MONITORING THE ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF PINELANDS WETLANDS A COMPARISON OF WETLAND LANDSCAPES, HYDROLOGY, AND STREAM COMMUNITIES IN PINELANDS WATERSHEDS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND FINAL REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY FEBRUARY 2006 Cover image is from a 1995-97 color-infrared aerial photograph (National Aerial Photography Program by Photoscience for the United States Geological Survey) showing active-cranberry bogs in the Hospitality Brook watershed and forest land along the Wading River. MONITORING THE ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF PINELANDS WETLANDS A COMPARISON OF WETLAND LANDSCAPES, HYDROLOGY, AND STREAM COMMUNITIES IN PINELANDS WATERSHEDS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND PREPARED BY ROBERT A. ZAMPELLA, JOHN F. BUNNELL, KIM J. LAIDIG, AND NICHOLAS A. PROCOPIO THE NEW JERSEY PINELANDS COMMISSION Betty Wilson, Chairperson Candace McKee Ashmun Edward Lloyd William J. Brown Robert W. McIntosh, Jr. Dr. Guy Campbell, Jr. Dr. Patrick T. Slavin Leslie M. Ficcaglia Norman F. Tomasello John A. Haas Francis A. Witt Hon. Robert Hagaman Edward A. Wuillermin, Jr. Stephen V. Lee III John C. Stokes, Executive Director FINAL REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE U. S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY FEBRUARY 2006 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vii PART 1. A COMPARISON OF STREAM PATTERNS AND WETLAND LANDSCAPES IN PINELANDS BASINS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED- CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND Nicholas A. Procopio and John F. Bunnell Abstract 1 Introduction 1 Methods 2 Study Basins 2 Stream-pattern and Wetland-landscape Data 2 Data Analysis 3 Results 5 Stream Patterns 5 Wetland Landscapes 5 Discussion 7 Acknowledgements 9 Literature Cited 9 PART 2. HYDROLOGIC AND MORPHOLOGIC VARIABILITY OF STREAMS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND Nicholas A. Procopio Abstract 19 Introduction 19 Methods 20 Data Analysis 22 Results and Discussion 22 Stream Discharge 22 Streamflow Variability 22 Flooding Frequency 23 Stream Morphology 24 Acknowledgements 24 Literature Cited 25 iii PART 3. DISTRIBUTION OF DIATOMS IN RELATION TO LAND USE AND PH IN BLACKWATER COASTAL PLAIN STREAMS Robert A. Zampella, Kim J. Laidig, and Rex L. Lowe Abstract 35 Introduction 35 Methods 36 Study Site Selection 36 Stream Habitats 37 Diatom Sampling 37 pH Categories 38 Data Analysis 38 Results 39 Stream Habitats 39 Species Inventory 40 Species Richness 40 Community Patterns 41 Environmental Relationships 42 pH Categories 42 Discussion 42 Acknowledgements 46 Literature Cited 46 PART 4. VEGETATION IN PINELANDS STREAMS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND Kim J. Laidig Abstract 59 Introduction 59 Methods 60 Land Use and Study Site Selection 60 Environmental Factors 61 Vegetation Sampling 61 Data Analysis 62 Results and Discussion 63 Environmental Factors 63 Stream-vegetation Inventory 63 Channel-vegetation Composition 64 Bank-vegetation Composition 65 Summary 66 Acknowledgents 67 Literature Cited 67 iv PART 5. MACROINVERTEBRATE ASSEMBLAGES IN PINELANDS STREAMS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND Robert A. Zampella, John F. Bunnell, Nicholas A. Procopio, and Dean Bryson Abstract 81 Introduction 82 Methods 83 Land Use and Study Site Selection 83 Environmental Factors 83 Macroinvertebrate Sampling 84 Data Analysis 84 Results 85 Environmental Factors 85 Macroinvertebrate Inventory 86 Family-level Comparison of Stream Types 86 Genus-level Comparison of Stream Types 89 Discussion 91 Acknowledgements 93 Literature Cited 93 PART 6. FISH ASSEMBLAGES IN PINELANDS STREAMS DRAINING ACTIVE-CRANBERRY BOGS, ABANDONED-CRANBERRY BOGS, AND FOREST LAND John F. Bunnell Abstract 113 Introduction 113 Methods 114 Land Use and Study Site Selection 114 Fish Surveys 114 Environmental Factors 115 Data Analysis 116 Results 117 Environmental Factors 117 Fish Inventory 117 Species Composition 118 Biomass and Abundance 119 Discussion 120 Acknowledgements 122 Literature Cited 122 v Executive Summary Cranberry agriculture, which involves clearing land to construct bogs, damming streams to establish reservoirs, channelizing stream segments, and creating extensive ditch networks, is a major land use in parts of the New Jersey Pinelands. The native cranberry was first cultivated in New Jersey in the mid-19th century. Since that time, the industry has been an important landscape-shaping factor. Harvested cranberry acreage, estimated to be about 3,100 acres in 2002, represents less than one-third of the 11,200 acres that existed at the peak of bog cultivation in 1919. Abandoned-cranberry bogs are now a common feature of the Pinelands landscape. In 