{"id":7247,"date":"2019-02-06T21:41:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T21:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/?p=7247"},"modified":"2021-06-08T21:34:55","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T21:34:55","slug":"changes-to-clean-water-act-will-impact-colorado-wetlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/2019\/02\/06\/changes-to-clean-water-act-will-impact-colorado-wetlands\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to Clean Water Act will impact Colorado wetlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By: Joanna Lemly.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Wetland Ecologist)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently proposed changes to the Federal definition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/wotus-rule\">Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS<\/a>) may greatly reduce protection for Colorado\u2019s wetlands and ephemeral streams under the Clean Water Act. Federal wetland protection is particularly important for Colorado, because we lack explicit statewide <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cwic\/work\/regulation\/\">wetland regulations<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image margin-top-10\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/20180615_111531_001-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Vulnerable wetlands provide essential ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat, sediment capture, and groundwater recharge\" class=\"wp-image-7250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/20180615_111531_001-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/20180615_111531_001-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/20180615_111531_001-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Vulnerable wetlands provide essential ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat, sediment capture, and groundwater recharge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past year, the <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cwic\/\">Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP)\nWetland Team<\/a> has participated in an important project led by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geospatialservices.org\/\">St. Mary\u2019s University<\/a> to analyze\nthe impact of different WOTUS scenarios on three watersheds across the United\nStates. The final report and several associated web-based communication tools\nwere released last week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"margin-left-20 project-page-list margin-top-10 margin-bottom-10 wp-block-list\"><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aswm.org\/pdf_lib\/final_annoucement_wotus.pdf\">official press release<\/a><\/li><li>An <a href=\"http:\/\/smumn.maps.arcgis.com\/apps\/Cascade\/index.html?appid=f3de6b30c0454c15ac9d3d881f18ae33\">ESRI Story Map<\/a> illustrating the project\u2019s methods and results<\/li><li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/static1.squarespace.com\/static\/578f93e4cd0f68cb49ba90e1\/t\/5c50c0e988251bc68fe33388\/1548796144041\/Hewlett_report_Final.pdf\">final technical report<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the test case watersheds was the South Platte\nHeadwaters in central Colorado, using data developed by CNHP. For the South\nPlatte Headwaters, model results indicate that between 15-54% of wetland acres\nmay lack Federal protection under more restrictive scenarios. These include <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/ecological-systems-of-colorado\/details\/?elementID=365181\">playas<\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/ecological-systems-of-colorado\/#EcoSys\">kettlepond<\/a> wetlands formed in closed basins, as well as larger headwater <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/ecological-systems-of-colorado\/#EcoSys\">fens<\/a>and<a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/projects\/ecological-systems-of-colorado\/#EcoSys\">wet meadows<\/a> that lack continuous surface water connections to perennial\nstreams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image margin-top-10\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/P8080063-002-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Wetlands lacking perennial or intermittent surface water connections to downstream waters may lose federal protection.\" class=\"wp-image-7249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/P8080063-002-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/P8080063-002-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/P8080063-002-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2019\/02\/P8080063-002.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Wetlands lacking perennial or intermittent surface water connections to downstream waters may lose federal protection.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this exploratory analysis is an approximation of the\npotential impact, limited by the accuracy of input datasets, it helps visualize\nthe vulnerability in wetland protection. Additional detail on the wetlands of\nthe South Platte Headwaters and their likely functions are available through\nCNHP\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cwic\/tools\/toolbox\/\">Watershed\nPlanning Toolbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new WOTUS rule will likely be published in the Federal\nRegister in the coming week. Once published, the public will have 60 days to\ncomment on the proposed rule. It is important for the people of Colorado to\nconsider the impact these changes will have on Colorado wetlands and <a href=\"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cwic\/about-cwic\/importance\/\">the benefits they\nprovide<\/a> to our citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Joanna Lemly.\u00a0 (Wetland Ecologist) Recently proposed changes to the Federal definition of Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-natural-heritage-program","8":"category-wetlands","9":"entry","10":"override"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnhp.colostate.edu\/cnhpblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}