New York State Banner
D E C banner
D E C banner

Conference on Small Wetlands

October 28, 2008

Shrubby cinquefoil
Shrubby cinquefoil is a characteristic shrub
of the often small, herbaceous-dominated,
calcareous shallow wetlands called fens

The Hudson River Estuary Program partnered with Cornell University and the Hudson River Environmental Society to address the important issue of small wetlands conservation at a conference on October 28, 2008 at Norrie Point Environmental Center in Staatsburg, NY. The event was very successful, with a large and diverse audience of municipal decision makers; staff from county, state, and federal agencies and conservation organizations; consultants; landowners; and interested citizens. Seventy-five percent of participants reported that information learned at the conference would assist with their efforts to conserve wetlands at the local level; other feedback included:

"The conference brought together a diverse group of experts with varied opinions and points of view, was packed with information, and hopefully will take us forward to motivate and educate others."

"A great gathering...encouraging conversations with new people."

The conference included presentations on the science of small wetlands, including the implications of climate change; current federal and state protections; local authority; and examples of local initiatives to conserve small wetlands.

Abstracts and presentations from the conference are available below.

Falling Through the Cracks: The Science and Policy Challenges of Conserving Small Wetlands in the Hudson Valley

  • Download the Program (pdf, 590 KB)

9:10 Opening Remarks

Roy Jacobson, Hudson River Environmental Society
Fran Dunwell, Coordinator, Hudson River Estuary Program, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation
Willie Janeway, Regional Director, Region 3, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

9:30 - 10: 45 Small Wetland Science

James Gibbs, Professor of Conservation Biology and Wildlife Management, SUNY-ESF, Syracuse

Dr. james Gibbs
Dr. James Gibbs spoke on the science of
small wetlands

Dr. Gibbs' presentation addressed what we know (and do not) about the science of small wetlands, and focused exclusively on issues of science and ecology to provide a foundation for the policy-related presentations and discussions that follow. The presentation begins with some definitions; discusses hydrological aspects of small wetlands, the ecological functions and services that small wetlands provide, and ecological processes within small wetlands; highlights significant flora and fauna; discusses the role that small wetlands play in the broader landscape, human impacts, and restoration issues; and ends by highlighting the social and educational values of small wetlands.

Speaker: James Gibbs is a Professor of conservation biology at the State University of New York's College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse and an adjunct member faculty at Columbia University in the City of New York and the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Islands. He has authored the "Fundamentals of Conservation Biology" and the "Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State." In the realm of the science of isolated wetlands he has conducted many studies of wildlife dependent on small wetlands, especially amphibians; written about the geography of small and isolated wetlands; and, recently, begun collaborative work on restoring small, isolated wetlands to the landscape of central New York.

11:00 - 11:45 Climate Change and Small Wetlands

Small Wetlands and Climate Change: Conservation Options

Jon Kusler, Associate Director, Association of State Wetland Managers

Warmer temperatures, more extreme flood events, and increases in sea level threaten smaller wetlands in New York. Smaller wetlands such as vernal pools, seeps, headwater forested wetlands are shallow and extremely sensitive to drier conditions. Likely human responses to climate change such as construction of more dams, dikes and levees also threaten wetland water supply and the hydrologic buffering effect of small wetlands. All classes of smaller wetlands will be affected by climate change with particularly serious impacts upon vernal pools, forested wetlands, seeps, and freshwater/tidal wetlands.

Local governments, the State of New York, and the federal government have a number of options for protecting and/or adjusting smaller wetlands to climate change. These include: identification of smaller wetlands at risk in a community or region, establishing buffers, more tightly regulating smaller wetlands (e.g., local government adoption of wetland regulations, state regulation of wetlands less than 12.4 acres, Congressional adoption of the Clean Water Restoration Act), removing dikes, restoring wetlands, installing water control structures, restoring connectivity, controlling invasive species, carrying out captive breeding, establishing wetland carbon banks, and protecting wetlands while reducing flood losses as part of community comprehensive planning, smart growth, and green infrastructure initiatives. These options are, however, limited by cost. Governments need to apply "low risk", multiobjective management approaches such as more tightly regulating floodplains to simultaneously reduce flood losses and protect wetland functions and values.

The goals for protection and restoration efforts should be to better protect and reduce stresses on smaller wetlands, protect the aggregate hydrologic buffering and flood loss reduction capacities of smaller wetlands, protect wetland carbon stores, and protect and restore other wetland functions such as pollution control and wildlife habitat.

