DOCSLIB.ORG

Earth Economics Mississippi River Delta (Pages)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Earth Economics Mississippi River Delta (Pages) Gaining Ground Wetlands, Hurricanes and the Economy: The Value of Restoring the Mississippi River Delta David Batker Isabel de la Torre Robert Costanza Paula Swedeen John Day Roelof Boumans Kenneth Bagstad 1 Acknowledgments This report is a project of Earth Economics. The authors are responsible for the content of this report. Funding was provided by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, and a contribution from Norita Liebelt and Environmental Defense. We would like to thank the Louisiana State University School of the Coast and the Environment for hosting workshops and events that supported this report, the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics for their substantive contributions. We would like to thank the many people who contributed to portions of the report, reviewed drafts, and gave written and verbal comments. These include Louisiana Environmental Action Network Executive Director Mary Lee Orr, LSU Associate Vice Chancellor of Research and Economic Development Dr. Robert Twilley, Dr. Hassan Mashriqui of the LSU Hurricane Center, Dr. Paul Kemp of the National Audubon Society, Dr. Paul Templet former professor, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation Coastal Sustainability Director John Lopez, Dean Wilson of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Gulf Restoration Network Executive Director Cynthia Sarthou, Tulane Law School Professor Mark Davis, U.S. Geological Survey Ecologist Greg Steyer, John Barras of the Corps of Engineers, Juanita Russell of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Norwyn Johnson with the State of Louisiana, Edmond Russo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana Science Director Natalie Snider, Jim Tripp and Paul Harris of Natural Resources Defense Council, Alaina Owens of Coastal Louisiana Ecosystem Assessment and Restoration, Dr. Jenneke Visser of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Herman Daly of the University of Maryland, Annie Ducmanis of the Environmental Grantmakers Association, and Earth Economics staff Maya Kocian, Tedi Dickinson and Jim Pittman and Earth Economics board members Joshua Reyneveld, Joshua Farley, Ingrid Rasch, and Jack Santa Barbara. Special thanks go to Micah Cote, Tighe Stuart, Justin Platts, Laurent Nickel, Jake Harris, Jenn McFadden, Hakme Lee, Colin Cronin and Darin Leedy for their assistance in background research and fact checking. Cover Photo by Paul Keith www.paulkeithphoto.com 1121 Tacoma Avenue South, Tacoma WA 98402 telephone: 253.539.4801 • fax: 2 5 3 . 5 3 9 . 5 0 5 4 [email protected] www.eartheconomics.org2 The Authors David Batker, cofounder and executive director of Earth Economics, has worked for 20 years in over 30 countries changing economic policy to effect measurable physical improvements for people and ecosystems. His areas of work include climate change, fisheries, forest, coastal management, hazardous waste, land use, energy, agriculture, trade and international finance and improving lending requirements of international banks. With a B.S. in geology and biology from Pacific Lutheran University, he completed his graduate training in economics at Louisiana State University under Herman Daly, one of the world's foremost ecological economists. He has work experience in mining and oil and has worked at the World Bank, Greenpeace International and the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement. Isabel de la Torre, cofounder of Earth Economics, was executive director of the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) and the United States Society for Ecological Economics before she joined Earth Economics. She organized and cofounded ISA Net and the South East Asia Fishers for Justice. She has worked with local and national governments around the world, and NGOs working on international institutions on trade, finance, energy, forestry, fishery, toxics, environmental justice, indigenous peoples, coastal management, women, and human rights issues. She has degrees in communications and law from the University of the Philippines and has worked as a reporter, newspaper editor, and senior legal staff in the Philippines. Robert Costanza, the director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 1979 in systems ecology with a minor in economics. He also has a master’s degree in Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Florida. Dr. Costanza is cofounder and past president of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) and was chief editor of its journal Ecological Economics from its inception until September 2002. He currently serves on the editorial board of eight other international academic journals. Paula Swedeen, has 20 years of forest conservation and management experience as a wildlife biologist, policy analyst, and ecological economist, and has applied her expertise to a wide array of issues, including endangered species conservation, forest carbon protocol development and valuation of ecosystem services. She joined Pacific Forest Trust after working for the Washington Departments of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife, and as a private consultant. