Transcript CHIPOLA RIVER WATERSHED MANAGEMENT PLAN For West Florida Resource Conservation and Development Council 2944 Penn Ave. Marianna, FL.

CHIPOLA RIVER WATERSHED
MANAGEMENT PLAN
For
West Florida Resource Conservation
and Development Council
2944 Penn Ave.
Marianna, FL. 32446
US Fish and Wildlife Service – Chris Metcalf
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission – Brian
Branciforte
Chipola River Partnership – Grant to for Implementation Gary Latham
Program: Florida Wildlife Legacy – Action Strategies
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Springs
Hydric
Flatwoods
Unique Wildlife
Ecosystem Diversity
Species Richness
1270 SQUARE MILES
Caves
of WATERSHED
Swamps
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The
Watershed
Boundary
Marianna Lowlands –
Dougherty Plain
New Hope Ridge
(Sand Hills)
Lower Gulf Coastal
Plain (Flatwoods)
Map by USFWS and Chris Metcalf
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GEOLOGY Of The FLORIDA Chipola River Watershed
Photo by Gary Latham
Terrestrial Cave –
Jackson County
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The Watershed
Boundary and Blue
Springs Basin
Overlap
Map by USFWS and Chris Metcalf
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GOALS And PURPOSES of the CHIPOLA
Watershed Management Plan
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IDENTIFY ACTION STRATEGY PARTNERSHIPS – Agencies,
Conservation Organizations, Private Industry, Local government,
Landholders, and various Stakeholders…..
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IDENTIFY ACTION STRATEGIES – Additional Data and Inventory
Needs, Research, Actions to implement now…….
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MAINTAIN AND RESTORE Sustainable Native Wildlife, Plant
Communities, and Fisheries……..
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GENERAL PLANNING MODEL And EDUCATION – Watershed Based
Boundaries – Assist Local Planning Decisions…….
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Current First Plan Draft is a TOOL for Subsequent Study and Action
Implementation – Updating needed periodically…..
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Natural Resource
Agencies and
NGO’s
That can or do play a role
within the Chipola River
Watershed.
Helpful Studies,
Plans, and
Resources
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Protection of Wetlands, Clean-Water Act,
Fisheries, and Conservation of Threatened
and Endangered Species
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These protections, although not implemented and enforced
perfectly, do in-a sense, by default serve to protect portions of our
watershed…… and they are a source of renewal funding by statute
or accepted public policy. This is necessary funding for a wide
variety of conservation management efforts and acquisition for
conservancy lands.
Another concern to myself, and other ecologists, is the fragility and
rarity of upland natural ecosystem surfaces. Existing land use
comprehensive plans throughout the CRW offer little, none, and in
some cases ‘negative’ protection. The entire surface landscape
pattern and fabric of our watershed needs attention…
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Landscape ‘Pattern Language’
Typical in the Chipola Watershed
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Labins TM Aerial
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Functions and Values of Wetlands
Within the Chipola River Watershed
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Water Quality – Filtration and Cleansing
Flood and Erosion Control (Sedimentation-Flood Damage)
Groundwater Recharge and Discharge
Biological Habitat
Education, Recreation, Aesthetic Values
Economic Values
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Types of Wetlands of
Chipola River Watershed
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Riparian Stream Corridors – Blackwater streams, Spring runs, Alluvial
streams, and seepage streams
Sandhill lakes and ponds (Karst ponds)
Forested Swamps – Cypress – Gum
Hydric Pine Flatwoods
Chipola River System
Choctawhatchee – Holmes Creek
Seepage slopes
Springs – Sinkhole springs
Dug ditches, roadside swales
Other lakes – ponds
Depressional wetlands (Bays, swamps)
Wet meadows pastures – Ephemeral ponds
Impounded farm ponds and Dug farm ponds
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Important Values of Wetlands
Filtration and Cleansing
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Wetlands serve as a filter and cleansing mechanism for pollutants discharged into the
watershed (drainage basin) directly and indirectly. These discharges may be direct, such as storm
water run-off from vehicular roadways, industrial sites, or lawns, going into ditches and drainage
ways. Indirect discharges are such as pollutants seeping directly into the soil and groundwater, or
leaching over non-wetland (upland) areas, before reaching the surface wetland systems.
