THE FOURTH ANNUAL WETLANDS REGULATORY WORKSHOP

OCTOBER 29 THRU NOVEMBER 2, 2001

HOLIDAY INN

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

AGENDA

MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 29

6:00 pm

to Registration - Victoria Ballroom, Howard Johnson

8:00 pm

8:00 pm Welcome Mixer - Scribbles Café, Holiday Inn

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 30

8:00 am Registration - Victoria Ballroom, Howard Johnson

9:00 am Welcome and Workshop Logistics:

Ralph J. Spagnolo, Office of Environmental Programs

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

9:15 am Opening Remarks: Richard Kropp, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Andes Fekete, New Jersey Department of Transportation

SESSION I: EVOLVING STATE PROGRAMS FOR WETLAND MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT

Moderator: Regina Poeske, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

9:45 am Doreen M. Vetter, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington D.C. National Perspective on Wetland Monitoring and Assessment

10:00 am Robert P. Brooks, Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center, A Technical

10:15 am Amy D. Jacobs, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, State Wetland Monitoring - One Watershed at a Time

10:30 am William Jenkins, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, GIS-Based

Assessments for Setting Wetland Conservation and Restoration Goals in Maryland’s Watersheds

10:45 am Break

SESSION II: NEW APPROACHES TO WETLAND MONITORING AT THE WATERSHED LEVEL

Moderator: Arthur L. Spingarn, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

11:15 am Arthur L. Spingarn, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

EPA Takes a New Approach to Wetland Monitoring: Science, Partnerships, and Legacy

11:30 am Denice H. Wardrop, Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center, Using Geology and Plants to Find and Characterize Wetlands: Some Lessons from the Juniata Watershed

11:45 am Dennis Whigham, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center,

Assessment of non-tidal wetlands in the Nanticoke River, Maryland: a top-down and bottom-up view

12:00 am Amy D. Jacobs, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Access to Private Property and the Use of Trained Volunteers to Conduct Wetland Research in the Nanticoke River watershed

12:15 noon Sarah J. Miller, Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center, Training Volunteers to Use Plants as Indicators of Wetland Condition

12:30 pm Questions and Answers

12:45 pm Lunch - Constitution Ballroom, Holiday Inn

TUESDAY AFTERNOON

SESSION III: ISSUES IN WETLAND IDENTIFICATION

Moderator: Casey Shrader, Natural Resources Conservation Service

2:00 pm Rebecca L. Arenson, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Hydric Soil Temperatures, the Growing Season, and Implications for Wetland Delineation in Southeast Virginia

2:15 pm Amanda C. Burdt, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Variation of Hydric Soil Temperature and Growing Season Definition under Different Land Treatments

2:30 pm Joe Berg, Biohabitats, Inc., Wetland Hydrology: Delineation versus Mitigation Thresholds in Forested Wetlands

2:45 pm James A. Schmid, Schmid & Company, Inc., So You Think You Have Hydrophytic Vegetation? Comments On National Wetland Inventory Indicator Status Designations

3:00 pm Questions and Answers

3:15 pm Break

SESSION IV: HYDRIC SOIL ISSUES IN WETLAND IDENTIFICATION

Moderator: Lenore Vasilas, Natural Resources Conservation Service

3:45 pm Wade Hurt, Natural Resources Conservation Service/University of Florida,

Delineating Wetlands via the Hydric Soil Component in Areas That Have

Been Filled or Otherwise Disturbed

4:00 pm Ralph Spagnolo, U.S. Environmnetal Protection Agency, Region III, The Role of the Mid-Atlantic Hydric Soils Committee in Wetland and Problem Soil Determinations

4:15 pm John Zingis, Air, Land and Sea Environmental Management Services, Inc., The Misinterpretation of Hydric Soil Characteristics to Define Wetland Boundaries Due to Micromorphology and Liesegang Banding Across Varying Textured Soils

