The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) continues to promote wetlands and the importance they provide, including a suite of ecosystem services. This involves everything from fish and wildlife habitat, microclimate regulation, nutrient and sediment capture and storage, water storage to reduce flooding, and carbon storage with resulting benefits for climate change mitigation. The scope of these services may be significantly affected by surrounding land cover, including variations in forest density and canopy leaf area.
Thus, NRCS wants landowners to know about webinar that will be held May 11 at 1:00 p.m. eastern. Dr. Katie Glodzik and Dr. Esther Lee with the University of Florida School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatic Sciences will present a new model-based tool and associated findings on the influence of upland forest management on wetland and landscape-scale hydrologic functions. Findings may be used to inform management practices that increase water yield, improve wetland functions, and support targeted wetlands restoration efforts in the future. Model results related to the influence of wetland hydrology on carbon sequestration and the potential to increase the carbon storage capacity of wetlands will be discussed. While the focus of this presentation is on geographically isolated wetlands in Coastal Plain pine forests of the southeastern U.S., trends may be leveraged to inform management of a diversity of wetlands landscapes.
Registration is not required, but you are invited to visit the Conservation Outcomes Webinar Series webpage for additional information, including a link to access the live event.