Freshwater wetland monitoring in Acadia National Park: Northeast Temperate Network 2011-2016 summary report

Miller, Kate; Weed, Aaron

As transitional habitats between upland and aquatic environments, wetlands provide many essential ecosystem functions, including habitat for flora and fauna, water quality maintenance, erosion and flood control, groundwater recharge, and carbon storage. With over 60% of the state-listed rare plants in Acadia National Park (ACAD) found in wetland and aquatic systems, they are also important sites for biodiversity. Wetlands are vulnerable to a number of stressors, including altered hydrology, invasive species, run-off from developed and/or agricultural lands, and sedimentation. Impacts from climate change are another important concern. As wetlands degrade, their capacity to provide wildlife habitat and ecosystem services can be severely compromised. Understanding the current status and threats to wetland condition is therefore imperative for ensuring continued protection of these resources. The Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) began monitoring permanent freshwater wetlands in ACAD in 2011. NETN defines permanent wetlands as those that are saturated or inundated for most or all of the growing season (i.e., not vernal pools) and are dominated by hydrophytic plants. The overall goal of the freshwater wetland monitoring program is to monitor status and trends in vegetation, hydrology, soil and water quality, and indicators of wetland condition and stressors in ACAD's freshwater wetlands. NETN uses a three-tiered approach to wetland monitoring, where level 1 is a GIS-based monitoring of landscape condition, level 2 is a rapid field-assessment, and level 3 is an intensive field-assessment. NETN conducts level 3 monitoring in 10 sentinel sites, which were non-randomly selected to represent the best condition of various wetland types in ACAD, and are sampled following protocols developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). During the years between the EPA NWCA, NETN conducts rapid assessment monitoring (RAM; Level 1 and 2) following the USA-Rapid Assessment Manual (USA-RAM) at 40 randomly located wetland sites in ACAD. NETN also monitors continuous water level during the growing season in the eight sentinel wetlands on Mount Desert Island (MDI) in ACAD. In addition to the NETN's vital signs monitoring in wetlands, ACAD staff and partners are monitoring wetland condition in Great Meadow for a watershed-level restoration initiative known as "Wild Acadia". The park uses a similar 3-tiered approach as NETN and follows the same protocols to characterize baseline condition in Great Meadow. This report summarizes results from the first cycle of plot-based sampling in 10 sentinel sites and 40 rapid assessment sites (2011-2015),along with 4 years of water level monitoring in the eight sentinel sites on MDI (2013-2016). The report also includes comparisons with data collected by ACAD park staff and partners in Great Meadow, along with regional data collected by the EPA NWCA.

Freshwater wetland monitoring in Acadia National Park: Northeast Temperate Network 2011-2016 summary report

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