Granting wetland conservation

Bald cypress knees rising from swamp water Photo: USFWSSecretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the US federal government has now made more than USD1 billion in grants under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act of 1989, helping to conserve or restore more than 25.4 million acres of wetlands and associated habitat across the continent over the past two decades.

The milestone was passed when the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission voted to approve USD33.4 million in matching grants to conserve 190,000 acres of wetlands. Under the Act, the funds will be matched or exceeded by private contributions.

“Today we mark an historic milestone in for what is not only one of our nation’s most effective conservation laws but also one of its most effective conservation partnerships,” Salazar, who serves as chair of the commission, said. “While the federal government has made more than USD1 billion in grants, our partners have contributed more than USD2 billion in matching funds to conserve, enhance, and restore vital wetlands that provide critical habitat for fish and wildlife.”

At its meeting, the commission also approved the expenditure of nearly USD8 million in Federal Duck Stamp funds to add more than 4,000 wetland acres to seven units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Wetlands provide many ecological, economic, and social benefits, including habitat for fish, wildlife, and a variety of plants. They serve as nurseries for many saltwater and freshwater fishes and shellfish of commercial and recreational importance. Wetlands also hold and slowly release flood waters, act as filters to cleanse water of impurities, and provide recreational and wildlife viewing opportunities for millions of people.

The commission includes Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Representatives John Dingell of Michigan and Robert Wittman of Virginia, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, as well as state representatives as ex officio members who vote on projects located within their respective states.

The USD33.4 million in grants approved today will support 34 projects in 24 states under NAWCA’s U.S. Standard Grants Program. Partners in these projects will contribute an additional USD89.3 million in matching funds to support these conservation efforts.

Grants are funded by annual Congressional appropriations; fines, penalties and forfeitures levied under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act; interest accrued on funds under the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act; and excise taxes paid on small engine fuels through the Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Fund.

Passed in 1989, NAWCA provides matching grants to organisations and individuals who have developed partnerships to carry out wetlands conservation projects in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Act was passed in part to support activities under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, an international agreement that provides a strategy for the long-term protection of wetlands and associated upland habitats needed by waterfowl and other migratory birds in North America.

England to restore lost wetlands

Swan Goose at Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre, Gloucestershire, EnglandSwathes of England’s lost or degraded wetlands will be restored to their boggy beginnings, thanks to 4million pound worth of funding from Natural England for almost 2000 hectares of wetland recovery projects over the next two years. As the Wetland Vision project celebrates its first anniversary, this new funding will benefit grazing marshes, raised bogs, reedbeds and fragile fenland across England.

Money is being given to conservation organisations including The Wildlife Trusts and RSPB, who will work with the Environment Agency and English Heritage to manage the careful process of re-wetting the land.

The restoration of watery habitats will help a multitude of wildlife including declining bird species such as snipe and redshank. Wetlands can also benefit the public by providing a natural water store to help prevent flooding.

Paul Wilkinson, Head of A Living Landscape for The Wildlife Trusts, said: “We are delighted that Natural England is backing up its commitment to supporting the delivery of the ambitious Wetland Vision with significant funds. The Wildlife Trusts are playing a major role in many of the projects supported by this. We believe it shows considerable recognition of our extensive local knowledge, and our experience of restoring, recreating and reconnecting wetland habitats to benefit people and wildlife, and helps us get closer to achieving our vision of A Living Landscape for the whole of the UK.”

Dr Helen Phillips, Chief Executive for Natural England: said: “It may be hard to imagine, but England was once a much wetter place than it is today. Around 90 per cent of the soft and squelchy bogs and marshes have been lost over the last 1000 years. Healthy wetlands are a unique and vital habitat for wildlife – but they also have less obvious benefits for people. Wetlands can work as a natural flood defence, filtering and cleaning the water. Peat bogs also lock up dangerous green house gas emissions which contribute to climate change.

“Since 2008 Natural England has allocated 6 million pound to conservation partners who are restoring these important landscapes. From Morecambe Bay to the East Anglian Fens, projects are underway across the country to put the squelch back into the countryside.”

Wetland projects to receive funding over the next two years include the East Anglian fens, Humberhead Levels, Midlands Meres and Mosses, Morecambe Bay Wetlands, the Somerset Levels and the River Till in Northumberland. In addition to the 4million pound from Natural England, partners will allocate additional funds for their individual projects. Over time these wetlands are expected to provide homes for spectacular and iconic species such as bittern and crane; white faced darter and large heath fritillary butterfly; water voles and eels; and rare plant communities of fens and raised bogs.