Speaker: Jon A. Kusler is the Director of the Institute for Wetland Science and Public Policy and the Associate Director of the Association of State Wetland Managers, Inc. He is a lawyer, writer, educator and administrator with over 30 years of experience working with issues in water resources management and the management of water related lands. He holds a J.D., a Ph.D. in Land and Water Use Management, an M.S. in Water Resources Management, as well as Bachelor degrees in English and Geology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Rising Waters - Taking Climate Change Adaptation from Talk to Action

David VanLuven, Hudson River Estuary Landscape Director, The Nature Conservancy-Eastern NY Chapter

David VanLuven
David VanLuven spoke about an effort to
address the effects of climate change.

Strategies commonly presented for helping natural systems adapt to the consequences of climate change include stronger wetland regulations and improved migration corridors. But these solutions have been promoted for decades with limited success; we need a new approach to take us from talk to implementation.

One of the challenges inherent in both climate change and wetland conservation is the incorrect view that they are environmental, not social, issues. This restrictive perspective limits our political effectiveness and access to funds, which in turn limit our ability to help communities and natural systems adapt to climate change.

In New York's Hudson Valley, The Nature Conservancy is spearheading "Rising Waters", a collaborative effort that is using climate change to catalyze conservation. Rising Waters employs the multi-stakeholder scenario planning process to build diverse coalitions with real political clout, open new sources of state and federal funding, and ultimately implement strategies.

Rising Waters has two core components. The first is participation by the full suite of interests that will be affected by climate change: wastewater treatment plants, utilities, railroads, emergency responders, political leaders, and more. The second is the use of alternative-future scenarios to translate the uncertainty and vast scale of climate change into something different interests can think about productively.

While multi-stakeholder scenario planning cannot predict the future, it is a powerful tool for building diverse coalitions and tapping new funding sources to make broadly beneficial strategies such as wetlands conservation happen.

Speaker: David VanLuven is the Hudson River Estuary Director for The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that preserves the plants, animals, and ecosystems representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. Throughout his career as an environmental advocate, David has connected good science with sound policy to achieve community-sensitive conservation. He has a Bachelor's degree from Middlebury College (Vermont) with a double major in Religion and Arctic & Alpine Ecology, and a joint Master's degree from Tufts University (Boston) in Biology and Urban & Environmental Policy. His work has included research 130 miles north of the Arctic Circle and in California's Sierra Nevada Mountains, compilation of an atlas of significant habitats on Cape Cod, prescribed burning in a New Hampshire forest, and most recently navigating the political complexities of state governments. David's focus in the Hudson River Estuary is Rising Waters, a collaborative planning effort to help Hudson Valley communities adapt to climate change.

1:00 - 2:15 Federal and State Policy

Determining the Extent of USACE Jurisdiction in Small Streams and Associated Wetlands in New York

John Connell, Regulatory Project Manager, New York District, Corps of Engineers

On June 5, 2007, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued new guidance, which established a process for determining the Clean Water Act Section 404 jurisdiction in light of the Supreme Court decisions in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, (SWANCC), and the consolidated cases Rapanos v. United States, and Carabell v. United States, (jointly referred to as Rapanos). This guidance establishes new coordination procedures for jurisdictional determinations (JDs), including most permit actions, and data requirements for review of JDs. In this session, a representative of the Regulatory Branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) will review these new data requirements and discuss the coordination procedures outlined in the June 5, 2007, guidance and subsequent clarification documents issued by the Corps, highlighting the portions of the guidance that applies to smaller streams and associated wetlands.

Speaker: A native of New Hartford, NY, John Connell now resides in Bennington, VT with his wife and 3 daughters. After high school he served two years on active duty in the Army before entering college. In 1991, John was awarded a B.S. in Environmental and Forest Biology from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse.

He has worked for the last 15 years as a Regulatory Project Manager for the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, most of which at the Upstate Regulatory Field Office, which was recently relocated to the Watervliet Arsenal. His duties include determining the extent of federal waters and wetlands on private and public lands, reviewing permits for work in these waters, and evaluating compensatory mitigation plans for proposed impacts. John is currently serving on two teams at the District, one which reviews complex jurisdictional determinations for the entire District and another that reviews mitigation plans from the Field Office. He also represents the District on a North Atlantic Division project delivery team tasked with ensuring consistent application of the Rapanos/Carabell guidance, and he represents the North Atlantic Division on a national Corps project delivery team tasked with ensuring consistent application of the new mitigation rule.

New York State Freshwater Wetlands Regulatory Program

Timothy Post, Wetlands Program Manager, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Mr. Post's presentation provided an overview of the New York State Freshwater Wetlands Program, including discussion of wetlands of Unusual Local Importance.

