Regulatory Fidelity to Guidance in Virginia’s Tidal Wetlands Program

The Commonwealth of Virginia manages its tidal wetlands resources through implementation of the Tidal Wetlands Act (Va. Code §28.2-1300 et seq.). This Act establishes a state-local regulatory program providing the option for local governments located in the coastal zone to voluntarily assume the primary responsibility for local implementation, through a citizen wetlands board, with oversight by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC). The Tidal Wetlands Act charges local wetlands boards with balancing the preservation and use of tidal wetlands in order to protect the ecosystem services they provide. In addition, Virginia has an established state policy of no-net loss of wetlands resources and is a partner in the Chesapeake Bay Program, committed to “achieve a no-net loss of existing wetlands acreage and function.” This means that if wetlands are lost due to development or shoreline stabilization, for example, then the resulting loss must be offset by creating a comparable amount of wetlands elsewhere. VMRC’s Tidal Wetlands Mitigation-Compensation Policy (Reg. 4 VAC 20-390-10 et seq.) requires wetlands boards to minimize or mitigate the loss of wetlands and the adverse ecological effects of all permitted activities when implementing the Tidal Wetlands Act. For the past 40 years, the Center for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM) at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has developed extensive guidance to assist local governments in making permit decisions to meet the intent and goals of the Tidal Wetlands Program. Most recently, guidance provided supports a management preference for strategies which incorporate the use of natural resources for shoreline protection and seek to more effectively balance public and private interests

An Assessment of Wildlife Utilization between a Man-made Marsh, an Adjacent Natural Marsh, and a Nearby Natural Marsh in Virginia

The present study investigates the functions and values of man-made and natural tidal wetlands. The study is among the first to use simultaneous sampling techniques to investigate animal use preference between man-made and adjacent natural tidal wetlands

High-Energy Storm Events and Their Impacts on Carbon Storage in Tidal Wetlands of South Carolina

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations have been increasing at an accelerating rate for the past two centuries, profoundly impacting global climate change. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are influenced by the global carbon cycle through physical and biogeochemical pathways. Tidal wetland environments play a vital role in the global carbon cycle by offsetting atmospheric CO2 concentrations through their natural physiochemical processes of high autotrophic productivity, allochthonous organic matter deposition, anoxic soils, and continuous accretion which promotes carbon sequestration with long-term storage at the land-ocean margin. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and United States Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) identify tidal wetlands to be important environments for regulating atmospheric CO2 concentrations; however, these climate research governing bodies also identify current CO2 flux datasets from tidal wetlands to be lacking expansive spatial and temporal monitoring. Furthermore, the role of hurricane disturbances on the productivity of CO2 flux and carbon storage in tidal wetlands lacks scientific consensus. This work produced a low-cost innovative CO2 flux monitoring method and a unique continuous long-term dataset to yield insight into tidal wetlands’ role in the carbon-climate feedback. Four key investigations of CO2 flux in tidal wetlands were undertaken which included (1) the development and successful deployment of a low-cost, continuous long-term CO2 flux monitoring method in a dynamic intertidal zone, (2) insight into near-annual CO2 sequestration of 9.4 µmol m-2 s-1 in the North Inlet-Winyah Bay (NI-WB) tidal wetland system of SC and how the environmental conditions correlated to the CO2 flux over the sampling period (August 2022 – May 2022), (3) a temporal determination of the 2022 Hurricane Ian’s influence on CO2 flux in the NI-WB tidal wetlands; with sequestration pre- and during-Hurricane Ian and net emission post-Hurricane Ian, and (4) an identification of varying carbon accumulation rates (15.2-120.6 gC m-2 yr-1) in NI-WB with historical correlation of high-energy deposits and carbon storage capacity. The widespread adoption of the innovative CO2 flux monitoring methodology presented within this dissertation and the continued identification of carbon storage via sediment cores in global tidal wetlands will produce a comprehensive synthesis of the role tidal wetlands play in carbon-climate feedback. The successful investigation of tidal wetlands’ role in carbon-climate feedback will assist in refining ESM predictions of global climate change projections to ultimately inform tidal wetland management practices and climate policy

Carbon Budget of Tidal Wetlands, Estuaries, and Shelf Waters of Eastern North America

Carbon cycling in the coastal zone affects global carbon budgets and is critical for understanding the urgent issues of hypoxia, acidification, and tidal wetland loss. However, there are no regional carbon budgets spanning the three main ecosystems in coastal waters: tidal wetlands, estuaries, and shelf waters. Here we construct such a budget for eastern North America using historical data, empirical models, remote sensing algorithms, and process‐based models. Considering the net fluxes of total carbon at the domain boundaries, 59 ± 12% (± 2 standard errors) of the carbon entering is from rivers and 41 ± 12% is from the atmosphere, while 80 ± 9% of the carbon leaving is exported to the open ocean and 20 ± 9% is buried. Net lateral carbon transfers between the three main ecosystem types are comparable to fluxes at the domain boundaries. Each ecosystem type contributes substantially to exchange with the atmosphere, with CO2 uptake split evenly between tidal wetlands and shelf waters, and estuarine CO2 outgassing offsetting half of the uptake. Similarly, burial is about equal in tidal wetlands and shelf waters, while estuaries play a smaller but still substantial role. The importance of tidal wetlands and estuaries in the overall budget is remarkable given that they, respectively, make up only 2.4 and 8.9% of the study domain area. This study shows that coastal carbon budgets should explicitly include tidal wetlands, estuaries, shelf waters, and the linkages between them; ignoring any of them may produce a biased picture of coastal carbon cycling

Coastal Blue Carbon Opportunity Assessment for Snohomish Estuary: The Climate Benefits of Estuary Restoration

This report presents the findings of a groundbreaking study that confirms the climate mitigation benefits of restoring tidal wetland habitat in the Snohomish Estuary, located within the nation's second largest estuary: Puget Sound. The study, the first of its kind, finds major climate mitigation benefits from wetland restoration and provides a much needed approach for assessing carbon fluxes for historic drained and future restored wetlands which can now be transferred and applied to other geographie

Bulletin No. 25: Salt Marsh Plants of Connecticut

32 pp. 1980. Illustrated guide to 22 plants which grow in our tidal wetlands