Ecological Benefit Descriptions
 

1. Benefit threatened/endangered species: Habitat to support threatened/endangered species will be directly benefited.

2. Create buffers from physical disturbances: Restoration activities would buffer an existing natural area from nearby physical disturbances.

3. Expand/restore/enhance natural community: Increase the spatial extent of a natural community.

4. Improve/protect aquifer recharge: Restoration activities would contribute to improving or protecting aquifer recharge.

5. Improve/protect water quality: Eliminating or controlling nutrient, chemical or other contaminant sources nearby or on this unit will add to improving overall water quality of the system or decrease nutrient loading to the soils/sediments within waterways.

6. Improve/restore fish and wildlife habitat: Restoration activities would specifically benefit fish and wildlife species.

7. Improve/restore hydrologic connections: Improving hydrologic connections (natural flow) affects the transport of materials into and out of wetland systems; also affects the ability to receive flood waters and moderate flow, receive and improve surface water run-off. Wetlands disconnected and reconnected may also have an improved hydroperiod.

8. Improve/restore normal hydrology: Improving/restoring normal hydrology affects the systems ability for normal biogeochemical processing. Although restoring hydrologic connection, may improve/restore the hydroperiod, the ecological benefit is different. For isolated wetlands by nature are not hydrologically connected to other wetlands and surface water bodies.

9. Protect cultural resource: Cultural resources will be protected as a direct result of this project.