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HYDROGEOMORPHIC WETLAND PROFILING: AN APPROACH TO LANDSCAPE AND CUMULATIVE IMPACT ANALYSIS
Citation:
JOHNSON, J. B. HYDROGEOMORPHIC WETLAND PROFILING: AN APPROACH TO LANDSCAPE AND CUMULATIVE IMPACT ANALYSIS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/620/R-05/001 (NTIS PB2007-107854), 2005.
Description:
An approach to cumulative impacts analysis has been developed using a hydrogeomorphically based version of wetland landscape profiles (HGM-WP). HGM-WP is a method for summarizing the abundance and diversity of wetland types within a given ecoregion or other landscape unit. Since wetland profiling utilizes a functionally based wetland classification system, the evaluation of change in HGM-WP provides an index of the change of the specific wetland functions associated with change in wetland abundance. Study results from research conducted in the Southern Rocky Mountains of central Colorado show that HGM-WPs are consistent within ecoregions and differ between ecoregions. Within ecoregions, HGM-WPs differ between impacted and reference standard landscapes. Project findings suggest that HGM-WP is a promising method to track, at multiple spatial scales, the cumulative gains and losses of wetlands and the environmental services that they provide.