Wetlands are an important natural resource to Delaware.  These ecosystems support some of our most sensitive plants and wildlife, including rare and endangered species, such as the American Bald Eagle and swamp pink, along with the northernmost natural stand of bald cypress.  Wetlands also help reduce flood risks, aid in groundwater recharge, and improve water quality by acting as filters for sediment and nutrients that are carried in the water.

The Nanticoke watershed is part of the Chesapeake Bay Basin, which covers 35% of Delaware and contains nearly 130,000 acres of wetlands. Between 1982 and 1992, the Chesapeake Bay Basin lost approximately 723 acres of wetlands, mainly to agriculture.  The portion of the Nanticoke watershed located in Delaware includes 44,222 acres of wetlands.  Amy Jacobs, an Environmental Scientist with DNREC's Watershed Assessment Section, is working on methods to assess the wetlands in the watershed to evaluate their overall condition.

Amy and her field crew are sampling various wetland depressions, which are wetlands that have no influence from streams or rivers, to get an idea on their health.  They have already evaluated the condition of flat wetlands (areas in the headwaters of streams that are dominated by precipitation and groundwater hydrology and are characteristically flat) and riverine wetlands (floodplain areas of streams and rivers).  Once the depressions are completed, an overall assessment of the non-tidal wetlands will be complete.

The field crew members are sampling vegetation, soils, water quality, ground water (hydrology), landscape and surrounding land use.  This data will be evaluated to determine the wetlands status for the entire watershed.

Last year the Nanticoke watershed, including counties in Maryland, lost 3.5% of its wetlands.  This doesn't mean that those remaining are in good condition ... the majority of them are not functioning at their full potential.  Hydrology and habitat alterations are having a considerable impact. 

Amy is working cooperatively with her Maryland counterparts to assess overall wetlands health in the full Nanticoke watershed.  This is accomplished by comparing randomly selected wetlands to Reference Standard Wetlands (RSW).  A reference standard wetland is a wetland that has had minimal human disturbance.  The team then compare the traits of the wetlands sampled to these RSWs.  For example, if there are fewer trees per acre then in the RFW, then that portion of the wetland will get a lower score.  Other traits that impact the overall score are invasive species, close proximity of a road or residential areas, and overall percentages of residential, agricultural, and forested areas in the surrounding landscape.

After the overall health is assessed the information is used to prioritize wetland restoration and protection efforts.  The study will provide information to determine which wetlands are in the worst health and restore those, or what overall areas have wetlands that are not functioning properly and concentrate on that area. 

Ultimately, the goal is to improve the overall health of wetlands in the Nanticoke watershed so that if this study is repeated in five to ten years, the condition of wetlands will have improved.