Home

St. Paul District

Run scraper

2013-00984-RMG (Winnebago County

Basic information

Fill out these two fields at minimum.

— or —

How Big?

Where?

Links to source documents

Raw text

You can copy from here when filling out the rest of the page.

PUBLIC NOTICE: The sponsor is proposing to develop the Bohn Wetland ILF site (Bohn site). The proposed ILF site is approximately 84.5 acres in size, including upland buffer areas.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE: The sponsor is proposing to develop the Bohn Wetland ILF site (Bohn site). The proposed ILF site is approximately 84.5 acres in size, including upland buffer areas. This property is proposed as part of the Wisconsin Wetland Conservation Trust (WWCT) ILF program in the Fox Service Area. The intent of the Bohn site project is to offset at least 35 advanced credits sold by the WWCT in the Fox Service Area.

SPONSOR:

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR): Wisconsin Wetland Conservation Trust In-Lieu Fee (ILF) program

REFER TO: MVP-2013-00984-RMG

Public Notice ISSUED: 20 October, 2017 EXPIRES: 20 November, 2017

SECTION:404 - Clean Water Act

1. WETLAND COMPENSATORY MITIGATION: ILF SITE PROPOSAL 2. SPECIFIC INFORMATION SPONSOR'S ADDRESS:

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wisconsin Wetland Conservation Trust (WWCT) ILF program 101 S. Webster Street P.O. Box 7921 Madison, Wisconsin 53707

PROJECT LOCATION: The project site is located in the SW quarter of Section 18 of Township 19 North, Range 14 East, Winnebago County, Wisconsin. The approximate coordinates are 44.11435 degrees North, -88.87170 degrees East.

SERVICE AREA: The proposed ILF service area is the Fox service area.

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT: The sponsor is proposing to develop the Bohn Wetland ILF site (Bohn site). The proposed ILF site is approximately 84.5 acres in size, including upland buffer areas.

NEED AND OBJECTIVE OF PROJECT: This property is proposed as part of the WWCT ILF program in the Fox Service Area. The intent of the Bohn site project is to offset at least 35 advanced credits sold by the WWCT in the Fox Service Area. The wetland communities targeted for restoration have been selected based on site conditions and by utilizing the WWCT Compensation Planning Framework (CPF) which prioritizes the restoration and enhancement of sedge meadows, fresh (wet) meadows, wet to wet-mesic prairies, and floodplain forests within the Fox Service Area. The sponsor proposes to target several of these communities as part of the Bohn site restoration plan. The proposed mitigation project is expected to improve the entire 84.5 acre project parcel. The proposed project is anticipated to result in the enhancement of approximately 20 acres of hardwood swamp, reestablishment of 9.5 acres of hardwood swamp, rehabilitation of approximately 11 acres of sedge meadow or wet prairie, reestablishment of approximately 30.5 acres of sedge meadow or wet prairie, and enhancement of approximately 13.5 acres of wetland and upland buffer (primarily to wet or dry prairie). The sponsor estimates that the proposed improvements may generate approximately 51.25 wetland mitigation credits. However, acreages and locations of proposed wetland communities may be adjusted after preconstruction surveys are completed. A complete soil survey is proposed along with a wetland delineation. This information will be utilized to determine which communities will be most successful in each area of the mitigation site. Finally, the proposed project would include

Regulatory Branch (2013-00984-RMG, Fox Service Area: Bohn site) some match funding, and the overall potential credits the site may otherwise generate will be reduced proportionally to offset non-ILF funded contributions. The proposed site is in keeping with the WWCT program CPF by proposing to restore portions of the Bohn site to sedge meadow and wet to wet-mesic prairies. The Wolf River 8-digit HUC watershed has seen an estimated 58.17% loss in sedge meadows and a 59.59% loss in wet to wet-mesic prairies. The sponsor believes that targeting these two communities as the primary cover type will offset some of the historic losses by bringing back community types that have suffered significant loss in the watershed.

