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WETLAND NEWS

Board of Directors

David Davis, ChairAlan Quackenbush, Vice Chair

Cherie Hagen, Secretary/TreasurerCollis AdamsRichard Gitar

Maryann McGrawErik StockdaleAmy Lounds

fJeanne Christie, Executive Director

Jon Kusler, Esq. PhD., Assoc. Director Peg Bostwick, Sr. Policy Analyst

Inside this issue:

Association News Webinar: Calling All Wetlands State Wetland Climate Change Adaptation Summaries Welcome New Members

Vol. 21 No. 3 August 2011

Jeanne Christie photo

ASWM ~ Dedicated to the protection and restoration of the Nation’s wetlands

Association News - by Jeanne Christie, ASWM Unlike nearly every other state in the Union, Maine has a deer shortage. Hard to believe, but it’s true. Long winters and deep snow are hard on the deer herds. Therefore, the neighborhood was surprised when a doe moved in this spring. She’s been sighted sampling the day lilies in our neighbor Jeff’s backyard and crossing the road near our house on many occasions. I see her frequently under the power lines out back. She’s bold, too, staring me down, stamping and retreating only with great reluctance. Sometimes she doesn’t retreat at all. Other times she snorts loudly from the trees. Despite her frequent appearances, she has kept her secrets well. All spring and summer none of us knew there were two offspring hidden nearby. Just last week I saw them bolt suddenly from the underbrush on my morning run—big healthy fawns. Until then I was sure our doe was too tame to survive the fall hunt. But if she can raise two fawns unseen under our noses, then maybe she has a chance. I hope so. You can see her picture on page 2 of this issue of Wetland News. continued on p. 2

State Wetland Climate Change Adaptation Summaries - by Will Walker, ASWM

The Association of State Wetland Managers (ASWM) queried the 50 states for information on any wetland-related climate change adaptation efforts they have initiated. Many states have sought ways to reduce greenhouse gases, implementing things such as emissions standards, energy portfolios, and carbon reduction targets. In addition to this type of mitigation, state agencies are also looking at adaptation. When applied to wetlands, adaptation refers to the actions pertaining to wetland processes, wetland management practices, or wetland functions to reduce or offset potential adverse impacts of climate change. State and federal government agencies have begun to explore and adopt adaptation strategies as part of their climate change action plans, or goals for future actions.

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Webinar Invitation: Calling All wetlandsFor more information about the webinar to be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT, see p. 3

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Summer has been busy at the Association of State Wetland Managers’ (ASWM) offices. The comment period for the draft guidance on Clean Water Act jurisdiction closed July 31. ASWM joined eight other state nonprofit organizations in commenting on the guidance. The letter contained five main points:

1. The state nonprofits supported clarification of the scope of jurisdiction.

2. Technical, science-based methods that account for regional differences are crucial for the correct and reasonable identification

of streams and isolated waters for regulatory purposes.

3. The proposed guidance and subsequent rules should more directly address the concerns of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the limits of federal jurisdiction.

4. EPA’s economic analysis should more adequately reflect costs to states.

5. It is essential that federal jurisdictional guidance be consistent with a “common sense” and flexible understanding of the existence of public waters and their values.

The other state nonprofit organizations that signed the letter were the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, Association of State and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, Association of State Floodplain Managers, Coastal States Organization, Groundwater Protection Council, Environmental Council of the States and National Association of State Foresters. The letter is posted on ECOS' website at: http://www.ecos.org/files/4520_file_CWA_guidance_comment_letter_from_9_state_NGOs__2_.pdf.

ASWM recently completed case studies of 11 state 401 certification programs. They can be found at http://aswm.org/wetland-programs/401-certification/729-resources?start=1. Section 401 of the Clean Water Act gives states and tribes the authority to comment on and condition federal permits. For most states, it is the main authority used to address regulation of dredge and fill activities. 401 certification is based on the states’ standards, primarily their water quality standards. Most states use broadly applicable narrative and numeric criteria to condition Section 404 permits, but some states have standards specifically for wetlands. Information on state wetland water quality standards has been updated and added to the ASWM website at: http://aswm.org/wetland-programs/water-quality-standards-for-wetlands. ASWM is working on new reports on state programmatic permits and state In-Lieu Fee programs. The website ASWM launched in April 2011 continues to take up a lot of our time as we complete migrating any remaining items of interest from the old site. If anyone is still referring to the old site old.aswm.org, please note that it will be taken down in September 2011.

