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The VirginiaWetlands ReportThe VirginiaWetlands Report

Summer 2000Vol. 15, No. 2

Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)Implementing Nontidal Wetlands Protection Mandate

Ellen Gilinsky, Ph.D.

Editor’s Note: The 2000 General As-sembly session passed legislation au-thorizing the development of a newregulatory program for nontidal wet-lands in Virginia. The Governor hassigned the legislation and the newprogram is to be implemented by theDepartment of Environmental Quality(DEQ). The program will allow theCommonwealth to address issues suchas Tulloch ditching, which impactnontidal wetland resources, but whichoccur outside of federal regulation.The General Assembly was motivatedto pass the new legislation by commit-ments made by Governor Gilmore andhis predecessors to achieve no net lossof state wetland resources.

The legislation was crafted follow-ing an extensive review of existingprograms, existing wetland resources,threats to those resources, and meth-ods for preserving the public benefitsderived from wetlands in Virginia. Thefinal bills passed by the legislaturewere a product of intensive debate andcompromise. They reflect thelegislature’s desire that the new pro-gram be structured to be effective, fair,and efficient. DEQ has been taskedwith a demanding timetable for imple-mentation, and the department hasmoved quickly to meet those goals. Dr.Ellen Gilinsky has been hired by theDepartment to head the program. Dr.Gilinsky comes to DEQ with an exten-sive background in wetlands, andyears of experience working with theexisting state and federal wetlandsprograms.

The Wetlands Report asked Dr.Gilinsky to summarize DEQ’s currentactivities for our readership. We ap-preciate very much her taking time outof her obviously very busy schedule tokeep us informed as to the activities,participants and the implementationschedule that DEQ has established inorder to fulfill the legislated frame-work set down by the General Assem-bly this year. This is her report.

T he actions of the 2000 General As-sembly have given the Department

of Environmental Quality (DEQ) a clearmandate to revise the existing VirginiaWater Protection Permit (VWPP) regula-tions, which have served since 1992 asthe Commonwealth’s nontidal wetlandsprogram through the Section 401 Certi-fication process. Prior to July 1, 2000,the VWPP regulations required appli-cants seeking a Section 404 Permit fromthe Corps of Engineers for placement offill in wetlands or waters of the UnitedStates, to also obtain a DEQ permit orwaiver under Section 401 Certificationfor the same activity. By their actionsthis year, the General Assembly re-moved the dependence of the VWPPprogram on the issuance of a Corpspermit, thus enabling DEQ to regulateactivities, such as excavation in wet-lands and fill in isolated wetlands,which are not currently under federaljurisdiction. In addition, the GeneralAssembly directed DEQ to developGeneral Permits for similar classes ofactivities with minimal impacts in orderto expedite the permitting process in

Virginia while maintaining the samehigh environmental standards as theindividual permitting process.

The changes mandated by the Gen-eral Assembly build on the existingVWPP Program, while creating anontidal wetlands program indepen-dent of Section 401 Certification. Keyaspects of the new legislation that willbe incorporated into the VWPP Pro-gram include:

§ Regulation of new excavation inwetlands (Tulloch ditching) as ofJuly 1, 2000

§ Regulation of other activities in awetland that cause drainage of wet-lands as of October 1, 2001

§ Regulation of activities in isolatedwetlands as of October 1, 2001

§ Increase in permit term from 5 yearsto the length of the project, not toexceed 15 years

§ New permit review times, with a 15day window for DEQ applicationreview to determine completenessand a 120 day period in which toissue or deny a permit or decide toconduct a public hearing

§ DEQ must consider cumulativeimpacts to state waters and fish andwildlife resources when issuingwetland permits

§ Acceptable forms of mitigation arespecified, and include creation,restoration, mitigation banks, pres-ervation of wetland or upland buff-ers in combination with the above,and approved compensatory funds

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The Virginia Wetlands Report is aquarterly publication of the WetlandsProgram at the Virginia Institute ofMarine Science of the College ofWilliam and Mary. Subscriptions areavailable without charge upon writtenrequest to: Wetlands Program, VirginiaInstitute of Marine Science, P.O. Box1346, Gloucester Pt, VA 23062 USA.Address corrections requested.

