| This month, we put our boots on the ground and visited several wetland locations within the West Weber Project Area candidate. With a record-breaking snowpack from the previous winter and one and half consecutive years with above-normal precipitation, current conditions are particularly wet. So what were we looking for out there? What are wetlands? According to the Wetland Condition Report for the Weber River Watershed that the Utah Geological Survey completed in 2016, “wetlands are areas where the ground is wet or saturated during at least part of the growing season”. Per the same report, staff from the Utah Geological Survey (UGS) conducted wetland assessments at 72 sites in the Weber River watershed in the summer of 2014. Sites were evaluated for indicators of wetland health and wetland stress. The survey found that wetland condition generally improves with increasing elevation, although non-native plant species are problematic throughout the watershed. Other impacts common in some areas of the watershed include altered hydrology, extensive soil disturbance, potentially polluted water inputs, and confined landscape settings. The data that was collected during UGS’s survey in 2014 currently informs the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) for wetlands in the Weber River watershed. The map below shows the currently designated wetlands per UGS and the NWI. |
