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(VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains

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(VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains Version 2.0: Calibration of Selected VIBI Models March 16, 2009 Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University 254 General Services Building Fort Collins, CO 80523 Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains Version 2.0: Calibration of Selected VIBI Models Prepared for: Colorado Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, Wetlands Program 6060 Broadway Denver, CO 80216 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8. 1595 Wynkoop Street Denver, CO 80202 Prepared by: Joanna Lemly and Joe Rocchio1 March 16, 2009 Colorado Natural Heritage Program Warner College of Natural Resources Colorado State University 254 General Services Building Fort Collins, Colorado 80523 Cover photographs: All photos taken by Colorado Natural Heritage Program Staff. Copyright © 2009 Colorado State University Colorado Natural Heritage Program All Rights Reserved 1 Currently with the Washington Natural Heritage Program, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Olympia, WA. Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains (Version 2.0) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The primary objective of the Clean Water Act is to "maintain and restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters," which include wetlands (US EPA 2002a). Although Colorado has an ongoing water quality monitoring program for rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs, data documenting the integrity of Colorado's wetlands are limited. In order to make informed management decisions, credible data on wetland condition are needed. To this end, the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) has developed a vegetation index of biotic integrity (VIBI) for selected headwater wetland types within the Southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado (Rocchio 2006b, Rocchio 2007b). Colorado’s VIBI is a valuable tool that can be used to evaluate wetland restoration and protection projects, monitor the success of on-going management practices, and assess overall wetland condition within a given landscape. Initial VIBI development took place in two phases (Phases 1 & 2) over three field season (2004–2006) within three central Colorado watersheds. This report documents the third phase of the Colorado wetland VIBI project. Goals of Phase 3 were to: (1) validate or calibrate Version 1.0 VIBI models with additional independent data from the original study watersheds; (2) test the geographic range of Version 1.0 VIBI models with data collected in new watersheds; (3) construct Version 2.0 VIBI models based on the calibration results; and (4) quantify scoring thresholds for condition classes and identify quantitative and descriptive differences between these condition classes. In Phase 3 of the VIBI project, a total of 38 plots were sampled during the summer of 2007. Most data collection occurred in the Upper Blue River and South Platte River Headwaters in central Colorado to test Version 1.0 models with additional data from similar wetlands. To validate the VIBI’s applicability to the entire Southern Rocky Mountain Ecoregion, nine plots were sampled in the San Juan Mountains. During Phases 1 & 2, VIBI models were developed for five separate wetland types: 1) riparian shrublands, 2) fens, 3) extremely rich fens, 4) slope wet meadows, and 5) riverine wet meadows. Due to limited time and resources, only three of the five previously developed VIBI models were targeted during Phase 3. The three targeted models include the riparian shrubland, fen, and slope wet meadow VIBI models. Based on Version 1.0 VIBI metrics and models, Phase 3 plots showed weaker correlation coefficients to the human disturbance gradient than Phase 1 & 2 plots for all three models tested. This indicated that the models should be calibrated with the additional data. Models were calibrated by screening 133 separate vegetation metrics and retaining, modifying, or adding metrics. For each wetland type, the strongest combination of original, revised, or additional metrics was selected as the Version 2.0 model. Model calibration produced three robust VIBI models with strong correlations to the human disturbance gradient (Rs ranging from -0.78 to -0.87). Twenty metrics in total were selected for inclusion in the three Version 2.0 models. Version 1.0 VIBI models included five to nine metrics per model, but this was increased to nine metrics per model during calibration. Final Version 2.0 metrics varied according to ecological system type and no metric was included in all three of models. i Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains (Version 2.0) Once Version 2.0 models were calibrated, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and classification and regression tree (CART) models were used to translate VIBI scores into discrete biotic integrity condition classes such as high, moderate, or low integrity. Ranges for individual metrics and overall VIBI scores were calculated for each condition class and indicator species analysis was used to identify species strongly associated with each condition class. The riparian shrubland and fen models could both reliably distinguish between three condition classes, while the slope wet meadow model could only distinguish two classes. The range of metric and overall VIBI scores calculated provide a quantitative description of differences between wetlands in each condition class. Paired with the indicator species, this information can be used to recognize wetland sites that are degraded and in need of management attention. ii Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains (Version 2.0) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW)’s Wetlands Program for their financial support and encouragement of this project. Special recognition goes to Bill Goosemann and Diane Gansauer, former Coordinators for the CDOW’s Wetland Program, and Jill Minter, EPA Region 8 Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Coordinator, for their continued support of developing bioassessment tools for Colorado. The survey design was carried out by Tony Olsen of EPA’s Western Ecology Division in Corvallis, Oregon, and we very much appreciate the expertise he added to the project. Rich Sumner, also of EPA’s Western Ecology Division, has been, and continues to be, a great resource for technical and logistical guidance. Many people provided suggestions for sample site locations and their input is much appreciated. We would specifically like to thank Rich McEldowney and Science Applications International Corporation for sharing data he and others collected as a part of the Summit County wetland functional assessment project and Brian Lorch with Summit County Open Space and Trails for sharing data collected for the Summit County Special Area Management Plan. These data were used in the survey design for this project. The U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management also provided very useful GIS data that were vital to the project’s survey design. We extend much gratitude to Jack Siegrist, Becky Schillo, Kirsten Romig, Gwen Kittel, Ann Lezberg, Kyla Sabo, and Joanna Griego for their assistance and hard work in collecting the field data. Michelle Fink was an immense help with developing the new Wetland Condition Assessment Database that has made data reduction and metric calculations a breeze. We very much appreciate the hallway discussions, technical assistance, and overall guidance provided by our colleagues at the Colorado Natural Heritage Program during the course of this project, especially Denise Culver, Karin Decker, Stephanie Neid, Renee Rondeau, John Sovell, and Joe Stevens. Finally, we would like to thank Paula Nicholas with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Mary Olivas and Carmen Morales with Colorado State University for logistical support and grant administration. iii Vegetation Index of Biotic Integrity (VIBI) for Headwater Wetlands in the Southern Rocky Mountains (Version 2.0) TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................... I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................ III TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................... IV LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................. V LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................ VI LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................... VII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 1 2.0 STUDY AREAS ...................................................................................... 3 2.1 Upper Blue River Watershed ................................................................................... 3 2.2 South Platte River Headwaters Watershed ............................................................. 5 2.3 San Juan Mountains ................................................................................................. 6 3.0 METHODS ............................................................................................ 8 3.1 Survey Design
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