Program Director: Dr. Carl HershnerHead, Wetlands Advisory Program: Thomas A. Barnard, Jr.Produced by: VIMS Publication Center

In this Issue:Department of EnvironmentalQuality (DEQ) ImplementingNontidal Wetlands ProtectionMandate ............................................ 1Sago Palm .......................................... 3A New Land Cover Data Set NowAvailable For Virginia’s Tributaries ... 4Grass Shrimp ..................................... 5Calendar of Upcoming Events .......... 6Book Review ..................................... 6

This report was funded, in part,by the Virginia Institute ofMarine Science and by theVirginia Coastal ResourcesManagement Program of the Depart-ment of Environmental Quality throughGrant #NA97OZ0181-01 of the NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administration,Office of Ocean and Coastal Resources Man-agement, under the Coastal Zone Manage-ment Act, as amended.

The views expressed herein are those of the authorsand do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAAor any of its subagencies or DEQ.

Printed on recycled paper

§ DEQ can be a signatory to mitiga-tion banking agreements

§ DEQ is to seek a State ProgrammaticGeneral Permit by July 2002

In addition DEQ has been directedto develop General Permits for the fol-lowing types of activities causing im-pacts to wetlands:

§ Impacts of less than 0.5 acre of wet-lands,

§ Activities of utility and public ser-vice companies

§ Linear Transportation Projects, bothpublic and private

§ Activities covered by Corps Nation-wide and Regional Permits

§ Mining activities for coal, naturalgas, coalbed methane gas and sand

To accomplish these changes, DEQhas formed a Technical Advisory Com-mittee (TAC) to work with DEQ staff inrevising the VWPP regulation and de-veloping General Permits. Over 60nominations to serve on the TAC werereceived, and the selected membershipof 30 individuals represents a balancebetween business and industry, localgovernment, federal agencies, stateagencies, academic institutions andenvironmental conservation organiza-tions. The TAC will meet eight timesfrom June through October 2000 tomake their recommendations. In addi-tion, an informational Public Hearingwill be held on August 10, 2000 at 2:00PM in House Room C, General Assem-

bly Building, 9th and Broad Streets inRichmond to hear the public’s com-ments on this important subject.

Drafts of the revised VWPP regula-tion and new General Permits will bepresented to the State Water ControlBoard at their December 2000 meeting.These drafts will then be public noticedand comments will be received in early2001. The 2001 General Assembly ses-sion will also be taking a look at thedraft regulations and permits. Guidancefor implementation of the regulationsand permits will be developed concur-rently with input from the public. Anyneeded revisions will be made and thefinal versions will come before the StateWater Control Board by September2001 for implementation in October2001. DEQ will also be working with theNorfolk District Army Corps of Engi-neers to obtain a State ProgrammaticGeneral Permit for all or portions ofimpacts covered by state General Per-mits once the program is implemented.

Sherman T. Holmes Sr.

Sherman T. Holmes, a man who likely personified the local wetlands managerthat the General Assembly envisioned in fashioning its local option wetlandslegislation, died July 14th due to a sudden heart attack. Mr. Holmes was 86. Hewas a member of the Middlesex County Wetlands Board for more than twentyyears, many of which he served as Chairman. Those of us fortunate enough tohave worked with Mr. Holmes over the years knew him as a passionate conser-vationist and public servant. Mr. Holmes was however, always a gentleman andpossessed an innate sense of fairness that characterized his years on theMiddlesex Wetlands Board and guided his interactions with his neighbors andfellow citizens, in and out of Middlesex County.