Wetland News 3Association News, cont’d from p.2

Federal and state agencies have also had a busy summer. The newest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Wetland Status and Trends report should also be released in the coming weeks. This report will evaluate wetland gains and losses from 2004 to 2009. The field sampling for the National Wetland Condition Assessment is currently underway and over half of the 1300 sites have been sampled. Many states are conducting the sampling. This will be the first ever national survey of the condition of the nation's wetlands. This differs from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Status and Trends report, which identifies the acres of wetlands lost and gained. This national assessment project will measure wetland health. http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/assessment/survey/index.cfm . The two reports will provide a snapshot of the status of the nation's wetlands.

When Congress returns from its August recess it will need to work toward passing appropriations for FY12. Recently the House passed H.R. 2584, the Interior and Environment appropriations bill. The bill contained a long list of riders intended to limit the scope of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior programs. http://democrats.appropriations.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=827&Itemid=28

Webinar Invitation: "Calling All Wetlands" ASWM members are invited to participate in a webinar hosted by the Wetland Mapping Consortium to learn about the "Calling All Wetlands" project (& iPhone app) for uploading field photos of wetlands to an online image gallery. The webinar will be held on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT. Many wetland libraries include a copy of the original "Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States" first printed in 1979. What most folks may not know is that until very recently those 86 black and white pictures at the end of the publication were the only set of pictures used to illustrate the Cowardin classification system in a national publication. Eighty-six black and white photos cannot possibly do justice to the rich diversity of wetlands. They also fail to capture the changing appearance of wetlands through the seasons. A much larger library of wetland photographs is needed to support our collective understanding of what the different Cowardin classification of wetlands look like. Many wetland professionals have extensive collections of wetland photographs.

Last year the U.S. Geological Survey created the Wetland Image Gallery http://wetlandgallery.cnlworld.org/ for posting wetland images. However, this photo library requires quite a bit of data to go with the pictures. So the "Calling All Wetlands" project was created. To learn more, please sign up for the webinar by going to: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/835531854. First time "GotoWebinar" users can find tips for using webinar software at http://aswm.org/pdf_lib/webinar_info.pdf.

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State Climate Change Adaptation Summariesby William Walker, ASWM

CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE – ADAPTATION VERSUS MITIGATION

Since the term ‘global warming’ first appeared in scientific literature in 1975, human understanding of our role in the greater ecological system has rapidly evolved. The scientific consensus is that the planet is warming, and that human activity is (at least) partially to blame. This consensus also holds that the warming trend will have profound adverse impacts on many species, habitats and human systems. What silver linings are presented by current projections, such as increased opportunity for agriculture in presently colder climate zones, will likely be realized at the cost of many natural resources, already strained.

There are a number of efforts underway to lessen the extent to which human activity contributes to climate change. Many states have sought ways to reduce greenhouse gases, implementing things such as emissions standards, energy portfolios, and carbon reduction targets.

Climate change impacts occur over the long term. It took decades for heavy emissions to produce the global shifts in the atmosphere observed today, for example: holes in the ozone layer. It will take decades of reduced emissions to halt those impacts. This is not to say that efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a form of climate change mitigation, are faulty; they are very important. Mitigation efforts will simply not prevent all climate change impacts, which will occur within the next century as these ‘short run’ impacts are induced by “emissions build-up” over the past century.

These unavoidable, short-run effects will place new strains on ecological systems, human health and community well-being. Existing natural resource management and conservation programs will need to incorporate new strategies and adjustments in order to respond to the changing ecological conditions. For example, in coastal states, a six-inch rise in sea level would result in a significant impact to coastal wetlands and the wildlife that depended upon them. Over the next five decades, such a rise is considered well within the realm of possibility. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/futureslc.html. Programs that manage and protect these areas and wildlife would need to adjust to these new conditions, over time.

Therefore it follows that such planning and adjustments to the coastal management programs should be evaluated and implemented. Such changes are known as adaptation. Changes in temperature and precipitation as well as the timing and intensity of flooding and drought will also require adaptive measures in the interior of the United States. Collectively these changes can be expected to have a significant impact on wetland resources. The Association of State Wetland Managers maintains a series of continuously updated webpages on Wetlands and Climate Change including separate sections on sea level rise, carbon sequestration and adaptation, which can be accessed at http://www.aswm.org/wetland-science/climate-change/wetlands-and-climate-change In August 2011 it added the State Climate Change Adaptation Summaries under the Wetland Science - Climate Change Adaptation section of the website.

