Notice of Intent: Identification and Assessment of Degraded Wetland Areas

Description

Numerous wetland systems within NPS units have been degraded from pre-NPS anthropogenic influences (e.g., excavation of existing landscape altering hydrology) or past NPS management practices (e.g., intercepted surface water flows from park roads). Compounding these impacts is a changing climate, as water on the landscape is altered due to increases in mean annual temperature, drought and storm events, and changes in mean annual precipitation. To minimize the long-term adverse effects of climate change, resource managers can restore wetlands by eliminating the non-climate stressors (remediate existing adverse influences from historic land management actions). Restoring impacted wetland systems to a more natural condition will increase resiliency, allowing these wetlands to better resist and adapt to the influences from a changing climate and minimize rapid transformations that threaten the loss of key ecosystem functions or services. A prioritized list of wetland restoration opportunities and associated restoration costs is needed to make these management decisions over time as funding is made available. Restoration funding becomes available within the NPS from several sources (e.g., IMR, NRSS, WRD) and often without reasonable prior notice. Restoration funding also becomes available through external sources, including compensatory mitigation needs resulting from project impacts.

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