4:30 pm Richard Chinn, Richard Chinn Environmental Training, Inc., A Simple Field Method for Determining Reducing Conditions in High Sulphur/High Iron Problem Soils

4:45 pm Questions and Answers

5: 00 pm Social Hour - Scribbles Café, Holiday Inn

WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 31

SESSION V: PERCEPTIONS, ASSESSMENT AND HUMAN IMPACTS: WETLAND FUNCTIONS OR VALUES

Moderator: Andy Dinsmore, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

9:00 am Michelle L. Stevens, California Department of Water Resources, Traditional Resource Management of Wetland and Riparian Plants by California Native Americans

9:15 am John Hoehn, Department of Agricultural Economics, Incorporating People’s Perceptions in Wetland Valuation

9:30 am Charles Rhodes, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Applying the Hydrogeomorphic Wetland Functional Assessment Approach to Long Term Public Works Projects

9:45 am Jerry Stober, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV Landscape Patterns of Mercury Contamination Across the Everglades Ecosystem

10:00 am Kent Thorton, FTN Associates, Ltd., Use of Path Analysis to Integrate the Effects of Multiple Stressors on Mercury Contamination in the Everglades Ecosystem

10:15 am Questions and Answers

10:30 am Break

SESSION VI: TECHNIQUES FOR WETLANDS COMPENSATION

Moderator: Francis J. Reilly, Jr., The Reilly Group

11:00 am Marcia Berman, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, A GIS-Based Model for the Advanced Selection of Wetlands Restoration Sites

11:15 am Rebecca Thomas, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Databases to Track the Design and Function of Created Wetland Areas Such as Stormwater Ponds and Mitigation Sites

11:30 am Claude M. Epstein, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, The Use of Rosgen Analysis in the New Jersey Pine Barrens

11:45 am Questions and Answers

12:00 am Lunch - Constitution Ballroom, Holiday Inn

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

SESSION VII: WAYS TO MEASURE THE “SUCCESS” OF WETLAND COMPENSATION SITES

Moderator: Rich Mogenson, Marsh Resources, Inc.

1:15 pm Brett Berkley, Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., Flexibility in Mitigation Design and Construction

1:30 pm David L. Davis, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Standardized Mitigation “Success” Criteria and Ratios for Virginia’s New Non-Tidal Wetland General Permits

1:45 pm David DesRochers, The College of William and Mary, Breeding Bird Use of Created Tidal Wetlands of Southeastern Virginia

2:00 pm Ruth Ladd, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, Wetland Mitigation Guidance Documents for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District Regulatory Division

2:15 pm Questions and Answers

2:30 pm Break

SESSION VIII: WETLAND MITIGATION BANKING ISSUES AND EXAMPLES

Moderator: Bruce Vasilas, University of Delaware

3:00 pm Rich K. Mogensen, Marsh Resources, Inc., Marsh Resources Meadowlands Mitigation Bank

3:15 pm Turner R. Odell, Environmental Law Institute, Wetland Mitigation Banking: Providing Critical Information to Guide Regional Conservation Objectives

3:30 pm Harold R. Jones, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk Distirct, The Status and Trends of Wetland Banking in Virginia

3:45 pm Questions and Answers

SESSION IX: WETLANDS AND THE BALANCE: PRIVATE RIGHTS VERSUS PUBLIC NEEDS

4:15 pm

Moderator: Mary Anne Theising, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II

Recent legal challenges to wetland regulation have resulted in decisions that leave the future of environmental regulation increasingly uncertain. This session will focus on issues such as: What are the challenges facing local, state, and federal wetland regulations in light of the recent SWANCC and Palazzolo decisions? What are some ways that the interests of the public can be balanced with the interests of individual landowners?

4:45 pm Questions and Answers

5:00 pm Social Hour - Scribbles Café, Holiday Inn

6:30 pm

to Halloween Gala - Constitution Ballroom, Holiday Inn

11:00 pm

THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 1

SESSION X: ECOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF ISOLATED WETLANDS

Moderator: Leander Brown, Natural Resources Conservation Service

9:00 am Larry Torok, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Vernal Habitats: A Beggar’s Banquet

9:15 am Jim White, Delaware Nature Society, Amphibian Diversity in Delmarva Bays

9:30 am Paul Minkin, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District, When Isolated Wetlands Are Not Isolated: A New England Perspective

9:45 am Questions and Answers

10:00 am Break

SESSION XI: POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE SWANCC DECISION

Moderator: Jeff Lapp, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

10:30 am Ellen Gilinsky, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality,

Virginia’s Approach to Regulating Isolated wetlands

10:45 am Arthur L. Spingarn, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Isolated Wetlands Vulnerable in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

11:00 am John Meagher, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Washington DC, An Overview of the SWANCC Decision

11:15 am Turner R. Odell, Environmental Law Institute, Update on State Regulation of Isolated Wetlands After the SWANCC Decision

11:30 am Questions and Answers

11:45 am Lunch - Constitution Ballroom, Holiday Inn

THURSDAY AFTERNOON

BREAKOUT SESSION: POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF THE SWANCC DECISION

Moderator: Richard V. Pepino, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

1:00 pm A selected panel, including representatives from various disciplines, will lead a discussion on the SWANCC decision on isolated wetlands. The audience will be divided into groups to discuss relating to the court’s decision

Session A: Current ideas for protection of isolated wetlands.

Session B: Unforeseen consequences and ramifications of SWANCC

Session C: Legislative initiatives to address SWANCC

2:30 pm Break

SESSION XII: NOVEL WETLAND REGULATORY PROGRAMS

Moderator: Andrew Dinsmore, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III

3:00 pm Andrew T. Der, Loierderman Soltesz Associates, Balancing Wetland and Stream Protection with Storm water Management: A Case Study

3:15 pm Gary T. Setzer, Maryland Department of the Environment, Mountain Road Peatlands

3:30 pm Laura A. Moran, KCI Technologies, Inc., Utilization of a Designated Environmental Monitor for the Design, Construction, and Regulatory Compliance of Transportation Projects

3: 45 pm Questions and Answers

4:00 pm Summary of Breakout Sessions

4:45 pm Social Hour - Scribbles Café, Holiday Inn

5:00 pm Society of Wetland Scientists, Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting

Franklin Room, Holiday Inn

FRIDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 2

SESSION XIII: NON-REGULATORY WETLANDS PROTECTION MEASURES

Moderator: Terry Doss, The Louis Berger Group, Inc

9:00 am Bob Meadows, Delaware Division of Fish & Wildlife, The Northern Delaware Wetland Rehabilitation Program: A Non-Regulatory Approach to Restoration of Urban Wetlands

9:15 am Edward Ambrogio, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Protection of Wetlands through the Maryland Coastal Bays National Estuary Program

9:30 am Dave Smart, Natural Resources Conservation Service, NRCS Programs and Policies for Conservation of Wetlands

Transportation Planning and Environmental Protection - a Non- Regulatory Way to Protect Wetlands and Other Natural Resources

SESSION XIV: STATE APPROACHES TO WETLAND PROTECTION

11:00 am Jeff Thompson, Maryland Department of the Environment Maryland’s Programmatic General Permit: An Overview

11:15 am Ellen Gilinsky, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Development and Implementation of Virginia’s New Non-Tidal Wetlands Program

SESSION XV: ROVER REPORTS

A panel of four “rovers” will critically review the presentations in light of their own interests and disciplines. Rovers will be selected to ensure representation of resource managers, regulators, non-governmental organizations, the regulated public, resource users, and researchers. This session should be of great interest to research program leaders and those seeking funding for research since the rovers will comment on information gaps and needed scientific information; this session, should help focus subsequent research in the fields needed to adequately protect, manage, and regulate wetlands.

Wetlands Regulatory Workshop IV