Wetland Mitigation
Spotsylvania County, VA
In response to unavoidable wetlands impact for the Hunting Run reservoir construction, Spotsylvania County was required to develop a wetlands mitigation program. HSMM designed and permitted the 11.7-acre Butzner wetlands mitigation site for Spotsylvania County.
Current mitigation monitoring involves planning and design of hydrologic and vegetative monitoring over a 10-year period.
Hydrologic monitoring consists of measuring groundwater elevations in several monitoring wells.
HSMM utilizes automated infrared data collectors in the wells. These data collectors reduce labor costs and increase accuracy and quantity of data by automatically measuring water levels at routine intervals.
The initial mitigation work involved monitoring of vegetative planting and native species development; installation of 282 vegetative monitoring stations; documentation of wildlife; and quantitative monitoring of tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant species in terms of density counts, species types, and quantification of facultative and obligate wetlands species.
Stream bank stabilization and bioengineering have also been installed along Massaponax Creek.
Success criteria under the USACE and DEQ permits have been met or exceeded.
The Spotsylvania County Butzner wetlands mitigation site is an excellent example of successful wetlands mitigation where wetlands functions have been preserved including suitable wildlife habitat, vegetative development, and water storage. |
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