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State Adaptation Summaries, continued from p.4

State Wetland Programs and Climate Change Adaptation

State wetland managers face new challenges in an era of climate change. Following ASWM’s Wetlands 2008 conference, Wetlands and Global Climate Change, ASWM published a discussion paper with recommendations intended to help states better adapt their wetland programs to climate change. http://aswm.org/pdf_lib/recommendations_2008_112008.pdf ASWM identified a need to:

1. Inventory wetlands and climate change efforts including policies and programs, publications, webpages, and research underway in states; and2. Create and update a national wetlands and climate change website.

In order to put those two recommendations into practice, ASWM gathered information from each state about existing climate change adaptation plans and related activities as of December 2010. In all, thirty nine (39) states responded to ASWM’s requests for information; 11 did not respond. Nearly half of the states were engaged in some kind of climate change adaptation activity that related to wetlands. As of December 2010, nineteen states have either completed adaptation plans or are in the planning process. Other states have not yet adopted a comprehensive strategy for climate change adaptation.

ASWM has compiled a series of webpages summarizing its findings. In order to provide a comparable framework for reviewing state wetland adaptation activities ASWM identified possible threats such as sea level rise or increased drought that are likely to occur and require future adaptation actions. Many states will be required to address multiple threats. ASWM also identified a range of actions states can take to prepare which included various stages of planning as well as case studies and monitoring.

These threats and actions were assigned unique icons shown on the main webpage along with links to the individual state profiles. In addition, a color-coded map of the United States (below) indicates whether the state responded to ASWM’s request for information and whether the state was engaged in adaptation activities as of December 2010.

Reporting: Planning for AdaptationReporting: No Adaptation EffortsNot Reporting (to ASWM)

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State Adaptation Summaries, continued from p.5

Both the map and the lists of states associated with each icon link to state-specific profiles with a brief summary of the climate change adaptation efforts underway in that state. State agencies that are developing climate change adaptation plans may find these profiles useful as many states face common threats.

Although all states face potential impacts from climate change, at this time only twenty-four states reported any kind of adaptation effort. Of those, only eighteen are planning or have planned to adapt existing programs and regulations for climate change. Political climate was the most common reason given for a lack of action, while a lack of staff resources and financial shortfalls also commonly inhibit adaptation activity.

CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION EFFORTS

Global climate change is just that: global. Every state in the union will experience impacts from climate change. Despite this, few states were actually engaged in adaptation planning at the time of this project. The reasons why most states were not engaged in adaptation planning are varied but primarily break down into three basic areas: resource limitations, information limitations, and political will.

Resources – Many departments and agencies simply do not have the time, staff, or money to conduct a planning process while still meeting all of their other objectives to protect natural resources

Information - Agency staff were concerned that critical information and data were lacking. Specific kinds of information needed to be collected in order to identify the magnitude of threats and appropriate adaptation actions.

Political – Climate change remains politically controversial in a number of states. Many elected officials and agency personnel alike remain skeptical of climate change science and oppose providing resources to undertake planning and adaptation activities.

Note – Regarding NGO, academic and nonprofit contributions to climate change adaptation: this project focused exclusively on state actions that were being undertaken to enable states to adapt to climate change. Even in states where no adaptation activities are underway there are numerous non-governmental organizations, universities and nonprofit entities making progress in this area. Some of those resources can be found at the end of this document and on ASWM’s climate change webpages. Even within the states that are not pursuing climate change adaptation planning, work in other program areas may be useful in the future in the event the state decides to address climate change. For example many states are trying to address invasive species management in freshwater resources. Others are planning to address the increased incidence and intensity of storms, hurricanes and other natural hazards.

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DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO ADAPTATION

There are numerous approaches to climate change adaptation. ASWM identified five categories for adverse impacts of climate change that states face, and seven categories for state-driven activities, e.g. adaptation planning. Threats are described below.

Threats –

Sea Level Rise – The most iconic threat of climate change is also the most easily verified by direct observation. Twenty two states have coastline that will be affected by sea level rise.

Increased Drought – Increases in average temperatures will contribute to the drying of water resources in some areas. Twenty one states mostly in the Midwest and Southwest, are likely to face challenges related to drought frequency and intensity.

Water Supply and/or Quality – Hand-in-hand with drought conditions is shock to water supply. Flooding and storm activity can introduce cross-contamination just as surely as droughts can cause shortages. Almost every state in the union (41) has been identified as at-risk from this threat. Damage to water supplies is

one of the more direct forms of harm climate change can have upon human health and well-being.

