Wetland Classification and Assessment Inventory

Importance / Issues

Crater Lake National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park comprise a diverse assemblage of high elevation wetland and riparian habitats. Presently, little information essential for management is available concerning the distribution, condition, or trend of wetlands in these national park units.

Existing wetland information is currently limited to National Wetland Inventory (NWI) maps derived from coarse-scale 1980s aerial photographs. These maps typically overlook scattered small wetlands such as vernal hillside seeps that are among the most vulnerable to impacts. Moreover, these maps provide no information on condition of wetlands in the parks. Wetlands in the parks are immediately vulnerable to a range of cumulative impacts, including non-native species invasions, air-borne or water-borne pollutants, hydrologic alterations, and excess visitor use.

This project will address these information needs and threats by assessing condition and function in a priority-based probabilistic sample of wetlands in the two parks. The project will provide: (1) corrections and additions to existing NWI maps, (2) management recommendations specific to individual wetlands in the park, (3) strategies for addressing larger scale wetland conservation issues (e.g., non-native species), (4) a quantitative baseline essential for future monitoring of wetland condition, (5) classifications of wetland site potential, and (6) location of degraded wetlands in need of restoration.

The synthesis of information proposed in this project will help managers take a strategic rather than reactive approach to mitigating threats to park wetlands, and to better determine the spatial and temporal scales at which to attack the problem(s).