Speaker: Tim Post is the Wetlands Program Manager for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Tim has worked for NYSDEC for 20 years in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Habitat. He worked for 10 years as the land bird specialist prior to accepting the Wetlands Program Manager position.

2:30 - 5:00 Local Conservation Programs

Local Authority

Drayton Grant, Partner, Grant & Lyons, LLP

panel for local conservation programs
The panel for local conservation programs -
Drayton Grant, Mark Peritz, Rich Guthrie,
David Clouser, Bruce Barber

Ms. Grant addressed how local authority can be used most effectively, and what are the ready tools available to local governments. Her presentation discussed Freshwater Wetlands - Article 24 Title 5 of the Environmental Conservation Law; Village Law Article 7 and Town Law Article 16; the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA); and Public Trust Doctrine. She also discussed the laws that help community activists who want to encourage wetland protection to affect the outcome, including the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), SEQR and public participation, and constitutional right to petition government. She concluded with a discussion of the legal limits we need to keep in mind in regulating wetlands, including the taking clause and due process clause.

Speaker: Drayton Grant is one of the pioneers in the practice of environmental law. An honors graduate of Brooklyn Law School, her career as an environmental lawyer began in the late 70's when environmental law was still a field in its infancy. Her work has brought her to wetlands again and again. She drafted an amicus brief for the Natural Resources Defense Council to the Court of Appeals in support of the regulation of wetlands against a taking claim in Spears v. Berle in 1978. She was the DEC Tidal and Freshwater Wetlands Program Attorney from 1979 to 1982, where she helped the program draft legally sustainable regulations and policies. She then served as Deputy Commissioner for Land Resources at DEC until 1987. Ms. Grant then went into private practice, while also serving as a Member of the Freshwater Wetlands Appeals Board from 1987 to 1990. To fast forward, she has most recently advised the Town of Woodstock this spring as they work to craft a new local wetlands law. As a private practitioner she has represented a wide spectrum of private sector clients ranging from landfill operators to preservation groups.

In addition to private practice, Ms. Grant has served as an adjunct professor of environmental law at Brooklyn Law School and Bard College's Master of Science in Environmental Studies Program. Ms. Grant has also served on the editorial board of the Environmental Law Journal published by the NYS Bar Association. Ms. Grant is a member of the Energy and Natural Resources Section of the American Bar Association and is also an executive committee member of the Environmental Law Section of the NYS Bar Association.

Local Example: Town of Lewisboro, Westchester County

Supervisor Edward Brancati
Bruce Barber, Environmental Consultant

Supervisor Brancati and Environmental Consultant Bruce Barber provided an overview of the Town of Lewisboro wetland ordinance, found in Chapter 217 of the Town of Lewisboro Town Code. This ordinance does not have a minimum wetland size threshold, includes watercourses, waterbodies, and vernal pools as jurisdictional wetlands and utilizes a 150 ft wetland buffer. A brief case study of a wetland permit application and the associated review process was also presented.

Speakers:
Supervisor Edward Brancati is a New York native, graduate of the University of Richmond with a degree in Political Science and Economics, and longtime resident of Lewisboro. Ed is a former Staff Assistant and Legislative Correspondent for Vice President Al Gore, former Scheduler and Deputy District Director for Congresswoman Nita M. Lowey, former Lewisboro Town Councilman, and current Supervisor of the Town of Lewisboro.

After being elected to the Lewisboro Town Board in 2006, Ed has worked to preserve and improve Lewisboro's water quality through his creation of the Lewisboro Lakes Committee and the Lewisboro Stormwater Management Committee. Through his work with these committees he has helped draft and adopt a stormwater ordinance, an illicit discharge ordinance, and has directed the mapping of Lewisboro's stormwater infrastructure. He is presently working with the Lakes Committee to construct 13 priority water quality improvement projects for the Town's seven lakes.

Bruce Barber is president of Cornerstone Associates, Inc, a multidisciplinary environ-mental planning and consulting firm located in Yorktown Heights, NY. For over twenty years, Cornerstone Associates has provided environmental consulting services exclusively to municipalities. Bruce works closely with Town Boards, Planning Boards, Town Environmental Committees, residents and applicants and provides a variety of environmental services such as wetland consulting, stormwater management, biodiversity surveys, permitting, and environmental ordinance review, creation and enforcement.

Bruce graduated from Springfield College with a degree in Biological Science. He holds the Professional Wetland Scientist (PWS) designation from the Society of Wetland Scientists and is certified as an Ecologist by the Ecological Society of America. In addition, Bruce holds certifications in erosion and sediment control (CPESC) and stormwater management (CPSWQ).