Sherman Holmes was a teacher, business man, author, family man, concernedcitizen and leader. He was honored by the Rotary Club in March of this year asThe Pride of Middlesex. He will be sorely missed by Middlesex County but hisinfluence extended far beyond county borders. He will long be remembered bythose in the wetlands management community for the example he set over almost25 years of service in local water protection and wetlands conservation.

Related websites:Virginia Legislative Services (text of new wetlands law):http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?001+ful+SB648ER2

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (for nontidal law updates):http://www.deq.state.va.us/

EPA Wetlands homepage: http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/wetlands/

National Wetlands Inventory: http://www.nwi.fws.gov/

VIMS Wetlands Program: http://www.vims.edu/ccrm/wetlands.html

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aried & ersatile Wetlands

Sago PalmPam Mason

I n some tropical locales of the planet, the lack of good agricultural

lands has resulted in resourcefulpeoples looking elsewhere to find sus-tenance. In areas of Southeast Asia,the islands of the South Pacific, andparts of South America, low-lying fresh-water swamp environments are commonand agricultural lands are marginal inproduction. These swamps are home tothe sago palm. Sago may be found insmall clumps in dense forests, or inpure monotypic stands. Sago palm isactually a common name for severalgenuses of palms; common to Indone-sia are Metroxlon, Arenga, Caryotaand Corypha, and in South America,Mauritia and Guilielma.

Sago palms grow to a height of 30feet and have thick trunks. The plantmatures in about 15 years and the pithof the trunks is full of starch. Thetrees are harvested just as theplant flowers. If fruit was allowedto develop from the flower, all thestarch resources would go intothe production of fruit. Onceharvested, the pith is choppedand kneaded with water to extractthe starch. After repeatedwashings, the wood fibre is leftbehind and the resulting sagomeal is ready for use. The mealcan be ground into flour or, alter-natively, mixed with water to forma paste and rubbed throughsieves producing pearl sago(similar to tapioca).

Sago has a very high carbo-hydrate content, about 95% of itsdry weight. This compares wellto other sources of starch, suchas rice (75%) and corn (64%).Sago palms are managed to pro-vide multiple benefits to localcommunities; self-sufficiency,sustainability and traditionalproducts. Sago grubs (beetlelarvae) are an important protein

source and the sago sap and fruit areother food products of the sago. Avery important consideration for tropi-cal locales, cooked sago food productscan be stored for months (The Austra-lian National University1 1998).

Sago palm also has a number ofnon-food uses among the Indonesianand South American peoples. Youngstems are used as construction materialfor canoes and leaf fronds of the plantsare a long-lasting roofing material. Ad-ditionally, Sagos convert solar energyto starch with great efficiency. Thestarch is then easily converted to etha-nol for fuel.

A basic food in the southwest Pa-cific, Sago is used for soups, cakes,puddings and snack foods. Elsewhere,it is used for pudding and as a thicken-ing agent.

One use for pearl sago is in thepreparation of the Indian snack SagoVada (Your Indian Cook Bawarchi Con-tributions2)

Ingredients1 cup Pearl Sago (also calledSaboodana in Indian cuisine)2 medium Potatoes4 tsp. Ground Peanuts1 bunch Mint leaves4 green Chilies½ tsp. Tumeric powderOne piece of Ginger- optionalSalt to tasteOil for frying

Instructions1. Soak the sago in water for 10-15 min-utes and then drain (Sago will becomesoft).

2. Boil and mash potatoes.3. Grind chilies and mint (or gin-ger) into a paste.4. When sago becomes soft like asponge, add the mashed potato,ground chilie mixture, groundpeanuts, tumeric powder and saltto taste. Mix well.5. Form the dough into small ballsand press into patties.6. Fry until golden.Sago vada should be served hotwith tomato sauce.

Look for sago in Indian orOriental markets. If you try therecipe, let us know how it turnsout.

1The Australian National University.The sago palm: a natural and renewableresource for the future. URL : http://www.anu.edu.au/Forestry/wood/nwfp/sago/sagoword2.html.