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecological Economics from The Union Institute, a master’s degree in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Western Washington University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Indiana University. John Day, a distinguished professor of Louisiana State University and a leading expert on the Louisiana wetlands, received his Ph.D. in marine and environmental sciences from the University of North Carolina in 1971. He has a master’s degree in zoology from the Louisiana State University. His research interests are in systems and wetland ecology as well as ecological modeling. Roelof Boumans, an expert modeler, received his doctorate degree in 1994 as an ecosystem ecologist at the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Systems in Louisiana State University. His dissertation focused on the material fluxes through estuaries and involved processing large datasets through field book and datalogger recording. He developed insight into estuarine hydrology and published reports on ecological consequences to altering hydrology. Dr. Boumans worked on developing a landscape model of the Great Bay estuary while holding a postdoctoral position at the Jackson Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. He is now recognized as one of the world’s top system modelers. Kenneth Bagstad, is a post-doctoral associate at the University of Vermont, where he received his PhD in 2009. Ken serves as the lead modeler for the NSF-funded Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) project, which is building a series of web-accessible tools to map, assess, and value ecosystem services for environmental decision-making. Ken has also assisted in ecosystem service valuation studies for Louisiana, Washington State, Arizona, and Ontario, advised researchers working on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) studies for Michigan and Utah, and explored markets and ecosystem service-based funding mechanisms for ecological restoration in Illinois and Washington State. Ken also holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University and and an M.S. from Arizona State University. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................................................................5 LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................12 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................................................... 13 A RICH AND ENRICHING DELTA.............................................................................................................................................................. 13 EYEING THE STORMS.............................................................................................................................................................................. 15 THE HURRICANES’ ECONOMIC IMPACT ..................................................................................................................................................17 RESTORATION PLANS AND RECENT LEGISLATION IN LOUISIANA ...........................................................................................................18 PART I: A NEW VIEW OF VALUE IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER DELTA ...................................................................................19 NATURAL CAPITAL .................................................................................................................................................................................19 Natural Capital and Asset Management ..........................................................................................................................................19 Understanding Natural Capital.......................................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Shrub Swamp State Rank: S5 - Secure
    Shrub Swamp State Rank: S5 - Secure cover of tall shrubs with Shrub Swamp Communities are a well decomposed organic common and variable type of wetlands soils. If highbush occurring on seasonally or temporarily blueberries are dominant flooded soils; They are often found in the transition zone between emergent the community is likely to marshes and swamp forests; be a Highbush Blueberry Thicket, often occurring on stunted trees. The herbaceous layer of peat. Acidic Shrub Fens are shrub swamps is often sparse and species- peatlands, dominated by poor. A mixture of species might typically low growing shrubs, along include cinnamon, sensitive, royal, or with sphagnum moss and marsh fern, common arrowhead, skunk herbaceous species of Shrub Swamp along shoreline. Photo: Patricia cabbage, sedges, bluejoint grass, bur-reed, varying abundance. Deep Serrentino, Consulting Wildlife Ecologist. swamp candles, clearweed, and Emergent Marshes and Description: Wetland shrubs dominate turtlehead. Invasive species include reed Shallow Emergent Marshes Cottontail, have easy access to the shrubs Shrub Swamps. Shrub height may be from canary grass, glossy alder-buckthorn, are graminoid dominated wetlands with and protection in the dense thickets. The <1m to 5 meters, of uniform height or common buckthorn, and purple <25% cover of tall shrubs. Acidic larvae of many rare and common moth mixed. Shrub density can be variable, loosestrife. Pondshore/Lakeshore Communities are species feed on a variety of shrubs and from dense (>75% cover) to fairly open broadly defined, variable shorelines associated herbaceous plants in shrub (25-75% cover) with graminoid, around open water. Shorelines often swamps throughout Massachusetts. herbaceous, or open water areas between merge into swamps or marshes.
