USC Wetland Team

The USC Wetland Program integrates the coalition-wide philosophy of improving watershed quality through BMP implementation- with all facets of work in the world of wetlands.

Since inception in 2001 the wetland program has matured into a specialized “vertically and horizontally integrated” system. This system combines staff specialized in wetland site identification, evaluation, delineation, survey, design, and monitoring with construction and heavy equipment expertise and allows the USC wetland program to complete any wetland project.

USC Wetland Program Goals

• Attenuate flooding by restoring wetlands in headwaters areas. These wetlands and their vegetation increase water-holding capabilities through direct capture and groundwater infiltration thus desynchronizing rainfall runoff, reducing flood peaks and the resulting downstream erosion.
• Enhance water quality by retaining sediment and nutrients in wetlands, especially for those wetlands that drain agricultural lands.
• Increase species diversity and wetland habitat acreage and connectivity.

Program Info

Our Wetland Program covers about every aspect of wetlands except regulation. Being able to complete every aspect of a wetland project, coupled with an extensive partnership network is the USC Wetland Program’s key to success.

Our approach was to have every tool we needed to implement the program and is thus, so to speak, “vertically and horizontally integrated”. The USC has its own wetland construction heavy equipment. The USC has its own wetland staff. We have Wetland Team Leader who develops program ideas and writes proposals. The USC Wetland Coordinator tracks permits, develops GIS maps and site plans based on LiDAR and other databases, while also managing the USC website. The USC Wetland Scientist provides scientific studies and computer analyses, and writes proposals. He developed a method to analyze almost all of the wetlands in NY State and prioritize them for quality based on a set of qualifier’s that can be modified to meet different objectives. The USC Wetland Biologist manages restoration projects, including the USC wetland equipment operators that run our wetland equipment.

Training and research on wetland restoration techniques is important. We have conducted hands-on vernal pool and wetland construction workshops and have helped write and published a textbook on restoration techniques with Tom Biebighauser. We have built 60 vernal pools for SUNY ESF, Syracuse for long-term research projects.

Innovation, Sustainability and Partnerships

Innovation

• We assisted The Wetland Trust (TWT) a 501(c)3 nonprofit develop a Basin wide In-Lieu Fee Wetland Program.
• We partnered with USFWS to grow and plan a federally endangered plant found in the watershed.

Sustainability

The wetlands we build are built to passively exist where they need little or no maintenance, reflecting a natural infrastructure approach.

Partnerships

• We are designated by New York State Department for Environmental Conservation to be the official NY wetland data manager for the Chesapeake Bay Program and are responsible for the wetland goals of NY in its Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy.
• We are the Chesapeake Bay Program’s “Wetland Champion” nominated to promote accelerated wetland restoration in the Basin.
• We build wetlands on NY State Lands in partnership with NYSDEC Foresters.
• We provide technical assistance and complete construction on selected USDA NRCS wetland projects.
• We support wetland training in the watershed, and have hosted two week-long Wetland Restoration Boot Camps in collaboration with Tom Biebighauser and the Center for Wetlands and Stream Restoration
• We support graduate students researching various aspects of wetland biology and hydrology (SUNY ESF and Binghamton University).
• We partner with local land trusts and property managers to achieve land management goals including the construction of wetlands on their property.  Some of these partnering land trusts include the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Otsego Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station, Chemung Valley Conservancy and The Wetland Trust.
• We are dedicated to building wetlands on private property of interested landowners in the Susquehanna and Chemung River basins.

Measurable Environmental, Economic and Social Benefits

We have constructed over 700 acres of wetlands and wetland complexes

We have constructed 10 wetland mitigation projects across New York State, and assisted in monitoring another 14 in collaboration with our partners

We have assisted in the tracking and verification of thousands of acres of wetland restoration projects across the New York portion of the Chesapeake Bay.

The USC has developed outreach materials such as an online vernal pool field guide and wetland posters depicting various wetland attributes.

Commitment and Leadership in Pursuit of Environmental Excellence

As an organization made up of Soil and Water Districts we have a long history of leadership and commitment to landscape conservation. Soil and Water Conservation Districts, by law, are given the task of preserving soil and water resources. Wetlands, being defined by their hydric soils, fit well within this mandate. An example of the connection between Districts and Wetlands in state law are depicted in the underlined portions of the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Law (Chapter 9-B of the Consolidated Laws) below:

(1) Preservation of soil and water resources. It is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature to provide for the conservation of the soil and water resources of this state, and for the improvement of water quality, and for the control and prevention of soil erosion and for the prevention of floodwater and sediment damages and for furthering the conservation, development, utilization and disposal of water, and thereby to preserve natural resources, control and abate nonpoint sources of water pollution, assist in the control of floods, assist in the drainage and irrigation of agricultural lands, prevent impairment of dams and reservoirs, assist in maintaining the navigability of rivers and harbors, preserve wildlife, protect the tax base, protect public lands and protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the people of this state.

Transferability to Other Users

The concept of a Wetland Program that includes a complete set of tools to develop wetlands is easily transferred to any number of NY Soil and Water Districts. A single District could develop a small program with even a single small excavator, trailer, truck, operator and one wetland technician. In NY Districts are forming coalitions that cover much of NY and this program would fit well within these organizations. Any organization that actually implement projects (“pushes dirt” so to speak) could become involved in wetland restoration activates. The USC Wetland Team has a wealth of knowledge that they frequently through training sessions and presentations.

Funding Sources

The Wetland Program is soft-money funded, and funding is critical to ensure program sustainability. We successfully compete in state and federal requests for proposals, contracts for industry and agency wetland mitigation projects and at times Congressional support. The USC has secured more than $8m in funds since the beginning of its Wetland Program from:

• US Environmental Protection Agency Wetland Development Grant, Five Star Program, Targeted Watershed Initiative, Chesapeake Bay Program Small Watershed Grant
  
• USFWS Partners for Wildlife Program and North American Wetlands Conservation Act
• USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service’s Wetland Restoration Program
• US Forest Service
• National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF)
• NY State Water Quality Improvement Program funds (EPF)
• NYS CFA grant to build wetlands in NY’s Southern Tier
• Wetland Mitigation projects for Millennium Pipeline Company, Empire Pipeline Company, New York State Electric and Gas Company, Broome, Canandaigua and Delaware Industrial Development Agencies, NYS DOT
• Susquehanna Headwaters and Adjacent Basins In Lieu Fee Program