Anna Simon’s Annotated Bibliography
12.000, Mission 2010
Group 3, Wetlands
Wetland Restoration and Monitoring
Army Corps of Engineers (2006). EPA, Corps Move To Improve Wetlands Restoration and Conservation. Army Corps of Engineers News Release.
The USACE and EPA are proposing a new rule to maximize the viability and success of wetland protection programs throughout the nation. They are proposing a systematic, science and watershed based approach. Other suggestions include the “wetlands mitigation sequence,” in which companies attempt to reduce their negative effects on wetlands before they start mitigation efforts, and a combination of “accountability and flexibility” for corporate responsibility.
Army Corps of Engineers. (2004). Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration Study.
The Louisiana Coastal Area Restoration Study is a unified, relatively short-term (5-10 year) project with the goal of finding a comprehensive plan of action for restoring ’s wetlands. This report summarizes the underlying problems and reasons for initial destruction of ’s wetlands, and the LCA’s suggestions for design, implementation, and public involvement in restoring the wetlands.
Boyer, Mark E. (1997). The Effect of Long-Term Marsh Management on Land-Loss Rates in Coastal Louisiana. Environmental Management, 21, 97-104
Marsh management is a broad approach to manage marshes that uses various water-control structures to control water levels, prevent salt-water intrusions, improve wildlife habitats, and allow development without harming the marsh. However, marsh management creates several possible conflicts over land use, land access for hunting and fishing, and management goals. This study evaluated the benefits of marsh management by examining the change in land-to-water ratio in thirteen managed marsh sites using satellite data and survey maps; it did not find any apparent significant benefit. This may have occurred because the area of managed marshes were relatively small, and the condition of the surrounding area had a greater effect than the localized management. Compared to many of the other sources, this article has a much more negative view of marsh management.
Coleman, E. Coastal Restoration Now...What's Working, What Do We Need? (2001). Marine and Coastal Research Louisiana Sea Grant College Program, LSU.
This pamplet summarizes the need for coastal restoration in Louisiana. It also describes difficulties in determining wetland loss and planning restoration efforts. It also describes the lessons learned from two case studies, the rebuilding of the East Timbalier Islands and sediment delivery for the maintnance of the new delta of the Atchafalaya River.
Committee on the Restoration and Protection of Coastal . (2006.) Drawing Louisiana’s New Map, Chapters 4-8 : The National Academies Press.
This source discusses and evaluates several government-sponsored projects for the restoration of the coast. It focuses especially on the LCA study, a comparatively large-scale and near-term project, discussing in detail the “planning approach, modeling, and project selection,” as well as economic, political, and environmental feasibility. Additionally, the source makes general suggestions for restoration along ’s coast, including describing areas in which serious knowledge gaps exist. This study has a generally positive view of the government's restoration efforts, although it does make several significant suggestions.
Dunne, M. Center Tries to Find Natural Defense to Louisiana's Coastal Erosion. (2001). The Advocate Online.
URL: http://www.theadvocate.com/science/story.asp?StoryID=90
The Natural Resources Conservation Services Plant Materials Center in Gallano, Louisiana, is the only center in the United States devoted to breeding plants especially suitable for replanting in damaged wetlands. Most wetland plants reproduce by spreading their roots; the center studies how workers can separate and replant plants grown in greenhouses to replant areas. The center has also studied how plants that seed can be replanted; it has experimented with aerial seeding of smooth cordgrass, which would apparently be logistically and economically easier than manually replanting it. The center also maintains stocks or “survivor” plants from damaged areas, that likely have better genetic ability to withstand the conditions of damaged areas and therefore are good candidates for replanting.
Edwards, K. R. & Proffitt, C. E. (2003.) Comparison of Wetland Structural Characteristics Between Created and Natural Salt Marshes in . Wetlands, 23, 344-356.
In order to recreate vanished salt marshes, dredged material has been pumped into formerly open-water areas in southwestern ’s Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. This study compared the soil structures and vegetation profiles of natural marshes with artificial marshes of various ages in order to see if the artificial marshes eventually become like the natural ones. Generally, the floral succession of the artificial marshes was similar to the natural pattern of succession; however, relatively salt-tolerant plants were in some cases dominant at higher elevations than they would be in natural marshes. The soil profiles of the artificial marshes deviated from the natural marshes more, however; compaction of the soil and an increase in the proportion of organic matter were much slower. The combination of these factors could lead to either biodiversity that is either higher or lower than a natural marsh, and the resulting community might or might not be optimal for the goals of restoration. Additionally, these results might not apply directly to the area, as the sediment composition is significantly different.
France, R. L. (2003.) Wetland Designs. : W. W. Norton & Company.
This source describes the primary benefits of restoring wetlands, and addresses factors that must be considered during the planning phase of the design processes, such as site selection. It describes the benefits and downfalls of several possible design variables in restoring and recreating wetlands; many of these variables are particularly relevant to relatively small-scale projects. Additionally, many case studies of rehabilitated wetlands are addressed. Although this source does not really pertain to the large-scale restoration projects needed to protect New Orleans from future hurricanes, it is relevant to buillding smaller-scale recreational or treatment wetlands inside the city of New Orleans.
Kadlec, R. H., & Knight, R. L. (1996). Treatment Wetlands. CRC Press.
This source describes in detail the ecologic, geologic, and hydrologic structure of wetlands, paying a lot of attention to the natural processes that naturally fluctuate or change (e.g. nutrient dynamics, temporal and special patterns of dissolved matter in the water column). The source also discusses how different types of wetlands affect local water quality and composition, biological productivity, transport of water, and geology. Options and engineering methods for monitoring, designing, altering, and creating artificial wetlands are discussed at length, as are many case studies about a wide variety of wetland projects, including a study of a wastewater treatment plant built in West Jackson County, Mississippi. Generally, this source is extremely detailed, and it has a very quantitative, engineering focus.
Louisiana Hurricane Resources. (2005). Louisiana Sea Grant Program, Louisiana State University. URL: http://www.laseagrant.org/hurricane/archive/wetlands.htm.
This article describes the loss of Louisiana's barrier islands, with a particular focus on Hurricane Katrina's effect. It also gives a brief overview of the several projects to help restore Louisiana's coastline.
Lyon, J. D. (2001.) Wetland Landscape Characterization. , : Press.
Because wetlands are naturally changing environments, systematic monitoring is necessary for identifying jurisdictional wetlands and analyzing long-term or large-scale patterns. Wetlands can be identified by regular patterns of hydric (water-saturated) soils, vegetation, and hydrology. Field methods for wetland identification include taking soil samples and manually surveying; however, remote sensing is given more attention in this source. The source describes methods for interpreting images to characterize vegetation, topography, soil composition, hydrology, and construction; additionally, it discusses how to detect and quantify significant changes in these parameters. GIS applications, which include monitoring and mapping of water levels, relative heights, and topography, are also discussed. Additionally, the source describes methods to increase accuracy in assessment.
Media Relations Office, Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (1999). NASA Images Help Study Hurricane Damage.
This press release gives an overview of how scientists used images to assess the damage of Hurricane Georges on the Louisiana Wetlands. The images were gathered by the Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) on a NASA plane, and the images were analyzed by image spectroscopy.
Mendelsson, Irv. Vegetation and Ecology of Barrier Islands. Louisiana State University. URL: http://www.biology.lsu.edu/webfac/lurbatsch/BarrierIslands.html
This site gives an overview of the vegetation, physical zonation, and geography of the major barrier island areas on the Louisiana coast. An especially relevant and interesting feature is that it describes the vegetation and zonation patterns of particularly stable barrier islands, and describes the environmental conditions that effect wetlands.