Increased Weather Intensity – As Katrina has recently shown us, the sheer, devastating power of wind, wave and water during storm activity must be respected. As average global temperatures rise, more and more energy is added to the systems that form damaging storms. Thirty-three states were identified as at-risk from some form of itensified storm activity be it from blizzards, ice storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, or other hazards.

Threat to Habitat or Species – While storm damage and shrinking water supplies are frighteningly harmful to human health, humans are not the only species affected. In all fifty states, endangered or threatened species, already under strain, will find their situations aggravated by climate change. To make matters worse, many of the detrimental effects from climate change are mitigated by wild spaces such as wetlands which serve to keep waters clean and provide valuable buffers against storm

activity. It is important to remember that human health and ecological health are linked.

DE Sea-level rise planning map

State Adaptation Summaries, continued from p.6

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State Actions -

Adaptation Planning – All state government adaptation efforts must be in the form of education, policy changes, regulation or management. All such efforts include a plan. An adaptation plan is the cornerstone of adaptation efforts and is often the first step taken by a state that is aware of and responding to these threats. Fourteen states were in the process of forming an adaptation plan as of December 2010. Adaptation Plan Complete – Five states have already finished the planning process. With a completed plan, they are now prepared to move forward with other types of action.

Adaptation Planning Includes Wetlands – ASWM paid particular attention to those states whose plans included information about wetlands and what role wetlands play in the future of climate change planning and adaptation. Six of the fourteen states engaged in planning were explicitly including wetlands in their strategy.

Completed Plan Includes Wetlands – Of the five early adopters of adaptation planning, four states’ plans make explicit mention of wetlands and what role they play in adaptation efforts.

Engaged in Case Studies – As planning processes move forward, many planning bodies encounter questions. Efforts to answer those questions typically take the form of studies commissioned or conducted by state agencies. Eleven states were engaged in studying climate change effects and how adaptation efforts might be directed.

Case Studies Completed – Delaware has already completed studies of this type. ASWM looks forward to expanding this list as the other ten states conclude their studies.

Ongoing Monitoring - Unlike a case study, which is intended to answer a specific question, monitoring

programs work to provide a constant stream of data and keep officials abreast of changes in ecological systems, species populations, and other important indicators of environmental health. Six states had such programs in place as of December 2010.

ENSURING VALUE OVER TIME – A LIVING DOCUMENT

ASWM intends to periodically update the information on its website and invites states and other interested parties to bring new climate change adaptation programs and efforts to our attention. The related webpages (with the state climate change adaptation summaries) will persist as a constant source for information about state adaptation efforts. Please send updates to jeanne.christie@aswm.org or leah@aswm.org.

To explore the State Climate Change Adaptation Summaries, go to: http://aswm.org/wetland-science/climate-change/climate-change-adaptation/1200-climate-change-adaptation-summaries

ASWM would like to thank the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the McKnight Foundation for their support of this climate change project. Thank you.

MD Climate Action Plan

State Adaptation Summaries, continued from p.7

Wetland News Staff

Jeanne Christie, Exec. Director, Photos

Sharon Weaver, Web Lay-out, Design

Laura Burchill, Lay-out, Proof-reader

Leah Stetson, Editor, Design

Copyright Association of State Wetland Managers August 2011 http://aswm.org

Welcome New Members

Special thanks... ASWM’s Environment/Technology Analyst, Will Walker, will be starting his Ph.D. program at Northeastern University this fall. His work on the new aswm.org website and other projects during his internship at the main office in Windham, ME has been an asset to the Association. The staff wish him well in his next professional adventures in environmental policy. Good luck, Will!

Anna Buckley, Oregon Department of State LandsGreta BuninLennie Cooke, Vandermost Consulting Services, Inc.Nicole Deinarowicz, Idaho Department of Environmental QualityDiana Dow, New Jersey Department of Environmental ProtectionPatty Fordyce, West Virginia Department of Natural ResourcesMichele Hanson, U.S. Army Corps of EngineersDana Hicks, Oregon Department of State LandsMike Jura, Tioga County Soil & Water Conservation District, NYKaren Laskowski, Dupage County, ILAnna McAninchSusan Meyer, Washington State Department of EcologyStuart Miller, Missouri Department of ConservationBill Ryan, Oregon Department of State LandsDiana Temple Amanda Weinberg, Vandermost Consulting Services, Inc.Steven Weinsier, Youth Environmental Alliance

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