    [Show full text]
  • Maritime Swamp Forest (Typic Subtype)
    MARITIME SWAMP FOREST (TYPIC SUBTYPE) Concept: Maritime Swamp Forests are wetland forests of barrier islands and comparable coastal spits and back-barrier islands, dominated by tall trees of various species. The Typic Subtype includes most examples, which are not dominated by Acer, Nyssa, or Fraxinus, not by Taxodium distichum. Canopy dominants are quite variable among the few examples. Distinguishing Features: Maritime Shrub Swamps are distinguished from other barrier island wetlands by dominance by tree species of (at least potentially) large stature. The Typic Subtype is dominated by combinations of Nyssa, Fraxinus, Liquidambar, Acer, or Quercus nigra, rather than by Taxodium or Salix. Maritime Shrub Swamps are dominated by tall shrubs or small trees, particularly Salix, Persea, or wetland Cornus. Some portions of Maritime Evergreen Forest are marginally wet, but such areas are distinguished by the characteristic canopy dominants of that type, such as Quercus virginiana, Quercus hemisphaerica, or Pinus taeda. The lower strata also are distinctive, with wetland species occurring in Maritime Swamp Forest; however, some species, such as Morella cerifera, may occur in both. Synonyms: Acer rubrum - Nyssa biflora - (Liquidambar styraciflua, Fraxinus sp.) Maritime Swamp Forest (CEGL004082). Ecological Systems: Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Maritime Forest (CES203.261). Sites: Maritime Swamp Forests occur on barrier islands and comparable spits, in well-protected dune swales, edges of dune ridges, and on flats adjacent to freshwater sounds. Soils: Soils are wet sands or mucky sands, most often mapped as Duckston (Typic Psammaquent) or Conaby (Histic Humaquept). Hydrology: Most Maritime Swamp Forests have shallow seasonal standing water and nearly permanently saturated soils. Some may rarely be flooded by salt water during severe storms, but areas that are severely or repeatedly flooded do not recover to swamp forest.
    [Show full text]
  • The Mississippi River Delta Basin and Why We Are Failing to Save Its Wetlands
    University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses 8-8-2007 The Mississippi River Delta Basin and Why We are Failing to Save its Wetlands Lon Boudreaux Jr. University of New Orleans Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td Recommended Citation Boudreaux, Lon Jr., "The Mississippi River Delta Basin and Why We are Failing to Save its Wetlands" (2007). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 564. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/564 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Mississippi River Delta Basin and Why We Are Failing to Save Its Wetlands A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Studies By Lon J. Boudreaux Jr. B.S. Our Lady of Holy Cross College, 1992 M.S. University of New Orleans, 2007 August, 2007 Table of Contents Abstract.............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Rapids Lake, Louisville Swamp, And
    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Forest Trail 0.6 mile loop urban influences. The Carver Rapids Unit, part of Parking Leaving from the asphalt trail below the Rapids the MN Valley State Recreation Area (DNR), is Chaska Unit Minnesota Valley Lake Education and Visitor Center, this mostly level located entirely within the Louisville Swamp Unit. Chaska Athletic Park (City of Chaska) trail courses through oak and hickory forest, with a See regulations issued by the DNR for this location. 725 W 1st St, Chaska, MN 55318 National Wildlife Refuge brief view of a slough connecting to Long Lake. View wood ducks in the slough and listen for frogs calling. Trail Descriptions Carver Riverside Park (City of Carver) State Trail Access 1.0 mi, one way 300 E Main St, Carver, MN 55315 North Hunter Lot Trail 1 mile, one way This straight, level trail goes 1 mile to a junction with Chaska, Rapids Lake & This trail is a mowed service road running from the the MN Valley State Trail to the north. Continue Bluff Park (City of Carver) parking lot on CR11 (Jonathan Carver Pkwy) to the west on the State Access Trail to join the Mazomani 102 Carver Bluffs Parkway, Carver, MN 55315 Louisville Swamp Units northeast, where it ends at the refuge boundary. Trail to the south and loop back to the parking area View native wildflowers, bur oaks, woodpeckers, and at W 145 St. Rapids Lake Unit Trail Map prairie skink in this restored oak savanna. Jonathan Carver Parkway North Hunter Lot MN Valley State Trail (DNR) 5.0 mi, one way 14905 Jonathan Carver Parkway/CR 11, Carver, MN Carver Creek Loop Trail 1.6 miles (loop) From north to south through the refuge, the trail 55315 This trail system has three entry points: Bluff Park, passes the State Access Trail then drops to cross a About the Chaska Unit Ash Street (downtown Carver), and the Rapids Lake bridge over Sand Creek.
