Site Assessment Report Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund – Kline Wetland MARSHALL COUNTY, INDIANA July 31, 2009 Prepared For: Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund 116 North Main Street PO Box 187 Culver, Indiana 46511 (574) 842-3686 Prepared By: 708 Roosevelt Road Walkerton, Indiana 46574 (574) 586-3400 Site Assessment Report July 31, 2009 Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund – Kline Wetland, Marshall County, Indiana PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT REPORT LAKE MAXINKUCKEE ENVIRONMENTAL FUND – KLINE WETLAND TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 2.0 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 1 3.0 RESULTS ............................................................................................................. 2 3.1 GENERAL SITE DESCRIPTION ................................................................... 2 3.2 PLANT INVENTORY AND FLORISTIC QUALITY ASSESSMENT ............... 2 3.3 ECOLOGICAL COMMUNITIES ..................................................................... 3 3.4 WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS ......................................................................... 9 3.5 ENDANGERED, THREATENED, AND RARE SPECIES ............................ 10 3.6 FUNCTIONAL QUALITY ............................................................................. 11 3.7 LEVEE AREA .............................................................................................. 12 3.8 POTENTIAL RESULTS OF ADJACENT DEVELOPMENT ......................... 13 4.0 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................... 13 REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 17 FIGURES: Figure 1: Location Map Figure 2: Soils Map Figure 3: Plant Community Map Figure 4: ETR Plant Map APPENDIX A IDNR ETR QUERY APPENDIX B VASCULAR PLANT SPECIES INVENTORY APPENDIX C WILDLIFE OBSERVATIONS APPENDIX D ORAM SCORING Page i JFNew #0811188.00 Site Assessment Report Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund – Kline Wetland Marshall County, Indiana 1.0 Introduction Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund contracted with JFNew to complete a floristic inventory, Endangered, Threatened, and Rare (ETR) plant species survey, plant community mapping, and to perform an Ohio Rapid Assessment Method (ORAM) evaluation of the wetland at the Kline Wetland site. The site is located in the northeast ¼ of Section 34 in Township 32 North, Range 1 East, in Marshall County, Indiana (Figure 1). Preliminary field investigations were conducted on May 12, 13, and 30, 2009; a supplemental field investigation was conducted on July 23, 2009. The purpose of the study was to create a functional status report for the Kline Wetland to guide future care and maintenance planning. In addition, Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund was interested in determining what impacts a potential development to the north of the Kline Wetland may have on the Kline Wetland itself. 2.0 Methodology Prior to the site investigations, an ETR species query for the project area was submitted to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Division of Nature Preserves Natural Heritage Database. The information received in response to this query is included in Appendix A. Two ETR vascular plant species and two bird species appear on the list generated by the IDNR for the project area. A total of 38 person-hours were spent investigating the site on May 12, 13, and 30, 2009 and July 23, 2009. Additional time was spent in the office identifying unknown plant species. The on-site investigation was conducted by a team of two individuals using meander survey methodology, zig-zagging across all portions of the project area. During the meander surveys, all vascular plant species observed and casual wildlife observations were recorded. Plant communities were mapped across the site; within each community, representative photographs were taken and dominant plant species were noted. A search was conducted for ETR plant species during each field survey. Finally, ORAM was applied to the wetland community to obtain a rating of the functional quality of the wetland system. Botanical nomenclature and acronyms, both in the text and in the species inventories, are taken from Rothrock (2004), which references both the Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. (1993+) and the Biota of North America database for nomenclature. The Floristic Quality Assessment (FQA) (Rothrock 2004) computer program (Conservation Research Institute / Conservation Design Forum 1999) (Indiana Database) was used to compile the species inventory. Rothrock (2004) assigns each Page 1 JFNew #0811188.00 Site Assessment Report July 31, 2009 Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund – Kline Wetland, Marshall County, Indiana native plant in Indiana a Coefficient of Conservatism value (C value) from 0 to 10, which is a measure of its ability to withstand degradation. Plants with C values of 10 are typically the first to be lost from a site when the site begins to become degraded. Conversely, plants with C values of 0 can withstand a large amount of degradation. The mean C value was determined by averaging the C values of all species identified on the site. The Floristic Quality Index (FQI) is a function of both the C value and the number of species observed at the site. 3.0 Results 3.1 General Site Description The site is located within the Northern Lakes Natural Region (Homoya et al. 1985). This natural region is characterized by glacial freshwater lakes and thick deposits of glacial material. Soils include loam, clay, sandy loam, and muck. Natural communities in the Northern Lakes Natural Region include bog, fen, marsh, prairie, sedge meadow, swamp, seep spring, lake, dry upland forest, dry-mesic upland forest, mesic upland forest, and floodplain forest. The plant communities at the site fit into the description of the Northern Lakes Natural Region. The majority of the interior of the site consists of emergent marsh, sedge meadow, and shrub swamp communities. The uplands surrounding these wetland communities are degraded but appear to have once been characterized by dry-mesic upland forest and savanna species. The soils at the site are within the Riddles-Metea- Wawasee (higher elevation, drier areas) and Houghton-Adrian-Palms (lower elevation, wetter areas) soil map units (United States Department of Agriculture – Soil Conservation Service et al. 1980). Nine soil units are present on the site (Figure 2). The most common soils on the site are Houghton muck, drained and Wawasee sandy loam, 6-12% slopes. Houghton and Adrian soils are located in depressions, in outwash plains, and in lake plains, and formed in bogs and on glacial lakebeds (USDA/SCS 1980). Wawasee and Metea soils are in areas of rolling topography, located on knolls and ridges formed by glacial deposits (USDA/SCS 1980). 3.2 Plant Inventory and Floristic Quality Assessment A total of 324 vascular plant species were identified at the Kline Wetland site in May and July 2009, with an additional four species identified only to genus (Appendix B). 81% (261 of 324) of the species identified are native to Indiana. The mean C value at the site was 3.0, and the FQI value was 53.9. Rothrock (2004) states that “an intact site accommodating the wide array of species characteristic of a pre-settlement plant community would have a mean C of 5 or greater,” and that “an old field or highly degraded sites (Wilhelm et al. 2003) might be expected to have Mean C values of 2 or less.” Of the 324 species identified at the site, 11% (37 of 324) have C values of 7 or greater, and 4% (12 of 324) have C values of 9 or 10. According to Rothrock (2004), plants with C values of 7 or 8 are “found in high-quality remnant plant communities but Page 2 JFNew #0811188.00 Site Assessment Report July 31, 2009 Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Fund – Kline Wetland, Marshall County, Indiana appear to endure, from time to time, some disturbance,” and those with C values of 9 or 10 are “restricted to remnant landscapes that appear to have suffered very little post- settlement trauma.” 3.3 Ecological Communities Ten distinct ecological communities were mapped at the site (Figure 3). Each of the communities is described below. Several of these communities, noted with an asterisk (*) below, fit within natural community type descriptions published in Jacquart et al. (2002), although they may not be consistent with the minimum size requirements for classification by the State as a natural area. Community A: Emergent Marsh* The Emergent Marsh community is characterized by the presence of mucky hydric soils, wetland hydrology, and emergent, herbaceous wetland vegetation. It consists of a mosaic of open water and characteristic marsh species. This plant community, which occupies most of the northern half of the site, was likely historically a kettle lake that has undergone natural succession and is in the process of becoming a bog community. Dominant plant species in the Emergent Marsh community include Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), Swamp Loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus), Rice Cut Grass (Leersia oryzoides), Small Duckweed (Lemna minor), Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), Spatterdock (Nuphar advena), Common Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia), Common Bur Reed (Sparganium eurycarpum), and Cattail (Typha spp.). The extent of open water versus vegetation cover in the Emergent Marsh likely varies from year