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Wetlands provide many functional values in the ecosystem, among them:
Shoreline Protection. Shoreline vegetation absorbs the force of waves and currents, protecting against erosion. Roots of wetland plants hold together lake shores and streambanks.
Flood Protection. By storing runoff from heavy rain and snowmelt, wetlands reduce flood damage.
Water Quality Protection. Wetlands store and filter pollutants such as sediment and the nutrients in sediment. Also, wetlands can transform some pollutants into non-polluting forms.
Groundwater Recharge and Discharge. Some wetlands recharge groundwater by moving surface water into the groundwater system. Groundwater discharge occurs when groundwater flows to the surface and into streams, lakes and wetlands. This discharge is especially important in summer, providing stream baseflows critical to aquatic life.
Animal and Plant Habitat. Many animals spend their lives in wetlands, while others use wetlands for feeding, breeding, resting, nesting, escape cover, or travel corridors. Wetland plants provide food and shelter for many animal species. Over 60% of vertebrate animal species listed as threatened or endangered in Illinois utilize wetlands for at least part of their life cycle.
Forestry BMPs in wetlands protect water quality from erosion and minimize changes to the surface and sub-surface water movement. Changing the surface and sub-surface water movement can affect the health of the wetland ecosystem and its flood protection function.
Activities in wetlands are often subject to municipal, county, state, and federal permit and regulatory requirements. Some of these requirements are listed in Appendix B: Federal and State Regulations. If you suspect your project may involve a wetland and want to know whether regulations apply, contact the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) or U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE).
Many Illinois wetlands, particularly forested bottomlands, do not contain standing water much of the year and are therefore not obvious to the casual observer. Maps from the Illinois Wetland Inventory can help you make a preliminary definition as to whether your project will affect wetlands. Illinois Wetland Inventory maps may be reviewed at county NRCS offices.
General BMPs
If at all possible, avoid locating roads and landings in wetlands; otherwise use extreme caution.
Whenever possible, forest management activities in wetlands should occur on frozen ground during the winter to minimize rutting.
For activities in wetlands, consider allowing more flexibility for completion dates in timber sale contracts to allow the logger time to complete logging activities during firm ground conditions.
Identify streamside management zones along all streams and lakes. For more information, see Streamside Management Zones.
Do not move slash from upland sites into a wetland.
Keep slash out of open water.
Only use pesticides labeled for use in wetlands.
Avoid equipment maintenance and fueling in wetlands. (See Chemical Use)
Roads, Skid Trails, and Landings
Temporary roads, skid trails, and landings require firm or frozen ground. Permanent roads in wetlands that require road-fill material must follow existing regulations and be built carefully to avoid restricting the natural waterflow of the wetland under the road.
Construct upland road approaches to wetlands so that surface runoff is diverted away from the road so the runoff does not enter the wetland. (See the Drainage Structures section in Forest Roads.)
If landings are necessary in a wetland, build them to the minimum size required for the operation and to achieve the landowner's objective.
Avoid operating equipment in areas of open water, springs, or seeps.
Provide for adequate cross-road drainage to minimize changes to natural surface and subsurface flow in the wetland.
For permanent fill roads, use permeable fill material for at least the first layer of fill, and install culverts or bridges a minimum of 300 feet apart and at all natural drainageways. Install at least one drainage structure at each wetland crossing.
For temporary roads, provide adequate cross-road drainage at all natural drainageways. Temporary drainage structures include culverts, bridges and porous material such as corduroy. Temporary non-organic structures, such as metal culverts and bridges, should be removed promptly when work is complete.
Equipment operations should cease before rutting becomes excessive.
Use low-ground pressure equipment, such as wide-tire or tracked equipment, if necessary to minimize rutting.
Minimize rutting in wetlands by operating on firm or frozen ground that can support the equipment used. To achieve this: 1) Operate equipment on a day-to-day basis depending on weather conditions; and 2) Consider using corduroy or rubber mats to improve the soils ability to support traffic.
In the winter:
To promote frost penetration, compact snow, grass and brush.
As air temperatures rise above freezing, equipment operation beyond late morning may create ruts. Soil frost begins to disappear when night temperatures stay above freezing for three or four consecutive nights.
In the summer:
Operate equipment only when soils are dry enough to support equipment.
Federal Requirements for Forest Roads in Wetlands
Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act regulates the placement of fill (including roadbeds) into wetlands and waters of the United States. The following 15 BMPs must be implemented in order to qualify for the silvicultural exemption from a federal section 404 permit when building a temporary or permanent road or skid trail in a wetland (33 CFR part 323.4). The silvicultural exemption is only applicable when the primary purpose of the road is for normal silvicultural purposes. This listing is an attempt to explain the 15 BMPs in lay language. The exact language of the law may be obtained by contacting the Army Corps of Engineers.
1. Limit the number, length, and width of roads and skid trails to the minimum necessary to accomplish the landowner's objective.
2. Locate roads outside streamside management zones except at stream crossings. For more information, see Streamside Management Zones.
3. Road fill must be bridged, culverted, or otherwise designed to prevent restriction of expected flood flows.
4. Properly stabilize and maintain road fill material during and after road construction to prevent erosion.
5. While building a road with fill material, minimize the use of road construction equipment in the wetland area that lies outside the boundaries of the road fill.
6. Minimize disturbance of vegetation while designing, constructing, and maintaining roads.
7. Correctly design, construct and maintain wetland road crossings to avoid disrupting the migration or movement of fish and other aquatic life.
8. Use fill from upland sources whenever feasible.
9. Place fill in a way that does not take or jeopardize the continued existence of a threatened or endangered species (as defined under the Endangered Species Act) or adversely modify or destroy the critical habitat of such species.
10. Avoid placing fill in breeding and nesting areas for migratory waterfowl, in spawning areas, and in wetlands if practical alternatives exist.
11. Fill shall not be placed near a public water supply intake.
12. Fill shall not be placed in areas of concentrated shellfish or mussel production.
13. Fill shall not be placed in waterbodies or on land regarded as part of the National Wild and Scenic River System.
14. Use fill, free of toxic levels of pollutants.
15. Completely remove all temporary fills and restore the area to its original elevation.
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