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Our Wonderful Wetlands Publication
    Exploring Our Wonderful Wetlands Student Publication Grades 4–7 Dear Wetland Students: Are you ready to explore our wonderful wetlands? We hope so! To help you learn about several types of wetlands in our area, we are taking you on a series of explorations. As you move through the publication, be sure to test your wetland wit and write about wetlands before moving on to the next exploration. By exploring our wonderful wetlands, we hope that you will appreciate where you live and encourage others to help protect our precious natural resources. Let’s begin our exploration now! Southwest Florida Water Management District Exploring Our Wonderful Wetlands Exploration 1 Wading Into Our Wetlands ................................................Page 3 Exploration 2 Searching Our Saltwater Wetlands .................................Page 5 Exploration 3 Finding Out About Our Freshwater Wetlands .............Page 7 Exploration 4 Discovering What Wetlands Do .................................... Page 10 Exploration 5 Becoming Protectors of Our Wetlands ........................Page 14 Wetlands Activities .............................................................Page 17 Websites ................................................................................Page 20 Visit the Southwest Florida Water Management District’s website at WaterMatters.org. Exploration 1 Wading Into Our Wetlands What exactly is a wetland? The scientific and legal definitions of wetlands differ. In 1984, when the Florida Legislature passed a Wetlands Protection Act, they decided to use a plant list containing plants usually found in wetlands. We are very fortunate to have a lot of wetlands in Florida. In fact, Florida has the third largest wetland acreage in the United States. The term wetlands includes a wide variety of aquatic habitats. Wetland ecosystems include swamps, marshes, wet meadows, bogs and fens. Essentially, wetlands are transitional areas between dry uplands and aquatic systems such as lakes, rivers or oceans.
    [Show full text]
  • Peat Swamp and Lowland Forests of Sumatra (Indonesia)
    Forest Area Key Facts & Peat Swamp and Lowland Carbon Emissions Forests of Sumatra (Indonesia) from Deforestation Forest location and brief description With an area of some 470,000 km2, Sumatra is Indonesia’s largest island, and the world’s sixth largest, supporting 40 million people. The lowland forests cover approximately 118,300 km2 of the eastern part of the island. These rainforests are characterized by large, buttressed trees dominated by the Dipterocarpaceae family, woody climbers and epiphytes. Figs are also common in the lowland forests. There are more than 100 fig species in Sumatra. According to the SPOT Vegetation 2006 data, the Sumatran peat swamp forests total approximately 33,600 km2. These forests are located on Sumatra’s eastern coast and boast the deepest peat in Indonesia. Over 30 per cent of Sumatra’s peat are over 4 metres deep. Most of the peat are in the Sumatran province of Riau (56.1 per cent of its total provincial area). Unique qualities of forest area Sumatra’s lowland forests are home to a range of species including: Sumatran pine, Rafflesia arnoldii (the world’s largest individual flower, measuring up to 1 metre wide), Amorphophallus spp. (world’s tallest and largest inflorescence flower measuring up to 2 metres tall), Sumatran tiger, orang utan, Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran elephant, Malayan tapir, Malayan sun bear, Bornean clouded leopard, and many birds and butterflies. Although Sumatra’s peat swamp forests do not support an abundant terrestrial wildlife, they do support some of the island’s biggest and • The forest sector accounts rarest animals, such as the critically endangered Sumatran tiger, and the for 85 per cent of Indonesia’s endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and Asian elephant.
    [Show full text]
  • Mcgovern Pond Dredging and Restoration Project Spicebush Swamp Park – 173 Mountain Road, West Hartford, CT
    McGovern Pond Dredging and Restoration Project Spicebush Swamp Park – 173 Mountain Road, West Hartford, CT History: Established in 1962, Spicebush Swamp Park was West Hartford’s first park to be set aside as a natural area for nature study or walking, and as a 33-acre, outdoor classroom for schools to use. McGovern Pond was created in the park by excavating an area of approximately one acre in Spicebush Swamp Park around 1968. The pond is maintained by a flow of water from a branch of the Trout Brook. Since its creation, McGovern pond has slowly been filled with sediments washed in from upstream watershed sources. These sediments, which consist primarily of road sand, eroded soils from construction sites and organic plant materials, have filled in approximately one quarter of the upstream side of the pond to an average depth of only 1 foot. This process is referred to as “cultural” eutrophication and is a common occurrence in heavily developed watersheds. As the eutrophication process advances, the ability of the affected pond to support a diverse aquatic community diminishes. Sediment at McGovern Pond was addressed once, approximately 15 years ago, when Public Works established a sediment trap, but they did not dredge the pond or address organic matter that had built up around the pond edges. Reasons for Project – Habitat restoration and Environmental Education: In a letter from 2006, Don Mysling, a Senior Fisheries Biologist with the CT DEEP, recommended that pond restoration projects for this area of Connecticut should be planned to provide habitat for warm water fish species such a largemouth bass and sunfish.
