Wetland quality status and trends monitoring

Research Scientist John Genet collects a water sample from a bog pond in St. Louis County. The sampling is part of the MN Wetland Condition Assessment to begin monitoring wetland quality status and trends for all types in the state.

The MPCA employs a probabilistic, or random, monitoring approach to track the overall status and trends of wetland quality in Minnesota. Probabilistic monitoring simply refers to the process of randomly selecting sites to monitor; from which, an unbiased estimate of the resource can be made. Changes (or stability) of wetland quality (i.e., trends) is then determined by repeating probabilistic surveys over time. The process is similar to that of an opinion or political poll where the results of an overall population can be estimated and tracked over time by randomly surveying a limited number of individuals over several iterations.

The MPCA is a leader in developing and implementing wetland probabilistic monitoring. It is the primary wetland monitoring activity at the MPCA, and several efforts have been completed or are currently in progress. Initially, a pilot project was completed in 2006 that describes the overall Assessing the quantity and quality of depressional wetlands in the Redwood River Watershed utilizing a probabilistic sampling design. Building on this success and moving forward on recommendations from the state wetland monitoring strategy, the MPCA is currently engaged in two ongoing projects to monitor wetland quality status and trends on a statewide basis.

Depressional wetland assessment

From 2007-09, more than 150 randomly selected depressional wetlands were sampled to provide the first status estimate of wetland quality for each of Minnesota's major ecoregions and statewide. Invertebrate and plant IBIs are the primary assessment indicators used in the survey. The depressional wetland baseline status report has been completed and a second iteration of monitoring was conducted in 2012.

Minnesota wetland condition assessment

From 2011-12, the MPCA conducted sampling for the Minnesota Wetland Condition Assessment (MWCA), which is a statewide survey that will include all wetland types (not just depressional wetlands). The MWCA will primarily focus on describing plant community conditions using the Floristic Quality Assessment as the assessment approach. The MWCA is being done in conjunction with EPA's National Wetland Condition Assessment, which is one of EPA's National Aquatic Resource Surveys designed to assess the overall condition of the nation's waters.

How are Minnesota's wetlands doing?

To see the latest wetland status and and trend results, visit the How are Minnesota's wetlands doing page.

Future monitoring cycles

Subsequent rounds of the MWCA and depressional wetland monitoring will be synchronized with EPA's NWCA five-year rotating National Aquatic Resource Survey schedule, with the next sampling iteration scheduled for 2016. This will provide the MPCA with a sustained ability to monitor wetland quality status and trends to complement the DNR's wetland quantity status and trends report and ultimately, help determine whether Minnesota is meeting the no net loss wetland policy.

Reports

• Status and Trends of Wetlands in Minnesota — Depressional Wetland Quality Baseline (wq-bwm1-06)
• Survey design of Minnesota's depressional wetland quality assessment (wq-bwm6-05)
• Assessing the quantity and quality of depressional wetlands in the Redwood River Watershed utilizing a probabilistic sampling design (wq-bwm6-02)

For more information

For more information about wetland monitoring and assessment at the MPCA, contact Michael Bourdaghs at 651-757-2239