Upper East Coast

[larger image]	PROJECTS Wetland Restoration on the Allapattah Ranch Natural Area Ten-Mile Creek Reservoir Assisted Stormwater Treatment Area	Home Executive Summary Background & Purpose Prioritization Water - Introduction - Kissimmee- Okeechobee & EAA > Upper East Coast - Loxahatchee - Marsh/Urban Interface - Lower West Coast - ENP/BNP/Biscayne Bay/Keys - Landscape Science Habitat & Species Land & Resources Tables PDF Version

Overview

The CERP upper east coast region is separated from the Kissimmee-Okeechobee watershed by the eastern coastal ridge. This watershed drains to the east, into the Indian River Lagoon, considered the most biodiverse estuarine system in all of North America, and the Saint Lucie Estuary, a major tributary at the southern end of the lagoon. Unnaturally high and low freshwater discharges from the C&SF Project canals are changing the salinity and water quality in the lagoon and estuary. The Wetland Restoration on the Allapattah Ranch Natural Area Project will serve as a pilot for the development of methods to reduce the damaging effects of watershed runoff and high peak freshwater discharges into the lagoon and estuary. The Ten-Mile Creek Reservoir Assisted Stormwater Treatment Area is a prototype for several such reservoir-assisted STAs intended to reduce sediment loads in waters delivered downstream. The technologies developed through these projects will have wide application in similar CERP projects, particularly in other components of the Indian River Lagoon project. DOI is interested in ensuring that the projects are designed to provide the greatest possible benefits to fish and wildlife values and to avoid inadvertent adverse effects on federally protected species. Additional research to understand the linkages between hydrology, fire, and ecology in the Allapattah wetlands will help refine management scenarios and may have broader application elsewhere. Site-specific monitoring of habitats and species at both project areas will support adaptive management to enhance fish and wildlife values.

DOI managers can most effectively participate in CERP projects during three project stages: (1) NEPA scoping in the early stages of project design, to help ensure that hydrologic targets accurately reflect the natural predrainage conditions, (2) review of project alternatives, to ensure that fish and wildlife and parks are adequately considered in compliance with DOI mandates, and (3) monitoring and assessment of project results, to support project modification if needed to ensure that the intended conditions are achieved. The major questions that DOI managers need to answer at each stage to effectively fulfill their responsibilities as partner and steward are summarized below, along with the highest priority science needs for answering those questions. This information is discussed in greater detail for each individual project following this summary.

SUMMARY OF DOI RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCIENCE NEEDS RELATED TO WATER PROJECTS IN UPPER EAST COAST

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Restoration on the Allapattah Ranch Natural Area

One of Six Components in the C-23/24 Basin of Indian River Lagoon South (IRLS) Feasibility Study

Overview of the Indian River Lagoon Feasibility Study
The Indian River Lagoon - South Feasibility Study is the second feasibility study initiated under the C&SF Project Comprehensive Review Study (Restudy) authorized by Congress in 1996. The purpose of the study is to investigate making structural and operational modifications to the C&SF Project to improve the quality of the environment, to protect the Floridan aquifer, to ensure the integrity, capability, and conservation of urban and agricultural water supplies, and to achieve other water-related purposes in the upper east coast area. The Final Feasibility Study for this project recommends a plan that will improve water quality within the St. Lucie Estuary and the Indian River Lagoon by reducing the damaging effects of watershed runoff, reducing high peak freshwater discharges to control salinity levels, and reducing nutrient loads, pesticides, and other pollutants. The plan also includes water supply for agriculture to offset reliance on the Floridan aquifer.

The plan involves the purchase of approximately 90,000 acres of wetland/upland habitats and their conservation (if in a natural state) or enhancement (if impacted). Natural areas include pine flatwoods, forested wetlands, scrub, wet prairies, and marshes. Impacted areas include agricultural lands such as citrus, row crops, and improved and unimproved pasture. Water management projects include 170,000 acre-feet of storage reservoirs (C-44 West, C-23 and C-24 North and South, and C-25) and stormwater treatment areas (C-44 West, C-44 East, C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-23/C-44 Canal/STA), storage in 90,000 acres of natural storage areas (Allapattah, Palmar, and Cypress Creek), and removal of 5,500,000 cubic yards of muck from the St. Lucie River and Estuary.

The restored wetlands will provide large tracts of contiguous, high-quality fish and wildlife habitat in an otherwise highly agricultural watershed. The St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon will benefit from more natural hydrology in the upper reaches of the watershed. Other, less severely drained adjacent areas (remnant pine flatwoods and forested wetlands) should also benefit from the increased hydroperiod, better management of cattle and exotics, and promotion of a more natural fire regime.

Animals expected to benefit the most from habitat conservation and enhancement are wading birds, other waterfowl, amphibians, and aquatic reptiles and invertebrates. Threatened or endangered species include Everglade snail kite, wood stork, bald eagle, Audubon's crested caracara, and whooping crane. Forested upland species, including the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and threatened Florida scrub-jay, could also benefit. The conservation of large tracks of forested land, especially in the western portion of the study area, is expected to provide potential habitat for the recovery of the endangered Florida panther.

Project Purpose and Major DOI Interest
The Allapattah Natural Area is the first large tract of land in the IRLS to be restored. A monitoring plan is needed to guide additional restoration plans for the remaining IRLS natural areas.

The 20,000-acre Allapattah Ranch Natural Area was historically a mosaic of pine flatwoods, wet prairie, and freshwater marsh. Today, the land consists primarily of improved pasture, degraded wetlands, and impacted native upland habitat. The land has been extensively drained for cattle grazing and other farming practices. Contaminated stormwater quickly drains through the network of ditches into the C-23 Canal, and then to the middle part of the St. Lucie Estuary.

The St. Lucie Estuary watershed covers an area of approximately 775 square miles. Three of its major drainage basins are now linked to the estuary by the C-23, C-24, and C-44 project canals. The canals convey stormwater runoff from within these basins to the St. Lucie River and Estuary. In addition, the C-44 canal conveys flood control discharges from Lake Okeechobee to the South Fork of the St. Lucie River. The C-25 canal, located in northern St. Lucie County, discharges runoff directly into the Indian River Lagoon near Ft. Pierce Inlet.

These drainage modifications coupled with land use changes in the St. Lucie Estuary watershed have dramatically increased wet season flows to the estuary and significantly reduced dry season inflows. The reduction in dry season base flows has affected habitats and organisms dependent on brackish or fresh water wetlands during their life cycles. High-volume stormwater discharges produce rapid fluctuations of salinity, and also sedimentation. The increase in nutrient and sediment loading has contributed to the build-up of fine-grained, nutrient-rich muck in the estuary. The resultant change in aquatic communities within the estuary consists of increases in pollutant-tolerant benthic organisms and decreases in seagrass and oyster communities.

The ecology of the Indian River Lagoon has also been affected by these fresh water discharges from the C&SF Project canals. The existing seagrass beds may be threatened by the increased nutrient loading, high turbidity, and introduction of colored water, which diminishes light penetration needed to support submerged aquatic vegetation. Habitat diversity and species diversity in the lagoon system are believed to be affected by the decline in water and sediment quality.

Restoration will entail filling ditches and canals on former agricultural lands to create a more natural hydroperiod. Approximately half of the ranch is on drained and partially drained hydric (high-moisture) soils, which provide an excellent opportunity for restoration. By backfilling the drainage ditches the land can be rehydrated and large volumes of stormwater will be contained on site.

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What Is Known
Although comprehensive biological surveys have not been conducted on the Allapattah Ranch, sandhill cranes, wading birds, raptors, white-tailed deer, and turkeys are known to occupy the site. Recent investigations have indicated high usage by Audubon's crested caracara, including one active nest located in February 2003. Incidental observations conducted during these surveys have identified 67 additional bird species. The state-listed Florida tree fern and Florida peperomia have been found within the forested wetland along the parcel's western boundary. Numerous native plant species occupy the remnant wetlands throughout the property.

What Is Needed
Modeling to determine the natural hydrology

Research to understand linkages between hydrology and ecology in the Allapattah Ranch Natural Area. The linkages between the restoration of the historic hydroperiod, concurrent management of exotics and fire, and the responses of the various ecological communities must be understood in order to define the best management scenarios for the mosaic of wetland and upland communities that are, or will be, present on the property. This knowledge will assist DOI in providing input into the adaptive management phase as the effects of restoring wetland habitats on native species are understood.

Surveys using Wetland Rapid Bioassessment Protocols are costly and have not been sensitive enough for quantifying marsh system biotic responses to restoration projects in the upper east coast region. Research is needed to identify sensitive and reliable invertebrate indicators of changes in water quality and hydroperiod. Chironomid and Ceratopogonid midges are abundant and diverse in wetland systems, and have proven to be particularly sensitive to changes in environmental conditions in south Florida marsh systems. Methods, such as pupal exuviae sampling, that sample these important invertebrates efficiently may be particularly effective and efficient in identifying indicator species, and in monitoring water quality and hydroperiod changes through changes in midge community composition during restoration.