    [Show full text]
  • Mississippi River Reintroduction Into Maurepas Swamp - Planning Cost: Category 1: $14,190,000 Responsible Council Member: State of Louisiana
    Gulf Coast Mississippi River Delta Watershed Ecosystem Restoration Mississippi River Reintroduction into the Maurepas Swamp Council (LA_RESTORE_005_000_Cat1) Project Name: Mississippi River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp - Planning Cost: Category 1: $14,190,000 Responsible Council Member: State of Louisiana Project Details: The Maurepas Swamp is one of the largest areas of forested wetlands along the Gulf Coast, encompassing approximately 57,000 hectares (approximately 140,850 acres) of bald cypress-tupelo swamp west of Lake Pontchartrain. Historically, the swamp received sediment and nutrient inputs from the Mississippi River during seasonal overbank flooding; however, reduced freshwater inflow and sediment input has caused land loss within the sub-basin and resulted in the periodic introduction of brackish water from Lake Pontchartrain into Lake Maurepas and the swamp. Activities: The project would include engineering and design of the Mississippi River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp project, leading to construction-ready plans and specifications and the development of an adaptive management plan to guide decision-making for future project maintenance activities. If implemented in the future, the project would consist of the following major components designed to divert fresh water from the river into the Maurepas Swamp: a gated river intake structure; a box culvert through the levee; a sedimentation basin; a conveyance channel; and a drainage pump station. The maximum design flow is 2,000 cubic feet per second. Environmental Benefits: If implemented in the future, in addition to restoring and enhancing a total of 18,300 hectares (approximately 45,220 acres) of forested wetland, the project would provide a host of other benefits to wildlife that are dependent on cypress-tupelo swamps.
    [Show full text]
  • Navigating the Swamp: Lessons on Wetland Offsetting for Ontario
    NAVIGATING THE SWAMP Lessons on wetland offsetting for Ontario Ontarioa Nature’s GreenwayNavigating Guide the Series Swamp: Lessons on wetland offsetting for Ontario Navigating the Swamp: Lessons on Wetland Offsetting for Ontario July 2017 David W. Poulton, M.A., LL.M, and Anne Bell, Ph.D. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following people who provided valuable information and insights: Suzanne Armstrong, Shari Clare, Royal Gardner, Arlene Kwasniak, Larry McDermott, Angus Norman, Joanna Salsberg and Joshua Wise. Further, staff in government agencies and environmental groups across Canada were generous with their time, explaining the various offset systems across Canada. For that we thank Kamal Abdel-Razek, Craig Bishop, Lyle Gawalko, Thorsten Hebben, Peter Joyce, Anish Neupane and Christie Ward. Note, however, that the views presented in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned individuals. Of course, the authors take responsibility for any errors inadvertently made in conveying the information provided by the people mentioned above. This report was made possible through the generous support of The McLean Foundation. Review: Sarah Hedges, Ron Corkum Copy editor: Sarah Weber Design: Lauren McVittie Cover photos: (top) Joe Crowley, (left to right) Peter Ferguson, Peter Ferguson, Missy Mandel, Scott Gillingwater This guide can be downloaded free of charge from the Ontario Nature website, ontarionature.org/publications. Copyright © 2017: Ontario Nature Navigating the Swamp: Lessons on wetland offsetting for Ontario Executive Summary The Government of Ontario is proposing to develop a wetland offsetting policy to enable compensation for the negative impacts of development through the restoration or creation of new wetlands.
