to summarize the performance
criteria used to measure progress, assess compliance with those criteria, and, finally, to evaluate the appropriateness of
those criteria. Goals were overwhelmingly focused on plant communities. Attributes used to assess the quality of restored
plant communities, including percent native species and the Floristic Quality Index, increased over time but were apparently
unrelated to the number of species planted. Compliance frequencies varied depending on site goals; sites often failed to comply
with criteria related to survival of planted vegetation or requirements that dominant plant species should not be exotic or
weedy, whereas criteria related to the establishment of cover by vegetation or by wetland-dependent plants were often met.
Judgment of a site’s success or failure was largely a function of the goals set for the site. Some performance criteria were
too lenient to be of value in distinguishing failed from successful sites, whereas other criteria were unachievable without
more intensive site management. More appropriate goals could be devised for restored wetlands by basing performance standards
on past performance of similar restorations, identifying consistent temporal trends in attributes of restored sites, and using
natural wetlands as references. |
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Keywords: | Creation Restoration Clean Water Act Section 404 Performance standards Plant community development Floristic Quality Index |
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