Local Example: Greene County

Rich Guthrie, Greene Land Trust and Greene County Habitat Advisory Committee

Using a creative design to solve a community problem, Greene County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) used stormwater retention pond wetlands at their Kalkberg and Greene Technology Park complexes in the Towns of New Baltimore and Coxsackie (see http://www.greeneida.com/index.php?id=9). The wetlands were designed to address existing flooding problems that would be exasperated by development of the property, while also providing functional habitat.

So far, the ponds have been a huge success while serving their intended purpose. Waterfowl, shorebirds, and various mammals have benefited from the ponds and wetlands. Sandpipers which have not been recorded in Greene County have now become regular visitors to the wetlands. Some of these include nesting spotted sandpipers, white-rumped sandpipers, and western sandpipers. And other interesting marshland bird species have moved in; some of the more unusual birds seen or heard include least bittern, American bittern, sora, Virginia rail, marsh wren, and swamp sparrow. With planning and improvements, public access will be improved for wildlife viewing and habitat appreciation.

Speaker: A retired NYSDEC employee, Rich is a graduate of SUNY Environmental Science & Forestry in Syracuse where he pursued Environmental Studies and Landscape Architecture. Rich is a member of the Greene County Habitat Advisory Committee and board member of the Greene Land Trust. An accomplished and knowledgeable birder, Rich has compiled the National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count for Catskill-Coxsackie for the last 30 years.

Local Example: Town of Woodstock, Ulster County

Mark Peritz, Chairman, Woodstock Planning Board

Currently, there are no protections for wetlands and their critical habitats in the Town of Woodstock. Previous protection existed in 2003, but the law was reversed in 2004 after being challenged by a sportsman's club and failed on a technicality. A newly proposed wetland law is now undergoing public hearings, which will be followed by a State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) determination and a vote by the town board. Proposed buffer sizes have been reduced in the new draft law, in response to concerns of the sportsman's club. Woodstock has been made aware of the importance of preserving small isolated wetlands in light of recent presentations by Hudsonia to both the Town and Planning Boards.

Speaker: Mark Peritz is currently the chair of the Town of Woodstock planning board, of which he's been a member since 2000. Mark studied architecture at City College of NY, worked in NYC from 1968 to 1976 as Field Supervisor for building projects at locations such as NY University, United Nations, and Staten Island Mall. From 1976 to 1984, Mark designed and built scenery for Saturday Night Live, Metropolitan Opera, Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, and Universal Studios. Since 1984, he's been the owner of a custom residential design and build company in Woodstock, NY called "Joy of Building."

Local Example: Town of New Paltz, Ulster County

David Clouser, Professional Engineer

The Town of New Paltz is blessed with approximately 20% of its land area being wetlands, with approximately one half of these wetland areas being State regulated. These wetlands are located on more than one-third of the properties in the Town. New Paltz has experienced several incidents of wetland destruction, primarily due to landowners not understanding that wetlands not under the jurisdiction of the NYSDEC were, in fact, regulated.

The Town had previously failed in the early 1990s to enact a local law to protect these valuable and vital wetland resource areas. In 2003 the Town decided that enacting local wetland regulations was necessary to prevent future wetland loss and, also importantly, to avoid being tied to State and Federal regulations that appeared to be subject to future deregulation. A sub-committee of the Town's Environmental Conservation Commission was formed for this task, and with the help and assistance of an experienced (pro-bono) land use attorney, presented a draft local law to the Town Board in late 2004. After numerous public hearings and modifications to the law, a wetland and watercourse law was adopted by the Town Board in November 2005. A group of local landowners soon thereafter filed an Article 78 lawsuit in 2006 and this wetlands law was determined to be invalid in 2007 due to a procedural error. Presently the Town wetlands law, after making some minor revisions, is ready to be re-introduced for enactment. Several benefits were apparent from the year that this wetlands law was in effect, including: 1) a heightened awareness by Town residents of the value and need to protect these community assets, 2) that the law did not reduce the Town's tax base as some feared, and 3) that the law was enforced in a fair and reasonable manner, which lead to a recognition by landowners that there was always a means available to avoid or lessen the impact of development near wetlands. The Town wetlands continue to be protected even without the law in place, since development projects show an awareness of the community's respect for wetlands as a valuable natural asset that must be protected. Developers also continue to plan their developments with the expectation that the wetland law will be re-implemented. Developers often request the services of the Town's Wetland Inspector to evaluate their property early in their planning process. An additional key factor in the Town's success in implementing local wetland regulations was the good fortune to engage an experienced Wetland Consultant that was able to educate the public and suggest viable development alternatives that protected and preserved sensitive wetland areas.

