Andrew Puskas
EVR4027
Reservoir Analysis
Introduction
Wetlands are a key element of the environment.
They serve as a habitat for many plants and animals. Wetlands aren’t just a rich
environment for biodiversity but also provide unique natural processes that clean and
balance our environment as a whole. Unfortunately people haven’t always been aware of
the importance of wetlands and the role they play in our world.
Description
I’ve been doing research at the C.W. Bill Young Regional Reservoir, which is in
Lithia, Florida. The reservoir is surrounded by approximately 5000 acres of habitat
restoration. Among those 5000 acres a large portion are restored wetlands. I’ve been
working around the wetlands of this facility since November 13th 2014 and have been
continually making observations of the wetlands surrounding the reservoir parameter. On
average, not including the reservoir, the area is approximately 30 percent water to 70
percent vegetation but much of the land is lowland and is flooded periodically due to
runoff, drainage, and rainfall. Most of the wetland is sloped and manipulated in order to
compensate for the large raised reservoir in the middle of the property. The climate of the
area is very humid due to the amount of water in the area and mostly warm year round
because of its location in Florida.
Vegetation
Within the wetland areas of the reservoir
I noticed several identifiable wetland species. In the third photo, from the shoreline, there
was algae and pennywort. The first photo is of some pickerel weed, I didn’t see many
with purple flowers but the shape of the leaves and stem helped me identify them. The
second photo is of a large spade-like leaves similar to pickerel weed but very large. I was
unsure of the name of these plants but they were emergent plants in dense clusters near
the shoreline. The only submergent plants I could see were small ½ inch alternating
leaves that coated the bottom of the deeper water.
Water
The wetlands of the C.W. Bill Young property show several different types of
hydrology. The first is permanently flooded in the areas of ponds.
Close by these ponds there were areas of temporarily flooded areas that were damp at the
surface and showed signs of moving water but did not hold standing water for a long
period. Another area showed signs of seasonal flooding most likely due to more silt/clay
near the surface causing water to remain standing for a longer period of time. The ponds
surrounding the reservoir had pipelines for the purpose of drainage and flood prevention.
These precautions are necessarily in this area due to the height of the reservoir
containment and the displaced soils. This would affect the plant life of the previously
stated areas and is one reason why the restored wetland is not as productive as naturally
occurring wetlands.
Soils
The soils of the area are hydric due to several visual observations. The first
observation is the saturation level of the surface soils. The saturation could be observed
by visual moisture on the surface of the soil and by the softness when walking on the soil.
Another observation leading towards hydric soil was the layer of decaying organic matter
in areas of the soil surface. The final observation was the silt observed in the soils texture,
which I would describe as very dark gray silty fine sand.
Wetland Classification
The area surrounding the C.W. Bill Young Reservoir is a wetland based on its;
hydric soils, that promote the holding of water and minerals, hydrophyte plant life,
mostly emergent species, and the hydrological characteristics, permanently and
seasonally flooded regions. Overall I would say that this wetland would be categorized as
an inland freshwater marsh because it is non-tidal and away from the coast. According to
the Cowardin system it would be classified as a Palustrine (P), due to the lowland
characteristics. Emergent (EM) due to the majority of vegetation. Persistent (1) because
the plant life is consistent throughout. Seasonally flooded/ saturated (E.) due to the mix of
permanently flooded and seasonal flooded areas. Organic (g) for soil because I couldn’t
see any signs of iron or mineral build up but organic matter was visible.
Conclusion
Overall there are both artificial and naturally
occurring wetlands around the reservoir. The artificial wetlands are the permanently
flooded (pond like) regions that serve the purpose of drainage and runoff compensation
for the raised elevation of the reservoir. This can be seen in the above photos where the
mount around the reservoir fills with rain fall and drains into the wetland. On the other
side on the artificial wetlands are naturally occurring seasonally flooded wetlands that
serve for natural balance and cleaning. Without the artificial permanent wetlands the
natural wetlands surrounding the reservoir would be overly flooded and could be
damaged or even lost.