Mitsch, W. J., & Gosselink, J. G. (2000.) Wetlands, Third Edition. : John Wiley and Sons.
This source describes general wetland hydrology, biogeochemistry, and common patterns of development and succession. It also discusses variations of the geology, hydrology, and biology (e.g. different climax communities). The source gives a relatively brief discussion of options for managing, creating, restoring wetlands, as well as another section on treatment wetlands, which are created in order to clean water. The source gives a fair amount of quantitative data; additionally, many examples specific to the are discussed.
NASA Earth Observatory. Earth Observatory Newsroom: Pond, . (September 2006). URL: http://eobglossary.gsfc.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16444
The Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion Effort involved drilling a hole through a levee on the southern bank of the in order to create a large wetland area. This website describes the project, and includes Landsat images of the area during the construction and after a full capacity test run.
National Resources Conservation Service. Wetlands Reserve Program.
URL: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp/ Accessed September 2006.
The Wetlands Reserve Program is a national program with the goal of giving landowners the resources to protect the wetlands on their property. The website provides a summary of the program, including a fact sheet on the key points and legal information. It also tells where the money was given out, giving the contract and allocation information, as well as the unfunded application information from the past few fiscal years, from 2003.
Simon, S, & Zwerdling, D., (2005). Who Pays to Repair Louisiana’s Wetlands?. All Things Considered, National Public Radio.
This program discusses the controversy over who should pay for the restoration of ’s wetlands. Many environmental and business groups, as well as ’s governor, believe that the federal government should pay for the restoration efforts. Other groups believe that because oil and gas companies caused a large portion of the damage, they should contribute. The culpability is complicated because although regulations protecting the wetlands were not in place until fairly recently, company executives ignored suggestions from the Army Corps of Engineers that they use less damaging methods.
Steyer, G. D., Sasser, C. F., Visser, J. M., Swenson, E. M., Nyman, J. A., & Raynie, R.C. (2003). A Proposed Coast-Wide Reference Monitoring System for Evaluating Wetland Restoration Trajectories in . Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 81, 107-117.
This article discusses the procedure for monitoring reference sites along the coast in order to gauge the progress of Breaux Act projects designed to restore ’s coastal wetlands. It suggests annual and three-year surveys of a large number of sites in each of the different wetland vegetation zones. Parameters to be measured include plant composition, land to water ratios, and sedimentation and erosion.
Turner, R.E., Lee, J. M., & Neill, C. (1994). Backfilling Canals to Restore Wetlands: Empirical Results in . Wetlands Ecology and Management 3:1; 63-78
Many transportation canals have been created in coastal , and many scientists believe that they have a bad effect on the wetlands. One possible way to remediate marshes with canals through them is to use spoil material to backfill canals no longer in use. This study compared how backfilled canals with different physical characteristics and remediation histories recovered.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. River Corridor and Wetland Restoration. URL: http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/restore/ Accessed September 2006.
This sources gives an overview of wetland restoration principles and benefits. It also provides information about legal definitions and parameters, and provides links to state, local, national, and tribal wetland restoration programs.
United States Geological Survey, 2005. Water Area Changes in After Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Detected with Landsat Thematic Mapper Satellite Imagery.
This map shows the portions of undeveloped areas (i.e. marshes, agricultural areas) on the southeastern coast that were permanently flooded between October 2004 and October 2005. It also includes the outlines of the parishes, the path of hurricane Katrina, new land areas, and a table showing the area of the new water by parish.
Wetlands Restoration. Louisiana Sea Grant Program, Louisiana State University. URL: http://www.laseagrant.org/researcj/wetland.htm
This article gives a brief overview of three potentially problematic aspects of current ideas about wetland restoration: unnatural and potentially problematic nutrient dynamics caused by diversion of nutrient-rich fresh water, the need to develop criteria to determine the sustainability of created and restored wetlands, and the development of practical technology for planting Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass).