Road Impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with Emphasis on Effects to Surface- and Shallow Ground-Water Hydrology—A Literature Review
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Prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Road Impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with Emphasis on Effects to Surface- and Shallow Ground-Water Hydrology—A Literature Review By Douglas C. Andersen Open-File Report 2007-1052 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior DIRK KEMPTHORNE, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Mark D. Myers, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2007 For product and ordering information: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/pubprod Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS For more information on the USGS—the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment: World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report. Suggested citation: Andersen, D.C., 2007, Road impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with an emphasis on effects to surface- and shallow ground-water hydrology—a literature review. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1052, 26 p. This report is available on the Web at: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Products/Publications/pub_abstract.asp?PubID=21882 Cover: Examples of unimproved (left) and improved (right) roads on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge. All images in the document are of roads on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge taken by the author in January or June 2006 unless noted otherwise. ii Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................................1 Past Reviews and Annotated Bibliographies................................................................................................................ 4 Literature Review ............................................................................................................................................................... 5 1. In what ways can roads affect an ecosystem’s structure and functioning? .................................................. 5 Road Effects That May Be Unrelated to Hydrology ....................................................................................... 5 Road Effects on Natural Hydrologic Patterns and Processes ..................................................................... 6 2. Are there particular problems or concerns associated with unpaved roads?...............................................8 3. Are there special concerns associated with unpaved roads in semiarid and arid landscapes? ............. 10 4. In what ways can roads affect hydrology on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge? ..................................... 11 5. Are effects on hydrology localized near roads or can they be widely distributed in the landscape?...........................................................................................................................................................15 6. Can rare hydrologic events (intense storms, droughts, and so forth) lead to new or magnified road effects?........................................................................................................................................................ 16 7. How can road effects on natural hydrology be minimized? ............................................................................. 17 8. What are the costs and benefits of road removal?............................................................................................ 18 Conclusions.......................................................................................................................................................................19 References Cited.............................................................................................................................................................. 20 Glossary ............................................................................................................................................................................. 24 Tables 1. Bibliographies and reviews concerning ecological effects of roads that have been published on the World Wide Web. .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2. Characteristics of three types of unpaved roads.....................................................................................................9 Figures 1. Map showing the approved acquisition boundary of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, and the location of the Lexam Road and various other roads ................................................... 2 2. A depression, possibly a borrow-area for road fill, adjacent to an elevated (through-fill) road on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge .................................................................................................................... 6 3. A through-fill section of the Lexam Road on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge ........................................... 10 4. Conceptual model of linkages between road attributes and surface water hydrology evaluated at the outlet of a road-drainage structure ..................................................................................................... 13 5. Lexam Road near Willow Creek with wet meadow irrigation water ponded on the upslope (east) side............................................................................................................................................................. 14 iii 6. A dry watercourse crossing on a through-fill section of the Lexam Road in Baca National Wildlife Refuge.................................................................................................................................................... 16 iv Conversion Factors SI to Inch/Pound Multiply By To obtain Length centimeter (cm) 0.3937 inch (in.) millimeter (mm) 0.03937 inch (in.) meter (m) 3.281 foot (ft) kilometer (km) 0.6214 mile (mi) Area square meter (m2) 0.0002471 acre hectare (ha) 2.471 acre square kilometer (km2) 247.1 acre hectare (ha) 0.003861 square mile (mi2) square kilometer (km2) 0.3861 square mile (mi2) Horizontal coordinate information is referenced to the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83). v Road Impacts on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, with Emphasis on Effects to Surface- and Shallow Ground-Water Hydrology—A Literature Review By Douglas C. Andersen1 Abstract A review of published research on unpaved road effects on surface-water and shallow ground-water hydrology was undertaken to assist the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, Colorado, in understanding factors potentially influencing refuge ecology. Few studies were found that addressed hydrological effects of roads on a comparable area of shallow slope in a semiarid region. No study dealt with road effects on surface- and ground-water supplies to ephemeral wetlands, which on the refuge are sustained by seasonal snowmelt in neighboring mountains. Road surfaces increase runoff, reduce infiltration, and serve as a sediment source. Roadbeds can interfere with normal surface- and ground-water flows and thereby influence the quantity, timing, and duration of water movement both across landscapes and through the soil. Hydrologic effects can be localized near the road as well as widespread and distant. The number, arrangement, and effectiveness of road-drainage structures (culverts and other devices) largely determine the level of hydrologic alteration produced by a road. Undesirable changes to natural hydrologic patterns can be minimized by considering potential impacts during road design, construction, and maintenance. Road removal as a means to restore desirable hydrologic conditions to landscapes adversely affected by roads has yet to be rigorously evaluated. Introduction The 37,400 ha Baca National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in southern Colorado contains 14,200 ha of wetland, wet-meadow, and riparian habitat sustained primarily by surface flows in seven creeks draining the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. These creeks, which run more-or-less parallel to one another, enter the refuge on its eastern border and terminate within the refuge at or above a series of ephemeral playa lakes that line the margins of Saguache and San Luis creeks on the refuge’s western border (fig. 1). The remainder of the refuge is primarily desert shrubland and grassland, supported by an average annual precipitation of about 20 cm, most of which (approximately 45 percent) falls as rain during July, August, and September (based on averages of values for Monte Vista, Saguache, Crestone 1SE, and San Luis Lakes 3W meteorological stations; data available on the Web at http://www.wrcc.dri.edu). Historic water management on what are now refuge lands included diverting flows out of creeks during spring runoff in order to flood irrigate 6,500 ha of meadows managed for wild hay production. This water management practice is being maintained by refuge staff. Thus, three hydrologic factors are major 1Research Ecologist, U.S.