Environmental risk assessments of water quality contaminants. Water quality investigations will assess the environmental risks from storing water on former agricultural lands.

Site-specific monitoring and adaptive assessment. Hydrologic and ecological monitoring will provide the information needed to assess project benefits and to avoid or minimize impacts to the federally listed species utilizing this habitat and other important fish and wildlife values.

Surveys using the Wetland Rapid Bioassessment Protocol are underway to measure existing conditions for comparison to post-hydroperiod-restoration responses. However, this methodology is not sensitive enough to precisely quantify changes in the hydroperiod and water quality or the resulting responses of the biologic communities. A site-specific monitoring and adaptive assessment plan will augment the CERP MAP. The SFWMD will be monitoring hydrologic restoration (increases in spatial extent, depth, and duration of wetlands). DOI has developed an ecological monitoring plan for evaluating ecological conditions during and following restoration. The methodology will be capable of gauging expanded and intensified wildlife utilization through an increase in the spatial extent of wetlands, improvements in habitat functional quality, and improvements in native plant and animal species diversity and abundance.

Ten Mile Creek Reservoir-Assisted Stormwater Treatment Area

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DOI is interested in ensuring that the design of this feature does not pose threats to the fishery community of the basin, and especially to a candidate species for federal listing, the opossum pipefish. The current design includes a large intake pump to draw water from Ten Mile Creek. Design alternatives to reduce mortality of aquatic organisms have not been incorporated. Current hydrologic modeling indicates that the reservoir will fluctuate annually from 10 feet deep to completely dry, which will prevent the establishment of high-quality habitat for native fish and wildlife.

This project is termed a Critical Restoration Project and was authorized under Section 528 of WRDA 1996. Under this authority, the Secretary of the Army, in cooperation with the SFWMD (the nonfederal project sponsor) and the Task Force, provided the determination that this project will produce independent, immediate, and substantial restoration, preservation, and protection benefits and will be generally consistent with the conceptual framework specified in the Governors Commission for a Sustainable South Florida's Conceptual Plan.

What Is Known
The fishery data for Ten Mile Creek are scant, and only a partial species list is available from angler interviews and a 1994 Florida DEP fish-kill investigation. Several important recreational gamefish, such as largemouth bass and snook, inhabit the creek, and several native fishes occur in the St Lucie River and may be present in Ten Mile Creek. Native tropical species include opossum pipefish (a candidate species for federal protection), bigmouth sleeper, spinycheek sleeper, mountain mullet, river goby, and slashcheek goby.

Wildlife utilization data for the project area are also limited. A five-day wildlife survey of the Ten Mile Creek citrus grove, the area proposed for the reservoir, found 36 wildlife species, including great egret, great blue heron, red-tailed hawk, merlin, wild turkey, blue jay, downy and hairy woodpeckers, ovenbird, European starling, bobcat, white-tailed deer, butterflies, Cuban anole, and the eastern indigo snake (federally listed as threatened). Thirty-three understory plant species were also identified between the citrus rows. An additional 20 animal and 65 plant species were sighted in the unimproved pasture and wetlands, the area proposed for the stormwater treatments area, adjacent to the citrus grove.

What Is Needed
Modeling to determine natural flows in Ten Mile Creek

Biological monitoring. Biological monitoring of the Ten Mile Creek Project will provide valuable information about species diversity and relative abundance, and it should guide selection of an indicator species for gathering current population data and long-term monitoring. Additional information about length, weight, age (gamefish only), and sex will help managers understand the fishery and provide the demographic information for possible modeling analyses. For the first year, the sampling will be conducted six to ten times in order to best delineate variability in population structure and to identify potential spawning times and species. This information will allow investigators to more efficiently conduct subsequent sampling at a reduced frequency (two or three times a year). Field water quality parameters such as water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and conductivity will also be measured and correlated with species diversity and abundance.

Studies of the effects of intake structures (alternative designs). DOI is concerned about the impacts of high-velocity pumps on fish and wildlife communities. The FWS needs to work with the USACE to find alternative designs and locations for these pumps that minimize impacts on fish and wildlife resources.

Study of species' responses to fluctuating water levels. DOI needs to understand how reservoir-assisted STAs can be operated to provide adequate wet refugia (such as tree islands) and dry refugia (such as alligator holes). Determining the effects of fluctuating water levels in the reservoirs and the stormwater treatment areas on native fish and wildlife communities will support adaptive management to optimize benefits to fisheries and wildlife while maintaining the management functions of the reservoir-assisted STAs.