Welcome to the USC Wetland Program -
Home of the Chesapeake Bay Wetland Champions

The USC Wetland Program includes restoration, construction, conservation, protection and research with our partners. The USC wetland program has filled a relatively unoccupied niche in the wetland world. Wetland projects are successfully implemented by the combined efforts of specialized USC staff and program partners in a “vertically and horizontally integrated” system. This system combines wetland site identification, evaluation, delineation, survey, design, and monitoring with construction and heavy equipment expertise and allows the USC wetland program to complete any wetland project.

Wetland Program Updates: We are currently working on a basin-wide in-lieu fee and mitigation banking prospectus that will continue to expand the program's watershed-based wetland focus. We have finalized contracts for work in selected state forests throughout the watershed on wetland complex creation. This 800,000 project is funded by a GIGP Stimulus Grant visit our Wetland Projects page to learn more

The criteria for projects include a preference the headwaters areas of a watershed, interested landowners, soils that are hydric or have potential and of course flatter topography is preferred. We prefer to develop wetland complexes rather than a single pool, with variable depths and sizes and landscape types to increase diversity. We subscribe to the concept of “Variable Source Hydrology” to help select specific sites.

The USC Wetland Program has three major goals:

• Attenuate Floods: Wetlands, especially in the headwaters of a watershed, through their water holding capabilities and vegetation, can desynchronize rainfall runoff events, thus reducing flood peaks and downstream erosion. Novitzki (1985) found that a watershed with about five percent wetlands could have a 50 percent reduction in peak flood flows compared to a watershed that had none.
• Enhance Water Quality: Wetlands retain sediment and nutrients during rainfall events and can be an important nutrient and sediment sink.
• Increase Wildlife and Habitat Diversity: Wetland complexes provide unique habitats that increase species diversity and habitat connectivity

This Brochure describes the USC as Wetland Champions Page 1 - Page 2 (pdf)

 

Contact us For more information on these projects and other projects