Wetlands and streams in Lamb Creek to be restored

Jack Barron of Bonner County, Idaho must remove fill material and restore wetlands and stream channels on his property near Nordman, Idaho, according to an order issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The order alleges that Barron placed rock and other fill material into four acres of wetlands and stream channels near Lamb Creek without necessary permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Barron filled the wetlands in preparation to build a house on his property. Lamb Creek is a tributary of Priest Lake, which supports many recreational activities including boating, fishing and camping.

“Idaho has fewer wetlands than most other states—so it’s up to property owners here to do what they can to safeguard what’s left,” said Jim Werntz, Director of EPA’s Idaho Operations Office. “Getting the proper permitting is the first step to ensuring that Idaho’s wetlands and wildlife don’t face unnecessary risk.”

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has identified portions of Lamb Creek as “impaired” because of high water temperatures and sediment. Wetlands help regulate water temperature, which is essential for protecting fish and other aquatic animals.

Barron must submit a restoration plan to EPA by August 17, 2009 and complete restoration work by November 1, 2009. He is required to submit monitoring reports documenting the success of the restoration work until October 31, 2020.

Chiquita and Rewe buy wetlands in Panama

Fresh produce firm Chiquita and German retailer Rewe have announced the donation of 320 acres of wetlands in the San San Pond Sak nature reserve in Panama for the purpose of restoration of natural habitats.

The usage rights to the land, purchased with funds provided by Rewe, were donated to the residents association AAMVECONA and in the future will be transferred to the national environment authority of Panama. Restoration of natural habitats will be completed with the support of Rewe and Chiquita.

Dr. Martin Kussner, CFO, Rewe Supermarkets Germany, said: "The partnership of Rewe and Chiquita is based on the principle that conservation of endangered habitats and species is only possible with the support and participation of the community."

The restoration of natural habitats on the donated land begins immediately with 9000 seeds of local species collected and germinated. The first trees were planted in June at the time of the visit by Reweand Chiquita representatives to the San San Pond Sak reserve, located in close proximity to Chiquita's banana farms in the Bocas Del Toro province of Panama.

Local and international volunteers are currently monitoring the hatching season of leatherback sea turtles as well as the natural habitat for endangered manatees in the region.

Volunteers including Chiquita employees have built a protected hatchery where 4500 turtle eggs have been relocated. By the end of April, the team counted 162 leatherback turtle nests on the Caribbean beaches of the reserve.

"Our partnership with Reweprovides us with an opportunity to contribute to the rich biodiversity of the region and the well-being of local communities in Panama," said Michel Loeb, Chiquita's president of Europe and Middle East.

The donation of wetlands follows the announcement early in 2009 of the partnership between Chiquita and Reweto initiate a multi-phase biodiversity conservation programme in the San San Pond Sak nature preserve in Panama, a biosphere reserve designated by the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for special environmental importance.

The partnership is dedicated to the sustainable protection of endangered habitats and species, with special focus on the mangrove forests, lagoons and beaches of the San San Pond Sak nature reserve.

In collaboration with local, national and international environmental groups, the Chiquita / Rewepartnership will also focus on improving living conditions and economic opportunities in the region and foster environmental awareness through programmes in schools, communities and among Chiquita employees.

WWF delivers on 100 million hectares of wetlands pledge

Photo: Omar Rocha

Declaration of the high Andes home to two of the three species of Andean flamingos marks WWF’s delivery of a “crazy, unrealistic pledge” to deliver 100 million hectares of new protected wetlands in a decade.

Fittingly, the 3000 to nearly 7000 metre high Lagunas Altoandinas y Punenas de Catamarca in north west Argentina is the highest area to be declared a wetland of international importance under the International Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention).

With 1.2 million hectares of high altitude “puna” scattered with a variety of shallow, deep and brackish to hypersaline lakes, the Catamarca Lagunas complex is also the largest of the Andean wetlands of international importance, home to a variety of migratory birds, as well as a unique frog threatened Andean cats and chinchillas.

The Catamarca Lagunas complex is a highly vulnerable and fragile area, threatened by overgrazing, unregulated tourism, mining prospecting and flamingo egg collection.