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These pollutants include excess nutrients from lawns and agricultural runoff, complex hydrocarbons and heavy metals from roadways and urban-industrial sites, herbicides and pesticides
from agricultural runoff, and sedimentation (fine soils and sands) discharging into downstream
wetlands and drainage ways that smother the plants and animals living in the wetlands, contribute
to muddy (turbid) water.
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The natural wetlands, through physical entrapment and bio-chemical and biological processes,
serve as a processor and sponge, thus protecting downstream areas from pollutant build-up. Biochemical and biological processes actually ‘clean’ the water as it is used by living plant and animal
organisms. Some materials, such as some heavy metals, carbon, nitrogen, and phosporous to a
degree, are actually used and become part of the biomass and or physical substrate of the
wetland, and are thus prevented from passing downstream.
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Flood, Erosion Control, and Sediment
Storage Value
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Wetlands provide a storage for excess water from heavy rainfall storm water events. This
storage occurs in two closely related ways and benefits are obvious in a reduction of downstream
flooding and erosion impacts. The energy potential in flowing water is tremendous, and the
wetlands serve as large energy dissipators to moderate the damaging erosive affects downstream,
since they act to slow the water down.
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Depressional wetlands serve as giant sponges that slowly absorb and then release water from
the local watershed areas as they reach a saturated or flooded condition. The flood plains along
streams, rivers, and small drainage branches serve as temporary storage areas along the linear
corridors receiving the water, and moderate the tremendous power of the flowing water. These
floodplains also receive regular dosages of sediment from the upstream areas. As the water
stream widens in a flood event, the water slows down in these areas and the sediments are
discharged. This natural discharge of silt-sediment water is part of the natural floodplain
ecosystem, especially the transport of annual organic loads such as leaves and plant debris.
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Any artificial channeling of streams and drainage ways, and the ditching and draining of
natural wetland depressions greatly reduces the flood and sediment storage, and increases
flooding and erosion impacts downstream.
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Groundwater Recharge and
Discharge Value
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Wetlands provide varying degrees of Recharge into groundwater, often known as
Aquifer recharge. The degree of recharge value is primarily a function of topography
and the perviousness (porosity) of subsurface geologic or subsoil strata.
Groundwater recharge from ‘natural’ wetlands are especially important in our area.
Jackson and Washington County have numerous depressional areas, sinkholes, karst
(lime outcrop) areas providing direct surface exposure of the subsurface aquifer.
Pollutants can directly enter our groundwater and damage springs and wells.
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Discharge occurs in a slow and moderate manner to distant and downstream rivers
creeks, lakes, contributing to a perched (closer to surface) groundwater level or a
deeper aquifer that feeds springs and wells.
Natural wetlands provide for a more even flow of water for streams and rivers, and
water levels in ponds and lakes by consistent groundwater discharges. This provides
extra water in times of drought due to ample groundwater supplies.
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Education, Recreation, Aesthetic Values
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Education - Wetlands usually provide concentrated examples of a high diversity of plants and
wildlife in relatively small study areas for education.
Plant identification, birds and birdsong song identification, microscopy projects, and many other
projects inventorying ecosystem elements and water quality parameters are able to be studied.
The dynamics of the water cycle and how water availability, duration, and flow affects and creates
micro-habitats for plants and wildlife.
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Recreation – Wetlands provide passive and active opportunities for
many types of physical activities. Hiking, hunting, fishing, and canoeing are obvious examples,
but combination educational-recreational activities such as bird watching and ecosystem
monitoring are important common endeavors are also done in wetlands.
Aesthetic Values – The visual experience and mysterious interface of water with land
is magnified in the wetlands. An inner call to a higher purpose and creative inspiration is found
by many persons along these edges of the upland with the dynamics of life giving water.
Whether an open visual expanse of a wetland meadow and swathes of wildflower species, or a
sequestered darkened canopy deep within a primeval swamp forest, the availability of these
habitats provides an opportunity to elevate the human experience.
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Biological Habitat Value
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Naturally diverse plant communities provide the basis for all wildlife communities. The transitional
ecotonal areas between uplands and wetlands are especially rich in diversity. Many rare, threatened,
and endangered species of plants and animals find a safe refuge in wetlands and associated buffer
areas. Without their protections, more species would be on the decline.
Bird rookeries and nesting habitat, fish species, reptiles and amphibians, and other small benthic
organisms such as crayfish, mussels, and insects, have their greatest diversity and/or concentration
of habitat usage in these wetland edge areas.
