Transcript Document

A Multidisciplinary Master’s Project
by
Ching-Wen Cheng (LA), Daniel Gaebel (RPB),
Janelle St. Pierre (RPB), and Anna Willow (EE)
September 14, 2001
Outline
• The Hennepin floodplain :
An introduction
• Natural History
• Policy and Economics
• Site analysis
• Proposed restoration plan
• Education and interpretation
• Conclusions and Recommendations
Client and Advisor
• Our client, The Wetland Initiative (TWI), is
a not-for-profit organization with a mission
to enhance water quality of Illinois River.
• Our advisor, Dr. Michael Moore, a professor
in SNRE, specializes in environmental
economics and water policy.
Location
Hennepin Levee District
• 2,544 acre floodplain of Illinois River
• Used for agriculture since the early 1900’s
• The Wetlands Initiative, having facilitated the
acquisition of the property, is restoring the
floodplain
Regional Context
• Natural History
– Geomorphology
– Hydrology
• Human Activity Illinois River Basin
– Loss of floodplains
– Water pollution
– Land Use
Beaver (Castor canadensis)
Canvasback (Aythya valisineria)
Animal and plants species that may use
the restored Hennepin Floodplain as
habitat.
Yellow Monkey Flower (Mimulus
glabratus)
Research Goals
•The ecological sustainability and function of the
restored floodplain;
•The creation of floodplain-based environmental
education interpretive program; and
•The political and economic likelihood of using the
floodplain to generate nitrogen pollution credits.
Policy and Economics
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•
•
•
Restoration Policy
Regional and Local Issues
Economics of Restoration
Watershed-based Trading
Regional and Local Issues
• Upper Mississippi Basin
– Land use
– Hypoxia
• Illinois
– Water quality
– Urban and rural influences
• Hennepin
Nitrogen Fertilizer Use in the
Mississippi River Basin
Ecological and economic effects of anthropogenic hypoxic zones in coastal regions.[i]
System Area
Affected
Km2
Benthic
Response
Benthic
Recovery
Fisheries Response
Kattegat, Sweden–
Denmark
2,000
Mass
Mortality
Slow
Collapse of Norway lobster,
reduction of ocean bottom fish.
Black Sea Northwest Shelf
20,000
Mass
Mortality
Annual
Loss of ocean bottom fisheries; shift
to planktonic species.
Baltic Sea
100,000
Eliminated
None
Loss of ocean bottom fisheries; shift
to planktonic species.
[i] Table adapted from Diaz, R. J. and A. Solow. 1999.
Nitrogen Reduction Policy
• Best Management Practices
• Federal and State Land Retirement Programs
– Conservation Reserve Program
– Illinois CREP
• Federal and State Water Quality Regulations
– Total Maximum Daily Loading
– National Pollution Discharge Elimination System
Economics of Floodplain
Restoration
• Opportunity cost of foregone agriculture
• Nitrogen Reduction
• Cost of floodplain restoration
Nitrogen Reduction
• Removing Agricultural Land from Production
– Nitrogen Fertilizers
– Legumes
• Denitrification
– Capacity
– Assumptions
• Costs
– Acquisition
– Restoration
Present Value and Annualized Costs of
Nitrogen Removal
• Present value cost of restoration = $19,080,377
• Annualized cost of restoration = $1,282,501.04
• Annualized cost per ton = $2596.16
Lead in to nitrogen farming
TWI’s Vision: Nitrogen Farming
Nitrogen Farming requires 5 components:
- Polluted water,
- A parcel of land,
- Adequate hydric soils,
- Energy to achieve and maintain
inundation; and
- A Credit Market
Watershed-Based Trading
What is it?
Why is it being done?
Who is doing it?
What is it?
- Watershed-based Trading is a market-based system
that allows the buying and selling of effluent credits,
within defined watershed boundaries, in order to
meet water quality standards of individual
dischargers and the watershed as a whole.
- Credits are generated when a discharger reduces
effluent below levels required by regulations, or
restoration of natural functions of the watershed
reduce effluent levels.
Elements of Credit Trading
Trading systems:
Trading Ratios:
- Open
- Uncertainty
- Closed
- Delivery
Trading Partners:
- Retirement
- Point sources
Trading set-up:
- Nonpoint sources
- EPA Guidelines
- Intraplant
- Local regulations
- Reducers
Why is it being done?
- Cost-effectiveness
- Flexibility
- Cooperation
Who is doing it?
The Case Studies:
1) Chesapeake Bay
- Nutrient Trading Negotiation Team
2) Long Island Sound
- Long Island Sound Study
3) Tar-Pamlico Basin
- Tar-Pamlico Nutrient Trading
Program
Turning to Trading: Common
Factors
- Recognition of a substantial threat to an
important waterway,
- Development of coalitions of stakeholders
from multiple sides of the issue; and
- The political will to create or legislate the
administrative capacity to facilitate a
trading program.
Effects of Hypoxia
Application to Illinois
Challenges:
- TMDLs have yet to be designated
- All NPS control measures are voluntary
- NPDES permits restrict credit trading
Innovations:
- Emissions Reduction Market System for the
reduction of ground level ozone
- Piasa Creek Watershed Project
Forces for Change in Illinois
- Local Efforts to respond to high levels of nitrogen
- Pressure from a coalition of States to address Gulf
of Mexico Hypoxia
- Sound case studies that demonstrate the benefit of
alternative methods of nutrient reduction
Conclusion
Multiple Uses of Floodplains
•
•
•
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Ecological values
Economic sustainability of restoration
Cultural resources
Design components
Management Recommendations
• Sustainable funding for restoration
• Balanced use of floodplain wetlands
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–
–
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Ecology
Economic
Public access and education
Cultural resources
• Determine appropriate organization for
long-term management