For WWF International’s Wetlands Conservation Manager Denis Landenbergue, this latest Ramsar declaration is a fitting climax to a decade of seeking to preserve fragile areas crucial to functioning of landscapes and the animals and people of five continents.

The WWF and Ramsar Convention global vision – for 250 million hectares of new protected wetlands by 2010 – is still some way off, with parties to the convention deciding last year on 2015 as a target date for its achievement.

Ramsar Convention Secretary General Anada Tiega paid tribute to WWF’s achievement in playing a major role in securing an area equating to nearly three Germanys or about one and half times the size of Texas and its “instrumental support to the worldwide conservation of wetlands in general and the Ramsar objectives in particular”.

“I would also like to highlight the major leveraging effect these designations have generated for globally improving the management of wetlands,”said Tiega.

Around three quarters of the total area designated globally under the Ramsar Convention in the past decade has been directly supported by WWF’s International Fresh Water Programme.

“Promoting the designation of wetlands is an efficient way of attracting the attention, and the crucially important resources of the international donors community to support their improved management,” said Landenbergue.

“In the past 10 years, every single dollar invested by WWF has generated, on average, matching external funding up to 25-30 times larger in wetlands management and restoration.”

Wetlands likely source of methane from ancient warming event

Analysis of Greenland ice led by Scripps researchers could allay fears about methane 'burp' accelerating current global warming trend

An expansion of wetlands and not a large-scale melting of frozen methane deposits is the likely cause of a spike in atmospheric methane gas that took place some 11,600 years ago, according to an international research team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.

The finding is expected to come as a relief to scientists and climate watchers concerned that huge accelerations of global warming might have been touched off by methane melts in the past and could happen again now as the planet warms. By measuring the amount of carbon-14 isotopes in methane from air bubbles trapped in glacial ice, the researchers determined that the surge that took place nearly 12,000 years ago was more chemically consistent with an expansion of wetlands. Wetland regions, which produce large amounts of methane from bacterial breakdown of organic matter, are known to have spread during warming trends throughout history.

"This is good news for global warming because it suggests that methane clathrates do not respond to warming by releasing large amounts of methane into the atmosphere," said Vasilii Petrenko, a postdoctoral fellow at University of Colorado, Boulder, who led the analysis while a graduate student at Scripps.

The results appear in April 24 editions of the journal Science.

Scientists had long been concerned about the potential for present-day climate change to cause a thawing of Arctic permafrost and a warming of ocean waters great enough to trigger a huge release of methane that would send planetary warming into overdrive. Vast amounts of methane are sequestered in solid form, known as methane clathrate, in seafloor deposits and in permafrost. Cold temperatures and the intense pressure of the deep ocean stabilize the methane clathrate masses and keep methane from entering the atmosphere.

Scientists have estimated that a melting of only 10 per cent of the world's clathrate deposits would create a greenhouse effect equal to a tenfold increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For comparison, the warming trend observed in the last century has taken place with only a 30 per cent increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

The research team, overseen by Scripps geoscientist and study co-author Jeff Severinghaus, collected what may be the largest ice samples ever for a climate change study. The researchers cut away 15 tons of ice from a site called Pakitsoq at the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet to collect the ancient air trapped within. Methane exists in low concentrations in this air and only a trillionth of any given amount contains the carbon-14 isotope that the researchers needed to perform the analysis. Levels of carbon-14, which has a half-life of 5,730 years, were too high in the methane to have come from clathrates, the researchers concluded.

"This study is important because it confirms that wetlands and moisture availability change dramatically along with abrupt climate change," said Severinghaus. "This highlights in a general way the fact that the largest impacts of future climate change may be on water resources and drought, rather than temperature per se."

The burst of methane took place immediately after an abrupt transition between climatic periods known as the Younger Dryas and Preboreal. During this event, temperatures in Greenland rose 10° C (18° F) in 20 years. Methane levels over 150 years rose about 50 per cent, from 500 parts per billion in air to 750 parts per billion.

In addition to Petrenko and Severinghaus, researchers from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Oregon State University, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, the Technical University of Denmark and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia contributed to the report.

The work was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the American Chemical Society, the ANSTO Cosmogenic Climate Archives of the Southern Hemisphere project and the New Zealand Foundation of Science and Technology.