    [Show full text]
  • Ecology of Freshwater and Estuarine Wetlands: an Introduction
    ONE Ecology of Freshwater and Estuarine Wetlands: An Introduction RebeCCA R. SHARITZ, DAROLD P. BATZER, and STeveN C. PENNINGS WHAT IS A WETLAND? WHY ARE WETLANDS IMPORTANT? CHARACTERISTicS OF SeLecTED WETLANDS Wetlands with Predominantly Precipitation Inputs Wetlands with Predominately Groundwater Inputs Wetlands with Predominately Surface Water Inputs WETLAND LOSS AND DeGRADATION WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS What Is a Wetland? The study of wetland ecology can entail an issue that rarely Wetlands are lands transitional between terrestrial and needs consideration by terrestrial or aquatic ecologists: the aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or need to define the habitat. What exactly constitutes a wet- near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. land may not always be clear. Thus, it seems appropriate Wetlands must have one or more of the following three to begin by defining the wordwetland . The Oxford English attributes: (1) at least periodically, the land supports predominately hydrophytes; (2) the substrate is pre- Dictionary says, “Wetland (F. wet a. + land sb.)— an area of dominantly undrained hydric soil; and (3) the substrate is land that is usually saturated with water, often a marsh or nonsoil and is saturated with water or covered by shallow swamp.” While covering the basic pairing of the words wet water at some time during the growing season of each year. and land, this definition is rather ambiguous. Does “usu- ally saturated” mean at least half of the time? That would This USFWS definition emphasizes the importance of omit many seasonally flooded habitats that most ecolo- hydrology, soils, and vegetation, which you will see is a gists would consider wetlands.
    [Show full text]
  • Cypress--Gum Swamp (Blackwater Subtype)
    CYPRESS--GUM SWAMP (BLACKWATER SUBTYPE) Concept: Cypress–Gum Swamps are wet forests dominated by combinations of Nyssa and Taxodium, flooded for long periods by overbank flow from rivers or streams. The Blackwater Subtype covers examples on Coastal Plain floodplains which lack clay sediment, where Nyssa aquatica is not a significant component of the canopy. They occur commonly both in sloughs of large blackwater rivers and filling the entire floodplain of many small streams. The concept of the Blackwater Subtype has been narrowed from that in the 3rd Approximation, where it was defined to cover all streams with headwaters in the Coastal Plain. Here it includes only the most acidic and clay-free streams, most of which occur in the southern half of the state. Distinguishing Features: The Cypress–Gum Swamp type is distinguished by canopy dominance by combinations of Taxodium and Nyssa in a nontidal river floodplain setting that is not impounded. The distinction from Tidal Swamp (Cypress–Gum Subtype) can be subtle on the edges of tidal influence and where tidal flooding is primarily from irregular wind tides. However, Morella cerifera, Juniperus silicicola, and many herbs associated with Tidal Freshwater Marsh communities are good indicators of tidal conditions. Tidal swamps usually have a more open canopy created by stress from rising sea level, but this is not always the case. The Blackwater Subtype is distinguished from the Intermediate and Brownwater subtypes by the absence of Nyssa aquatica as a significant canopy component, and by a more acid-tolerant flora in general. It is distinguished from the Blackwater Cove Subtype by a lack of the distinctive open canopy, large buttresses, and deep flooding of that subtype, and corresponding lack of abundant Cephalanthus occidentalis and Planera aquatica.
    [Show full text]
  • Cedar Swamp Exploration Guide
    History of the Swamp Exploring the Swamp Organizations Protecting the Swamp Formed as the glacial Lake Assabet, the Cedar Swamp is an integral part of Cedar Swamp shallow basin has slowly transformed into a Westborough but many people never notice it. vegetated wetland. Cedar Swamp Pond is the Drive down South Street, Hopkinton Road, Exploration only vestige of the original lake. From this East Main Street or Flanders Road, and you pond, the Sudbury River starts its journey to can catch glimpses of the swamp. When you join the Assabet River in Concord. A number Guide http://www.mass.gov/dcr go into the Rogers ball fields and Pine Grove of old islands rise above the level of the The Massachusetts Department of swamp, providing the uplands access to the or St. Luke’s Cemeteries, you are in Cedar Conservation and Recreation State Parks swamp. Swamp. Division is a major land owner in the swamp. As early as 7,000 B.C., prehistoric people in To explore the swamp on foot, you have two In 2011 DCR made Cedar Swamp a Reserve dugout canoes followed the Sudbury and major public access points: St. Luke’s as part of their Landscape Designation efforts. Assabet Rivers to their headwaters in search Cemetery and the Town of Westborough of quartzite for tools and weapons. During the Rogers Property. Late Woodland Period (1200-1600 A.D.), seasonal migrations brought Nipmuc Indians There is trail at the back of St. Luke’s to hunt and fish near Cedar Swamp. Cemetery that loops around the Heirloom Harvest Community Farm.
    [Show full text]