Reference Manual for Thewest Virginia Wetland Rapid Assessment Method (WVWRAM)

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Reference Manual for Thewest Virginia Wetland Rapid Assessment Method (WVWRAM) Reference Manual for theWest Virginia Wetland Rapid Assessment Method (WVWRAM) April 10, 2019 Version 0.5 Elizabeth A. Byers, Senior Wetland Scientist Watershed Assessment Branch Division of Water and Wastewater Management WV Department of Environmental Protection Recommended citation Byers, Elizabeth A. 2019. Reference Manual for the West Virginia Wetland Rapid Assessment Method (WVWRAM). Version 0.5. Watershed Assessment Branch, Division of Water and Wastewater Management, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, Charleston, WV. Acknowledgements Numerous individuals and organizations contributed to the development of the West Virginia Wetland Rapid Assessment Method (WVWRAM). The author and the WVDEP Watershed Assessment Branch are deeply grateful for their contributions and commitment to developing this tool for functional assessment of West Virginia’s wetlands. Funding to develop WVWRAM was provided through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Wetland Program Development Grant #66.461. Natural Resources Conservation Service: Jared Beard, Skip Bell, David Kingsbury, and Jason Teets. Pennsylvania State University: Robert Brooks. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Wes Barnett, Jeremy Couchenour, Justin Elkins, and Andrew Wendt. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Danielle Algazi, Kris DeNardi, Christine Mazzarella, Carol Petrow, Regina Poeske, Annie Rossi, and Gregg Serenbetz. West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection: Chad Ashworth, Jeff Bailey, Brian Bridgewater, Pat Campbell, Jack Hopkins, Nick Murray, Danielle Nathanson, Scott Settle, and John Wirts. West Virginia Division of Natural Resources: Roger Anderson, Rich Bailey, Danny Bennett, Steve Brown, Danielle Elliott, Walt Kordek, Keith Krantz, Sue Olcott, Jessica Perkins, Brian Streets, David Thorne, and James Vanderhorst. West Virginia University: James Anderson, John Burkhart, Kurt Donaldson, Yibing Han, Maneesh Sharma, and Walter Veselka. Field-testing of the method was conducted in 2017-2018 with generous expert input or assistance from the following individuals: Chad Ashworth, Brandy Bachman, Quincy Band, Jared Beard, Tomi Bergstrom, Brian Bridgewater, John Burkhart, Kevin Campbell, Neal Carte, Martin Christ, Dane Cunningham, Kurt Donaldson, Danielle Elliott, Tim Ferguson, John Fickler, Mark Haibach, Yibing Han, Jacob Harrell, Kendall Harris, Alana Hartman, Jack Hopkins, Ed Kirk, Katy Lewis, Holly May, Christine Mazzarella, Craig McDougal, Kit McGinnis, Layton McGinnis, Kristin Mielcarek, Jeff Mihalik, Jacob Miller, Nick Murray, Herb Peddicord, Jessica Perkins, Mike Peters, Dave Reynolds, Kristy Rodrigue, Annie Rossi, Chris i Seitz, Gregg Serenbetz, Scott Settle, Maneesh Sharma, Greg Short, Ernie Smith, Jessica Stout, Brian Streets, Jason Teets, Cory Trego, James Vanderhorst, Jared Varner, Anne Wakeford, Brittany Ward, Ryan Ward, Daniel Ware, John Wirts, and Jessica Yeager. ii Contents 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Background ........................................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.4 Flow chart of field and GIS components of WVWRAM ...................................................... 2 1.5 Overview of Metrics and Weights ........................................................................................ 4 1.6 Regulatory Use ...................................................................................................................... 6 1.6.1 Regulatory score ............................................................................................................. 6 1.6.2 Representative sampling of certain sites ........................................................................ 6 1.6.3 Year-round assessment ................................................................................................... 6 1.6.4 Scenario planning ........................................................................................................... 6 1.6.5 Linear projects ................................................................................................................ 7 1.7 Data Management and Review ............................................................................................. 8 1.7.1 GIS and tabular data entry .............................................................................................. 8 1.7.2 Data transfer and review by WVDEP ............................................................................. 9 1.7.3 Data tracking and archival .............................................................................................. 9 2.0 SOURCE DATA MAINTENANCE ...................................................................................... 10 2.1 Update, add, or change source data ..................................................................................... 10 2.2 Update the National Wetlands Inventory mapping for WV ................................................ 11 3.0 WHAT’S BEHIND THE USER INTERFACE ...................................................................... 13 3.1 Scoring ................................................................................................................................ 13 3.1.1 RegScore: Final Regulatory Score ............................................................................... 13 3.1.2 RegPrelim: Preliminary GIS Regulatory Score ............................................................ 13 3.1.3 RegFunction: Raw Regulatory Function ...................................................................... 13 3.1.4 Function: Comprehensive Functional Score................................................................. 14 3.1.5 Condition: Wetland Condition Score ........................................................................... 14 3.1.6 LandAcquire: WVDNR Land Acquisition Score ......................................................... 15 3.2 Upper-level Roll-up Metrics ............................................................................................... 15 3.2.1 WQFunction: Water Quality ........................................................................................ 16 iii 3.2.2 WQPotential: Water Quality Intrinsic Potential ........................................................... 16 3.2.3 WQOpportun: Water Quality Landscape Opportunity ................................................. 16 3.2.4 WQSociety: Water Quality Value to Society ............................................................... 17 3.2.5 FAFunction: Flood Attenuation.................................................................................... 18 3.2.6 FAPotential: Flood Attenuation Intrinsic Potential ...................................................... 18 3.2.7 FAOpportun: Flood Attenuation Landscape Opportunity ............................................ 19 3.2.8 FASociety: Flood Attenuation Value to Society .......................................................... 19 3.2.9 HFunction: Habitat & Ecological Integrity .................................................................. 19 3.2.10 HFuncNoBR: Habitat & Ecological Integrity without BRank ................................... 20 3.2.11 HCondition: Habitat & Ecological Integrity Condition ............................................. 20 3.2.12 HPotential: Habitat & Ecological Integrity Intrinsic Potential ................................... 21 3.2.13 HOpportun: Habitat & Ecological Integrity Landscape Opportunity ........................ 21 3.2.14 HSociety: Habitat & Ecological Integrity Value to Society ....................................... 22 3.3 Vegetation and Biodiversity Metrics................................................................................... 22 3.3.1 BRank: Site Biodiversity Rank ..................................................................................... 22 3.3.2 MarlPEM: Emergent Wetlands on Marl Substrate ....................................................... 24 3.3.3 VegAll: All Vegetation Types ...................................................................................... 25 3.3.4 VegByLP: Vegetation Fringing Open Water ............................................................... 25 3.3.5 VegFA roll-up: Vegetation for Flood Attenuation ....................................................... 26 3.3.6 VegFQ: Floristic Quality Assessment .......................................................................... 26 3.3.7 VegH roll-up: Vegetation Structure and Quality .......................................................... 31 3.3.8 VegHorInt: Horizontal Interspersion of Vegetation ..................................................... 31 3.3.9 VegPerUng: Persistent Ungrazed Vegetation............................................................... 32 3.3.10 VegVerStr: Vertical Structure of Vegetation ............................................................. 34 3.3.11 VegWoody: Woody Vegetation ................................................................................. 36 3.3.12 VegWQ roll-up: Vegetation for Water Quality .......................................................... 38 3.4 Soil and Structure Metrics ..................................................................................................
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