Striving for consistency in the National Wetland Condition Assessment: developing a reference condition approach for assessing wetlands at a continental scale

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 191; no. Suppl 1; p. 327
• Main Authors: Herlihy, Alan T., Kentula, Mary E., Magee, Teresa K., Lomnicky, Gregg A., Nahlik, Amanda M., Serenbetz, Gregg
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.05.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Benchmarking; Benchmarks; Biogeography; Conservation of Natural Resources; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological conditions; Ecology; ecoregions; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Environmental Monitoring - standards; Environmental protection; Heterogeneity; landscapes; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; probability; Site selection; Topical Collection on Monitoring Wetlands on a Continental Scale: The Technical Basis for the National Wetland Condition Assessment; United States; United States Environmental Protection Agency - organization & administration; United States Environmental Protection Agency - standards; United States Environmental Protection Agency - statistics & numerical data; Vegetation; Wetlands; Wilderness areas; United States; United States > US; Reference sites; Regionalization; Reference condition; Regional assessments; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-019-7325-3

One of the biggest challenges when conducting a continental-scale assessment of wetlands is setting appropriate expectations for the assessed sites. The challenge occurs for two reasons: (1) tremendous natural environmental heterogeneity exists within a continental landscape and (2) reference sites vary in quality both across and within major regions of the continent. We describe the process used to set reference expectations and define a disturbance gradient for the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency’s National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). The NWCA employed a probability design and sampled 1138 wetland sites across the conterminous US to make an unbiased assessment of wetland condition. NWCA vegetation data were used to define 10 reporting groups based on ecoregion and wetland type that reduced the naturally occurring variation in wetland vegetation associated with continent-wide differences in biogeography. These reporting groups were used as a basis for defining quantitative criteria for least disturbed and most disturbed conditions and developing indices and thresholds for categories of ecological condition and disturbance. The NWCA vegetation assessment was based on a reference site approach, in which the least disturbed reference sites were used to establish benchmarks for assessing the condition of vegetation at other sites. Reference sites for each reporting group were identified by filtering NWCA sample data for disturbance using a series of abiotic variables. Ultimately, 277 least disturbed sites were used to set reference expectations for the NWCA. The NWCA provided a unique opportunity to improve our conceptual and technical understanding of how to best apply a reference condition approach to assessing wetlands across the US. These results will enhance the technical quality of future national assessments.