2Your Indian Cook Bawarchi Contribu-tions. Sago vada. http:/www/bawarchi.com/contribution/contrib1586.html.

Metroxylon amicarum in various stages of growth.Photo from Palms Throughout the World

by David L. Jones.

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G i SGeographicInformationSystem

Marcia Berman

A New Land Cover Data Set Now AvailableFor Virginia�s Tributaries

T he Comprehensive Coastal Inventory Program (CCI) atVIMS has just released a new data set which classifies

land use and land cover for one Landsat satellite scene cap-tured in July, 1997. The scene spans a major portion ofVirginia’s tributaries to the western shore of the ChesapeakeBay. This will be a valuable product for individuals with aninterest in this geographic area, or who require recent landuse/land cover data to support their programs.

CCI has adopted methods and protocols developed bythe Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) of the Na-tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forclassifying landcover using satellite imagery and image pro-cessing techniques. C-CAP has performed this activity previ-ously using 1985 and 1989 satellite data for the ChesapeakeBay. Their protocols are well documented and tested, andinclude extensive ground-truthing before, during, and afterthe classification process. It is this level of field work thatsets the CCAP technique apart from other agencies’ classifi-cation methods. More than one thousand sites were visitedthroughout the scene in the field prior to the classification.Another 800 were occupied after the classification was com-plete.

The image processing software Imagine® , a product ofErdas, was used to classify the satellite image. The C-CAP

system identifies fourteen land cover classes. They are: highintensity developed, low intensity developed, cultivatedlands, grass lands, deciduous forest, evergreen forest, mixedforest, scrub-shrub, palustrine forest, palustrine scrub-shrub,palustrine emergent, estuarine emergent, bare, and water.

Uses for land use/ land cover data are numerous. Landuse data were the cornerstone of the water quality modelingjust completed in Virginia to determined nutrient reductiongoals for the various Tributary Strategies in Virginia. Landuse/land cover data were used to develop the riparian forestbuffer cover generated by the University of Pennsylvania forthe Environmental Protection Agency, and now used to planfor forest restoration goals in Virginia. Habitat restorationtargeting, and use conflict models being developed at CCI allintegrate land use data.

The recent data set is available as an ArcInfo grid filethrough the Center for Coastal Resources ManagementWebsite at http://www.vims.edu/ccrm/cci.html. A metadatarecord is also included. This project was funded, in part, bythe Virginia Coastal Resources Management Program at theDepartment of Environmental Quality through a grant withNOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Managementunder the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, asamended.

change the fact that the fate of these islands was not in thehands of their inhabitants. The fate of these islands was, andis, to a large extent determined by nature. The chapter en-titled “Cobb’s Island” (1897) is one of the first narratives ofshoreline migration, giving details about the formation of newinlets and the discovery of marsh peat on the seaward side ofthe island. In a succeeding chapter, Virginia CardwellEldredge writes about growing up on Little Cobb’s Island inthe early to mid 1900’s. She returned to the island in 1982 fora visit and notes that her families’ original house had “goneto sea.” Furthermore, Tom Horton points out in his chapter,“The Ultimate Edge” (1987), it is “only when people try toanchor their condo-castles on these, earth’s most dynamicland forms, that the barrier islands are said to be ‘unstable,’and natural migration becomes an ‘erosion problem.’” And as

Barnes and Truitt express in their introduction, “that man, sodestructive and, ironically, helpless, has no permanent placeon the barriers.”

Those readers who are not familiar with Virginia’s barrierislands might be surprised at the changes that have takenplace there in the last three centuries. The book is a simpleretelling of the history of the islands from the writers’ per-sonal perspectives; from the days when island living was fullof hardships, through the easy times after the Civil War, untilthe present when humans are, again, the outsiders. Althoughit might appear after reading the editor’s introduction thatthey are biased in favor of little to no human existence on theislands, most of the excerpts included have no overt philo-sophical or political bias. The historical accounts are so var-ied, yet so personal, they are assured to draw in the reader.

Book Reviewcontinued from page 6

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Grass ShrimpPaleomonetes pugio

by Walter I. Priest, III

Wetland Denizens���

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Given their inconspicuous colora-tion and relatively small size, one

might expect the grass shrimp to be oneof the lesser noticed critters of theChesapeake Bay environs. This is farfrom the case, however. Anyone whohas retrieved an artifact or specimenfrom a bed of submerged aquatic veg-etation (SAV) using a beach seine orpulled a minnow net through a floodedmarsh gut, quickly realizes that anyanonymity afforded by color or size iscountered by the sheer numbers ofgrass shrimp present in these habitats.These numbers indicate how well grassshrimp have adapted tothese shallow water com-munities and in so doinghave become one of theclassic examples of anorganism able to exploitthe detritus food web oftidal marshes as well asexport this productivity tothe whole estuarine sys-tem.

The Chesapeake Bayis home to three different species of thegenus, Paleomonetes, collectivelyknown as grass shrimp. Paleomonetesvulgaris is found in higher salinitywaters and larger rivers. P. intermediusis the smallest of the three and uncom-mon in Virginia, and P. pugio, which ismost commonly encountered in tidalmarsh habitats, is the species we willprimarily consider here. The three spe-cies have overlapping ranges and thereis no way to readily distinguish amongthe species without a microscope.

Grass shrimp are decapod crusta-ceans closely related to the edibleshrimp. They range in size from 40-50mm with the females being slightlylarger than the males. They have apronounced beak on the front of the

carapace that has 8-11 teeth. P. vul-garis can be distinguished from theother species by two small teeth on theanterior edge of the carapace. The firsttwo pairs of walking legs have pincerswith the second pair being larger.Grass shrimp are thin and basicallytransparent with a few inconspicuousred, white, yellow and blue spots onthe body. They range from the St.Lawrence River to the Yucatan Penin-sula.

Grass shrimp are an annual specieswith few animals living longer than ayear. They breed continuously from

spring to fall depending on water tem-perature and latitude. Eggs are carriedin brood pouches on the abdomen offemales. Each female can produce twobroods per year with broods averaging450 eggs each. Eggs hatch within thebrood pouch and produce free-swim-ming larvae.

P. pugio shows a specific adapta-tion for life in highly organic marshhabitats that give it a competitive ad-vantage over other species. Dissolvedoxygen levels can vary widely in tidalmarshes often reaching levels lowenough to be lethal to some organisms.Under these conditions P. pugio hasthe ability to reduce its consumption ofoxygen and survive where other spe-cies cannot.

Grass shrimp are surface depositfeeders where they consume small in-vertebrates such as nematode worms,copepods, amphipods, anemones andlarvae of other organisms. They arealso active consumers of plant detritus.It is here that they play an importantrole in the detritus food web. As theyfeed, they physically break up the largerpieces of leaves and stems. This frag-mentation helps reduce the detritusparticle size and provides a greater sur-face to volume ratio, which allows moreeffective colonization of the particles bybacteria, yeast, molds and other decay

organisms. This helpsincrease the nutritionalvalue and availability ofthe detritus to otherdetritivores.

Grass shrimp, in turn,are preyed upon by amyriad of predators in-cluding killifish, whiteperch, eels, blue crabs,striped bass and numer-ous others. These fish,

particularly in their juvenile stages,regularly forage in the marshes andsmall tidal creeks during high tide.When they leave the relative safety ofthe marshes at low tide, they, in turn,are preyed upon larger fish in offshorewaters. This export of biomass from themarsh to the estuary is made possibleby the ability of grass shrimp to exploitthe detritus food web and provide asource of food for the fishes whichfrequent tidal marsh habitats.

Grass shrimp, unlike their largercousins, are not consumed directly byman. Indirectly however, they help makepossible man’s consumption of manyspecies that feed on the small shrimp inthe marsh and SAV environments.