1999, the Pinelands Commission received a Wetlands Development Grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to conduct a study of the potential effect of past and present cranberry agriculture on selected landscape features, stream flow, and aquatic communities in the Mullica River and Rancocas Creek basins. The Pinelands Commission and the National Park Service provided additional funding. The results of the study are presented in this report. Study topics, which are covered in separate sections, include stream drainage patterns and wetland-patch structure, streamflow regimes, diatoms, stream vegetation, macroinvertebrates, and fish. In each section, variations in the landscape, stream, or biological-community characteristic of interest are related to land use in the associated basins. Land uses include forest, active-cranberry bogs (cranberry), and abandoned-cranberry bogs (abandoned bogs). The diatom study also includes developed/agricultural land. The studies include detailed statistical analyses. Because of sample-size limitations and the many comparisons made in each study, relationships that appear fairly clear may not be statistically significant. Throughout each section, we identify statistically significant results as well as apparent trends that do not meet the strict statistical criteria that were applied. Part 1 evaluates differences in stream-drainage patterns (drainage density, sinuosity, and ditching), wetland-patch structure (size, shape, and number of wetland patches), and wetland- vegetation cover-type composition between basins draining cranberry bogs, abandoned bogs, and forest. The results of the stream-pattern analysis indicated that the effect of past and present cranberry agriculture on stream-drainage patterns was limited primarily to the occurrence of ditches. The analysis of wetland-patch structure and wetland-vegetation cover-type composition was limited to areas outside cranberry bogs where the native vegetation was removed. There was no significant difference between the three basin types in the relative number, size, shape, and composition of the vegetation-cover types found. Although the differences were not significant, the median and total number of wetland patches and the number of patches for most dominant wetland-cover types were higher in cranberry and abandoned-bog basins compared to forest basins. Part 2 relates streamflow regimes and stream morphology to land use. Strong relationships exist between some of the flow-regime and channel-morphology metrics. Although no significant difference in these metrics was found between stream types, some general trends suggested that the relationship between channel morphology and flow regime is partly related to land use. In general, cranberry streams had steeper banks, greater bankfull depths, and lower vii bankfull width/depth ratios, whereas the gentlest slopes, shallowest channels, and highest width/depth ratios were associated with abandoned-bog streams. Higher bankfull widths and bankfull cross-sectional areas characterized forest streams. Discharge and the frequency of overbank flooding were highest, and spread, which is a measure of streamflow variability, was lowest for cranberry streams compared to the other two stream types. Part 3 describes the relationship between the composition of diatom assemblages collected from streams draining four different land uses, including forest land, abandoned bogs, cranberry bogs, and developed/upland agriculture. This study focuses on variations in diatom assemblages associated with differences in pH. Neither species richness nor genus richness was significantly different between the four land-use types. A significant difference in species composition existed between the developed/upland agriculture sites and both cranberry and forest sites. Variations in diatom composition were associated with variations in pH and specific conductance. Although species composition varied between forest, abandoned-bog, and cranberry sites, all three stream types were dominated by diatoms associated with pH values below 7, whereas species associated with a pH around 7 dominated the developed/upland agriculture samples. Part 4 compares channel and bank plant-species composition in forest, cranberry, and abandoned-bog streams. Total channel-vegetation and bank-vegetation cover and channel and bank species richness did not differ significantly between stream types. Species presence- absence data revealed a difference in channel-vegetation and bank-vegetation composition between stream types and these differences appear to be most closely related to the type of canopy cover at a site. Whether canopy type is determined by land use is not known. Part 5 compares macroinvertebrate assemblages in cranberry, abandoned-bog, and forest streams