Speaker: David Clouser is a graduate civil engineer with 40 years of experience in land planning and site development design. He holds professional engineering and land surveyor licenses in New York, Illinois and Wisconsin. David is the owner of a consulting engineering practice in New Paltz. His firm provides consulting engineering and land planning services to several Mid-Hudson Valley municipalities, as well as to private developers and environmental advocacy groups. In addition to providing technical and environmental review services as a consultant to local planning boards, his firm also provides engineering design services that emphasize environmental sensitivity for residential, commercial and industrial land development projects. David has been the appointed as the Town Engineer of the Town of New Paltz for 13 years.

Press Release

For Immediate Release: 10/23/08

Contact: Laura Heady 845.256.3061

10/28/08 CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON IMPORTANCE OF SMALL WETLANDS IN THE HUDSON VALLEY

"Falling Through the Cracks" will address science, policy, and conservation at the local level


"Falling Through the Cracks: The Science and Policy Challenges of Conserving Small Wetlands in the Hudson Valley" will be held on Tuesday, October 28 from 8:30am to 5pm at Norrie Point Environmental Center in Staatsburg, NY. The conference is being offered through a partnership between the Hudson River Environmental Society, NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program, the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, and Cornell University.

"Small wetlands are some of the most ecologically and economically valuable habitats in the Hudson Valley-but they are also the most threatened," said Fran Dunwell, Hudson River Estuary Coordinator for the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Nearly 50% of salamanders, frogs, and toads in the Hudson Valley reproduce in seasonal pools, an important type of small wetland. A single woodland pool can produce thousands of juveniles that then disperse into the surrounding forest, contributing significantly to the forest food chain. These amphibians feed upon insects and other invertebrates, and in turn are food for numerous predators, including snakes, shrews, turkeys, bears, hawks, and owls. Species such as marbled salamander and Jefferson salamander are declining in the region as woodland pools disappear. Small wetlands are critical habitat for many plants and animals, and are key to maintaining the Hudson Valley's globally important amphibian and reptile diversity.

The Hudson River Estuary Program provides assistance to local partners, including municipalities, land trusts, and watershed groups, to advance habitat protection at the local level. In the case of small wetlands, this is especially important as state and federal laws offer only a patchwork of protection. In New York State, wetlands smaller than 12.4 acres in size are not protected by the Freshwater Wetlands Act (Article 24 of the Environmental Conservation Law) unless they are determined to be of 'Unusual Local Importance' by DEC. At the federal level, recent Supreme Court decisions have potentially left "isolated" wetlands, those without a permanent surface water connection to larger water bodies, vulnerable to filling, draining and other impacts.

However, these small and so-called "isolated" wetlands are rarely isolated from an ecosystem perspective, and provide valuable services to human communities. Isolated wetlands contribute to groundwater recharge and floodwater retention, and because they serve as nutrient sinks, they help to maintain water quality. Given the limited framework of wetland protection, public education is essential. The Hudson River Estuary Program is working with landowners, foresters, planners, and others to promote understanding of the importance of conservation and to offer practical techniques for protecting our rich heritage. "We're pleased to collaborate with the Hudson River Estuary Program to raise the collective understanding of wetland science and policy," said Stephen Wilson, Executive Director of the Hudson River Environmental Society.

At the October 28 conference, DEC Regional Director Willie Janeway will deliver opening remarks, and discuss a pilot project in Region 3 to conserve small, otherwise unprotected wetlands. "Small wetlands are home to many of our region's threatened and endangered species. We're committed to working with communities and stakeholders to find strategies for conserving these important habitats," said Janeway. "This conference provides a forum for us all to come together and discuss what may or may not be protected under current law, and how to address this issue proactively."

The conference will also include presentations on current state and federal wetland policies, and the scientific imperative for protecting small wetlands and the implications of climate change. The afternoon panel will discuss municipal roles, and showcase examples of local wetland conservation efforts in Westchester, Ulster, and Greene County. The conference will be especially relevant to local government leaders, planners, and engaged community members, as well as consultants and regulators.

More information on the conference, including location and registration, is at www.hres.org. Following the conference, presentations and abstracts will be posted at www.dec.ny.gov/lands/47486.html. To learn more about the importance of small wetlands, and the assistance offered by the Hudson River Estuary Program for conservation and land use planning, visit www.dec.ny.gov/lands/5094.html or contact Laura Heady, Biodiversity Outreach Coordinator, at 845-256-3061 or ltheady@gw.dec.state.ny.us.