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Calendar of Upcoming EventsSeptember 12-14 VIMS Wetlands Mitigation and Compensation Course

For details and registration info contact Bill Roberts, wlr@vims.edu, , (804) 684-7395 orDawn at (804) 684-7380.

October 26 - 27 Virginia GIS 2000 ConferenceRichmond Marriott Hotel. For information visit www.institute.Virginia.edu/vapdc/gis2000.html or call Chris Gensic at the VAPDC, (804) 982-5538.

October 29-November 2 Wetlands Regulatory WorkshopHoliday Inn on the Boardwalk, Atlantic City, NJ.For Info contact Ralph Spagnolo at EPA Region 3, (215)814-2718) orspagnolo.ralph@epa.gov

December 14 - 15 VIMS Winter BotanyFor more information contact Bill Roberts at wlr@vims.edu.

January 8-11, 2001 COASTAL GEOTOOLS, Coastal Resource Spacial Technology Tools Conference.Charleston, S.C. Contact: Steve Meador or Mark Jensen, (843) 740-1200, GeoTools@noaa.gov

July 15-19, 2001 Coastal Zone 2001. Hands Across the Water-Linking Land, Lake and Sea.Call for Papers. Abstracts due September 8, 2000. For more information, please call(843) 740-1279, or email Jan.Kucklick@noaa.gov

T hese days, tourists to Virginia wanting vacations full ofsun and surf head to Virginia Beach. But less than 100

years ago, tourists might have found themselves swimming inthe Atlantic off of one of Virginia’s many barrier islands. Priorto 1941, when the last inhabitants left the islands (except forWallop’s and Chincoteague Islands, which are still inhabited),many were thriving places of business as well as home tonumerous Virginia families. During the last fifty years, how-ever, the majority of the islands in Virginia’s barrier systemhave been turned into nature preserves, owned by the NatureConservancy or the state or federal government. The book,Seashore Chronicles: Three Centuries of the Virginia BarrierIslands, chronicles the history of these islands from past topresent; from a time when they were first “discovered” bysailors until now, when humans rarely have the privilege toview the pristine islands along Virginia’s coast.

The editors of the book, Brooks Barnes and Barry Truitt,include excepts from other sources that focus primarily onhuman activities on the islands. It is from these accounts thatthe reader not only develops a feel for the social history of theislands, but also a view of the islands’ natural history. Thefirst excerpt, dated 1650, describes the hardships early sailorsfaced when trying to eke out an existence on an island.Weather, lack of food and shelter, and difficulty navigating theshoals offshore were primary problems early visitors faced.

Even as late as 1864, hardships on the islands could be formi-dable. In the chapter “We All Supposed Hog Island Was aLittle Paradise” (1864), a Union soldier, stationed on Hog Is-land to guard the light house, found existence on the islandmiserable. He writes, “On the whole, I come to the conclusionthat Hog Island would be a most excellent place to go awayfrom!” Even after settlements were established on the is-lands, unpredictable weather, lack of resources and the chang-ing landscape were sometimes daily obstacles that the settlershad to overcome to maintain an existence on the islands.

It was during the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s that islandliving became easier. This was primarily due to the expansionof the railroad down Virginia’s Eastern Shore immediately afterthe end of the Civil War. Once the railroad was built and travelto the Eastern Shore and thus, to the islands, became easier,several islands become popular places for hunters and fisher-men alike. One chapter, entitled “Trip to Cobb’s Island”(1877), describes the little hotel on the island that attractedvacationers. Family members could enjoy activities such ashunting, swimming and fishing, and resources such as shell-fish and game birds made for delicious eating.

Although many of the islands were thriving in the earlypart of the 20th century, no amount of economic fortune could

� Book Review �

Seashore Chronicles: Three Centuries of the Virginia Barrier Islands.Edited by Brooks Miles Barnes and Barry R. Truitt.

The University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1997. 248 pp., $30.00 (hardcover).

Review by Anne Newsom

Continued on page 4