Impact/Purpose:

The Southeastern Isolated Wetlands Assessment project will use a probability based approach to provide information that can be used to develop data systems and tools that regulatory agencies can use to identify and located isolated wetlands, assess their water quality benefits and make inferences (projections of the number and extent) to a region of interest. By applying these techniques, regulatory agencies will be able to quantify the benefits of isolated wetlands, determine their current extent and rate of loss, and better recognize, protect and manage these valuable resources.

Description:

The Southeastern Isolated Wetlands Assessment is the new Regional Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (REMAP) project in EPA Region 4. The project will produce data and synthesis on the ways that isolated wetlands can protect downstream water quality at a watershed scale, providing critically needed information to construct a rational nexus for asserting Clean Water Act jurisdiction. The project team is led by the Research Triangle Institute, in partnership with several state agencies and universities, including the wetlands group in North Carolina’s water quality agency. The EPA Project Officer is Rich Sumner, at the Corvallis, Oregon laboratory of ORD. The EPA Region 4 R-EMAP Coordinator is Peter Kalla, at the Science and Ecosystem Support Division (SESD). Since the project is funded by a Cooperative Agreement, the Region can be directly involved by working on the project with the project team.

Record Details: