Vegetation for Restoring Ecosystems & Treating Stormwater

1. Vegetation for Restoring Ecosystems & Treating Stormwater Learning Center Website -http://www.caes.uga.edu/extension/water/lc/StreamVeg.html Eve Brantley, Ph.D. – Auburn Kathy DeBusk - NCSU Karen Hall, NCSU Wendi Hartup - NCSU Frank Henning, EPA-SRWP Bill Hunt, Ph.D., PE, NCSU Fouad Jaber, Ph.D. – TAMU Greg Jennings, Ph.D., PE, NCSU Amanda Abnee Gumbert - UK Ashley Osborne – UK Mark Risse, Ph.D.,PE - UGA Calvin B. Sawyer, Ph.D – Clemson Dotty Woodson, Ed.D - TAMU Mitch Woodward - NCSU Jason Wright, NCSU

2. Watersheds, Water Quality, and Vegetation(So many functions, so little time) Eve Brantley, PhD Department of Agronomy and Soils Auburn University, AL Alabama Cooperative Extension System

3. Overview Watershed Vegetation and Streamside Forests • Introduction to Watersheds • Changing Hydrology • Vegetation and Ecosystem Services • Invaders • Know the rules

4. Meet Your Watershed

5. Watersheds are the platforms A Watershed is an area of land that drains to a single outlet. Center for Watershed Protection

6. Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices. 1998. Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group.

7. Infiltration and Runoff Surface runoff occurs when rainfall intensity exceeds infiltration capacity. Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices. 1998. Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group.

8. Stream Order Stream Order From Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices

9. Stream Order From Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices

10. Stream Order From Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices

11. Stream Orders • 1st – 3rd Orders = Headwaters and smaller streams • 4th – 6th Orders = Mid-size rivers • > 6th Order = Large rivers

13. Ecosystem Services • Floodwater storage / retention • Pollutant transformation • Sediment storage • Groundwater recharge • Stream channel stabilization • Habitat

15. Point Source • Single identifiable source of pollution • Wastewater treatment plant • Industry • Usually permitted Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT

16. Polluted Runoff is the #1 Water Quality Problem in the U.S.* • Comes from many different sources • Not one person (or animal) to blame • Caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground * USEPA Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT

17. Land Use • Existing, past, and future land use are key factors to current and future water quality and quantity • Different land uses have different impacts on water quality Land Use examples: • Urban • Suburban • Transitional • Agriculture • Forest / Silviculture

18. Urban Land • Heavy metals • Oil • Grease • Toxic chemicals Dr. Mimi Fearn, USA

19. Suburban Land • Fertilizers • Herbicides • Pet Waste Washington Dept of Ecology, King County

20. Transitional Land • Sediment

21. Agricultural / Rural Land • Fertilizer • Sediment • Pathogens from untreated animal waste

22. Forest / Silviculture • Sediment • Pathogens (wildlife)

23. Current and Past Legacies Arthur Rothstein, WPA Arthur Rothstein, WPA

24. 10% 50% Development Impacts on the Water Cycle 55% 15% Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT

25. Impervious Surfaces Materials like cement, asphalt, roofing, and compacted soil that prevent percolation of runoff into the ground. Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT

26. Changing Hydrology

27. More Runoff Arriving Faster Changing Hydrology • In Urban Areas • Water arrives at streams faster • Greater amounts of water • Transporting lots of pollutants Courtesy NEMO, Univ. of CT

28. Changing Hydrology

29. What are we losing? • Ecosystem Services • Shift in the hydrologic cycle – potential reduction in infiltration, evapotranspiration, and storage • Modification of streams • Decrease in groundwater recharge • Increased flooding • Decreased pollutant transformation • Increased erosion • Degradation of habitat Picture Credit Dan Ballard

30. Good Fair Poor Protected Impaired Urban Drainage Network Degraded From Schueler, 2002 Impervious surfaces have been linked to degradation of stream water quality and habitat quality Stream Condition Related to Impervious Surface

31. Which is healthier?

32. Which is healthier?

33. Which is healthier?

34. What were the unhealthy streams missing?

35. What were the unhealthy streams missing? • TREES! • Natural Habitats • Good Water Quality Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and Practices, 10/98, by the Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group (FISRWG)."

36. What Should We Do? • Resource Based Planning for Growth • Stormwater Management • Urban Forest Enhancement • Streamside Forest Protection and Restoration

37. How does watershed vegetation influence ecosystem health?

38. Watershed Vegetation • Shading • Temperature • Food sources for aquatic animals • Woody debris • Bank stability • Filtering nutrients and sediments • Wildlife Corridor

39. Shading-Temperature

40. Cool it. • Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen than cooler waters

41. Cool it. • Warmer water increases metabolic rate of aquatic animals

42. Cool it. No shade means more stress.

43. Food sources for aquatic animals • Aquatic macroinvertebrates (aka critters) • Feeding Groups • Shredders • Filter Feeders • Grazers • Predators Some Photos by M. Clapp www.bgsd.k12.wa.us

44. Food Source

45. Shredder Filter Feeder http://aslo.org/photopost/ Coarse particulate organic matter Fine particulate organic matter

46. Large woody debris

47. Large woody debris • aka logs • Habitat diversity (structure) • Flow diversity

48. Filtering nutrients and sediments

50. Pollutant Processing Leaves Intercept rainfall Stems Slow overland flow Roots and soil microbes Transform pollutants University of MN SULIS