Several species of turtles utilize the wetland transitional areas as hibernating areas during the cool
season, such as the box turtle, the chicken turtle, and the eastern mud turtle.
The interior wetlands, due to difficulty of timber harvest and current protective laws, often have the
older and larger trees, including dead snags, stumps, and hollow trees. These serve as apartment
complexes for a myriad of wildlife species, and are critically the only habitat that many species can
utilize. [Tree snags, hollow trees, old trees, and all stumps and logs are critical wildlife habitat, both
in wetlands and uplands. As a rule they should never be removed accept for direct safety purposes
such as a dead snag or tree over a structure or parking area.]
Some of the Rare, Threatened, and Endangered species……………lists are in the CRWM Plan
Numerous mussels species, fishes, reptiles and amphibians, birds, numerous plant species, insects,
The Mussels, amphibians and reptiles, small fishes and aquatic insect taxa are important indicator
species (canary in a coal mine cliché’) as a measure of the relative health and viability of various
ecosystems.
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PROTECTION Of Our WETLANDS
Action Strategies
and Avoidances we Should Not Do
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Tell others about the many values of wetlands, and if possible and you so inclined, join and
contribute to conservation organizations that protect wetlands and other natural areas.
Minimize the use of detergents, fertilizers, and other chemicals to minimum and just amount
needed for the job. This especially applies to lawn fertilizers and agricultural applications of all
kinds. These practices have seriously affected the groundwater of our springs, aquifers, and
wetlands, in our area and around the world.
Do not change oil and spill it on the ground, pour it on fence posts, or any other landscape
surface. Recycle it.
Do not disturb wetland edges for general open ‘beautification’ purposes. This usually will ensure
infestation with invasive nuisance species such as Chinese Privet, Fire ants, and other pests. This
also occurs in uplands occurs when any natural landscape surface profile is disturbed.
The transitional buffer area just above the wetland boundary is critical to the health of the
wetland also. Respect the area as you would a wetland; it is part of the wetland system and is
why the County law protects it with a minimum fifty foot buffer.
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PROTECTION Of Our WETLANDS
DO’S
Maintain Buffers Strips
along Riparian areas
Construct temporary sediment basins
to hold construction project run-off
Build Filtration Pond for
Livestock Operation
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PROTECTION Of Our WETLANDS
DO NOT Dig Steep Sided Ponds OR
Dig a Pond in an Existing Wetland!
Note the Poor Water quality and Lack
Of Vegetated Shallow Slopes .
Vegetated Shallow Slopes are needed to
Cleanse Water and Provide Habitat
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PROTECTION Of Our WETLANDS
Action Strategies we Should Do and
Avoidances we Should Not Do
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When possible, provide periodic prescribed burning of the landscape surface to the
edges and wetland itself, depending on the moisture levels. This prescribed burning
increases the diversity of plants and wildlife, and increases the ’use ability’ of the
landscape surface.
Do not allow runoff from any open, raw soil area of a construction site, field, roadway
or driveway cut, or similar area. Contain the area of potential erosion with silt
fencing and hay bales.
If you have a traditional deep sided, farm pond, with little vegetation around the
edges, DO create habitat niches for wildlife with snags, logs, and wetland plants and
of the water, except in needed select areas, because this contributes to poor water
quality.
Obtain necessary local County, State, and Federal permits for any activities in
wetlands or the buffer area, including driveways and drainage culverts and
extensions. Encourage others to do the same.
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Some Action Strategies
For Threatened and Endangered Species
Habitat Conservation species – Inventory, mapping, GIS system
Priority acquisition conservation easements and habitat partnerships
with landowners.
Eliminate and minimize sand clay roadbed sedimentation
into low wetland crossings, branches, and depressions
Restore and expand remnant seed bank areas of wiregrass and
associated native herbaceous cover
Assure provision of woody snags and woody material
For stream ecosystems, habitat niches, diversity of sand-gravel bars,
riffles, ……
Begin eradication of invasive nuisance plants….
Minimize, control, and eliminate pollutants contributing to
degradation of springs, aquifer
Implement and enforce known Best Management Practices (BMP’s)
for agriculture, forestry, and county road maintenance operations,
while Developing new applicable BMP’s.
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Lets not let this happen!
Kudzu Infestation
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Thank You!
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