Nutrient Workgroup - USEPA Region 7 Regional Technical Assistance Group

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US EPA's Regional Technical Assistance Group (RTAG) for EPA Region 7:

• Consists of CPCB and state, tribal, and university agencies.
• To establish nutrient criteria for lakes, streams, and wetlands of the US EPA Region 7.
• The EPA's Clean Water Action Plan 1998 goal is to protect aquatic life from nutrient overenrichment.
• See National Strategy for the Development of Regional Nutrient Criteria (US EPA 1998).

Once guideline nutrient criteria are determined:

• Development Phase: The USEPA will provide assistance to State and Tribes to develop nutrient criteria to be expressed as numerical ranges.
• Implementation Phase: States and Tribes will include the developed criteria as part of their water quality standards within three years after developing the criteria.

 

Denver Nov. 2008 Region 7 and 8 meeting

Dodds, Walter K. et al. 2008. Eutrophication of U.S. Freshwaters: Analysis of Potential Economic Damages.

USEPA Headquarters - Steve Potts

Region 7 streams and lakes - Gary Welker

Montana - Mike Suplee slides, click for flow chart

South Dakota - Jan Stevenson

Missouri - Mark Osborn

North Dakota - Mike Ell

Colorado - Jim Saunders

Wetlands

CPCB has assembled a wetland database for the RTAG to examine to determine potential classification schemes and reference condition schemes for use in nutrient criteria. Click to download or link to the various documents used in the Region 7 wetland database

CPCB reference wetland talk (pdf)

CPCB MO floodplain talk (pdf)

Wetland classification issues (pdf)

RTAG talk (pdf)

R7 data

• UPDATED The R7 database (MSAccess)
• Google Earth coverage of the 309 sites that have coordinates (.kmz) (not all had data)
• Link to the USFWS NWI Google Earth coverage. (hint - to see the NWI wetland polygons, turn off all layers except continental US, and zoom in on a site, and wait til it loads)

Wetland classification

• USEPA Wetland Classification Module 7 (pdf)
• Link to the Soil Data Mart.  Geospatial data can be downloaded from this site to use in your own GIS.
• Link to the WebSoilSurvey interactive tool.
• 2008 USDA Hydrogeomorphic paper (pdf)
• 1995 Smith et al. USACE Hydrogeomorphic paper (pdf)
• 1993 Brinson hydrogeomorphic classification (pdf)
• 2004 Brooks et al. GIS (pdf)
• Biological condition gradient (pdf)
• 2002 Wilcox et al. IBI (pdf)
• Cowardin 1979 (pdf)
• A review of Cowardin 1979 (pdf)
• Natural Heritage Program (pdf)
• Canadian wetland classification (pdf)
• Detenbeck EPA (pdf)
• A table comparing classifications with vegetation (pdf)

CPCB studies

• Region 7 wetlands: Webpage of CPCB sampling.
• Reference wetlands: 147. Beury, J.H. , D.S. Baker, and D.G. Huggins. 2008. Wetlands in Three Ecoregions of the Central Plains. Open-file Report No. 147. Kansas Biological Survey, Lawrence, KS. 15 pp.
• Missouri River wetlands: Webpage of CPCB wetland sampling.
• How CPCB used landuse to estimate wetland reference condition: 142. Kriz, J., D. Huggins, C. Freeman, J. Kastens. 2007. Assessment of Floodplain Wetlands of the Lower Missouri River Using a Reference-based Study Approach. Open-file Report No. 142. Kansas Biological Survey, Lawrence, KS. 63 pp.

 

Lakes

The RTAG has completed its work on lakes and is now writing a document describing these efforts. During the lake meetings, the RTAG developed a list of reference lakes located in USEPA Region 7.

• List of reference lakes.
• Guidelines to select reference lakes.
• Lake database (xls)
• Dzialowski, A.R., S.H. Wang, N.L. Lim, J.H. Beury, and D.G. Huggins. 2008. Effects of sediment resuspension on nutrient concentrations and algal biomass in reservoirs of the Central Plains. Lake and Reservoir Management 24(4):313-320.

Map of lakes in USEPA Region 7 RTAG database, with Omernik Level III ecoregions.

 

Streams

• Slide presentation of RTAG work (pdf)
• Stream database (MSAccess)
• CPCB Nutrient/Reference Streams Project Page
• Thresholds in macroinvertebrate biodiversity across water quality gradients in central plains lotic ecosystems, M.A. Evans-White, W. Dodds, D. Huggins, D.Baker, NABS 2008 (pdf)
• Evans-White, M.A., W.K. Dodds, D.G. Huggins, and D.S. Baker. 2009. Threshold patterns in aquatic biodiversity across water quality gradients in Central Plains streams and rivers. J. N. Am. Benthol. Soc. 28(4):855–868.
  

Map of stream sites in USEPA Region 7 database, ecoregion legend is above.

 

US EPA Region 7 Nutrient Criteria Workgroup Members

• Name (Click name for e-mail)	Affiliation (Click name to go to organization's website)
  Baker, Debbie	CPCB
  Bender, John	Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
  Carney, Ed	Kansas Department of Health and Environment
  Dodds, Walter	Kansas State University
  Downing , John	Iowa State University
  Holz , John	University of Nebraska, Lincoln
  Huggins, Don	CPCB
  Jacobs , Ann	USEPA Region 7
  Olson, John	Iowa Department of Natural Resources
  Osborn, Mark	Missouri Department of Natural Resources
  Welker, Gary	RTAG Coordinator - USEPA Region 7