Citation:

Ghimire, S., B. Schumacher, S. Swanson, AND R. Hall. Assessing Riparian Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) for Improved Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of the Back Creek Watershed (Virginia). International Society for Ecological Modelling Global Conference 2023, Scarborough, CANADA, May 02 - 06, 2023.

Impact/Purpose:

We will present proper functioning condition (PFC) of the Back Creek watershed situated in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. We performed a preliminary ‘boots-on-the-ground’ PFC assessment and contextualized it with the watershed - riparian buffer zone models recently published by EPA. Our observations underscore the importance of previously designed urban and agricultural buffer zones and ecosystem services tradeoffs. Understanding the state of riparian PFC can provide tribal, federal, and private land managers with methodologies and guidance in selecting appropriate buffer designs and implementation.

Description:

Riparian Proper Functioning Condition (PFC) refers to a qualitative description of the potential state of a riparian ecosystem: proper functioning condition, functional-at-risk, apparent trend, or non-functional. These states are influenced by the dynamic nature of the hydrologic, vegetation, and geomorphic attributes of a watershed. In this presentation, we will assess the PFC of the Back Creek watershed situated in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia using a PFC protocol that was developed by the US Department of the Interior (DOI) Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). We discuss the PFC protocol that involves 17 qualitative statements (for lotic ecosystems) or criteria questionnaires covering three attributes and their corresponding qualitative answers of “yes”, “no,” or “not applicable”. We performed a preliminary ‘boots-on-the-ground’ PFC assessment and contextualized it with the watershed - riparian buffer zone models recently published by US EPA (Ghimire et al., 2021). We qualitatively examined various reaches of the Back Creek watershed and its geomorphological settings, vegetation, soils, and stream biota. The preliminary PFC review indicated balanced vegetated streams, with sediment loading, supplied by individual headwater streams (i.e., first, second, and third order) to the Back Creek. Urban and agricultural areas were found that centered around the first or second order streams which could cause sedimentation, due to anthropogenic activities and wildlife and livestock grazing. These observations underscore the importance of previously designed urban and agricultural buffer zones and ecosystem services tradeoffs. Understanding the state of riparian PFC can provide tribal, federal, and private land managers with methodologies and guidance in selecting appropriate buffer designs and implementation. Future efforts should include ‘side-by-side’ quantitative and qualitative assessments, remote sensing with additional field PFC assessments, as well as life cycle economic and environmental impacts assessments of alternative buffer designs for enhanced ecosystem services.

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