ESTABLISHMENT, OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT: The Bohn site is currently drained by a series of interconnected ditches. There are no known drain tiles on site; however, the sponsor has proposed to complete a tile survey during pre-construction survey work. The sponsor proposes to excavate shallow scrapes onsite to generate enough material to fill ditches and restore hydrology. The sponsor proposes to restore the existing farm fields to native wetlands such as hardwood swamp, wet prairie, and sedge meadow in addition to enhancing the existing hardwood swamp and planting the upland buffer to dry prairie. The existing hardwood swamp has suffered extensive damage from loss of ash trees due to emerald ash borer which has opened up the canopy and reed canary grass has moved into the understory. The sponsor proposes to plant additional trees amongst the existing, healthy trees while also managing the understory to reduce the reed canary grass cover. This existing swamp area is squared off, and the sponsor proposes softening those boundaries to look more natural by planting additional hardwood swamp in the areas adjacent to the existing swamp. The remainder of the agricultural field will be planted to a native herbaceous community appropriate to the hydrology and soils of the site, wet prairie and sedge meadow communities are anticipated. Approximately 100 feet adjacent to County Highway B will act as a native buffer, either wetland or upland, and any additional upland areas will be restored to upland prairie to add to the habitat diversity for local fauna. Invasive species at the Bohn site are proposed to be managed primarily by controlled burning, herbicide applications, and mowing. Proposed wetland reestablishment, rehabilitation, and enhancement areas will be seeded and planted with appropriate, native, plant communities that are representative of the historic ecosystems that occur within the watershed and landscape. The sponsor is actively researching the area to locate a reference quality wetland community. If identified, this reference site will be used to inform hydrologic and/or vegetative performance standards. There are a few state natural areas in the county and in neighboring counties that may be used for vegetative references if they are found to have similar hydrology and soils. The state owns land to the west of the Bohn site. This property may be used as a hydrologic reference site if there are no drainage features and the site is in a similar landscape position as the restoration site. Performance and monitoring standards will be used to evaluate development and overall success of the mitigation project. The sponsor proposes to monitor the success of this wetland restoration project by setting performance standards based on the target hydrology and vegetation. At the end of each year of the 10-year monitoring period, the sponsor proposes remedial work if performance standards are not met. The sponsor proposes to implement an adaptive management plan when appropriate to increase the success of the wetland restoration. A detailed short-term and long-term management plan will be developed and submitted to the Corps as part of the Bohn site compensation site plan.

Page 2 of 6

Regulatory Branch (2013-00984-RMG, Fox Service Area: Bohn site)

OWNERSHIP AND LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT: The property is in the process of being donated to the sponsor. The sponsor proposes to administer wetland mitigation design, construction, and maintenance services for the Bohn site. The sponsor will retain ownership of the property and proposes to place a covenant on the land to protect it in perpetuity. The sponsor is in the process of requesting proposals for environmental consultants to bid on the planning, construction, monitoring, and maintenance of the mitigation site under the WWCT program's oversight. The sponsor will also be responsible for the long-term management of the property. The sponsor proposes to incorporate management of the mitigation site into the management program for a 90 acre site currently owned by the WDNR Wildlife Program (Wildlife Program) immediately adjacent to the Bohn site, to the east. The sponsor is proposing that the Wildlife Program will act as the primary contact with an environmental consulting company conducting the majority of the site planning, construction oversight, and monitoring/maintenance through the 10-year monitoring period. The sponsor has proposed that Wildlife Program staff be the primary long-term managing steward.

TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY AND QUALIFICATIONS: The existing soils at the Bohn site are primarily clay and silty clay with groundwater typically within two feet of the ground surface based on Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) soil survey data. The capacity of these soils to hold water and their proximity to the groundwater table make them well suited to the proposed mitigation plan. Average annual precipitation and evapotranspiration are roughly equal at approximately 32 inches per year. Therefore, the sponosor expects that lower areas and areas that have shallow scrapes will be saturated or have shallow standing water during spring and will gradually lose water through the summer. The sponsor expects that the local high groundwater table will help support plant communities during drier months. The Bohn site has a vast network of very shallow ditches running throughout the property. The sponsor proposes to construct very shallow scrapes (as shallow as possible) throughout the site to generate enough material to fill these ditches. Any scrapes proposed will be constructed in a way to limit standing water conditions to just the wettest few weeks of the year, the sponsor is not proposing permanent standing water on any portion of the Bohn site. The majority of the ditches are on average around 6-12" deep and 12-18" wide. Restoration of the site's hydrology will focus mainly on disabling this drainage network. A drainage ditch along the County Road B must remain in place and un-altered for public safety reasons. The sponsor will calculate the expected lateral effect of this ditch, but does not expect this ditch to have an appreciable hydrologic impact on the Bohn site. The sponsor does not believe that the proposed work will have any hydrologic impacts to neighboring parcels. Further investigation into any potential impacts will occur during pre-construction surveys. WDNR staff will be the primary contacts for this project. WWCT and Wildlife Program staff are proposing to work together to develop the general goals and vision for the project. The WWCT team has experience in wetland restoration and wetland mitigation across the state. In addition, the Wildlife Program staff have extensive experience in the Fox Watershed with land management of restoration efforts. The combination of these experts will ensure a consistent approach to wetland mitigation and a wealth of local knowledge about the challenges posed to wetland restoration unique to this area. Additional WDNR ecologists and wetland experts will also be consulted during the development of the compensation site and long-term management plans. The sponsor will contract additional resources who the sponsor proposes to act as the primary project contact moving forward with the compensation site plan development, pre-construction monitoring, construction management, and monitoring and maintenance over the 10-year monitoring period. The WWCT program will only select

Page 3 of 6

Regulatory Branch (2013-00984-RMG, Fox Service Area: Bohn site) a consultant that has experience with wetland restoration and project management and anticipate that this consultant will have experience with wetland mitigation as well. Any consultant retained will work closely with WDNR staff to develop a wetland restoration plan that is sustainable and in keeping with the WWCT Fox Service Area goals for the Bohn site.

ECOLOGICAL SUITABILITY: The proposed mitigation plan was developed by the sponsor to take advantage of the natural site features for each mitigation plant community. Forested wetlands, wet mesic prairie, sedge meadow, and upland plant communities have been proposed in locations shown on the attached mitigation plan based primarily on analysis of existing topography, soil types, and locations of existing plant communities. The Bohn site is very close to Lake Poygan and will offer additional water quality services by reducing nutrient and sediment runoff from the site into the lake. The site is almost entirely mapped as potentially restorable wetland, and while some wetlands may currently exist within the agricultural fields, the sponsor believes a good portion of the site is effectively drained and can benefit greatly by simply filling in the existing drainage ditches to restore hydrology and planting the site to a suite of native plant communities. The majority of the Bohn site has been row-cropped for decades. Because of the intensive rowcropping history, very few invasive species have been observed within the farm fields. The Bohn site was left fallow during the 2017 growing season and the sponsor observed many facultative-upland and upland species colonizing the site with some lower areas colonized by more wet-tolerant species. The sponsor proposes to plant winter wheat or soy beans for the final growing season before construction to manage the vegetation prior to restoration. The forested wetland adjacent to the WDNR parcel of land to the east and a small un-cropped area between the forest community and County Highway B are dominated by reed canary grass. This area will be the focus of invasive species management early on in the restoration efforts through the use of seasonally-timed chemical control and mowing. Finally, the sponsor has indicated that the drainage features on site, while small in size, appear to be very effective. There is a network of drainage swales that seem to move water off of the site rather quickly. By completely filling in these areas, the sponsor believes they will be able to restore close-tohistoric hydrologic conditions on the Bohn site.

HYDROLOGY: The sponsor does not anticipate that activities on the Bohn site will result in adverse changes to the existing discharge of stormwater from the site. The majority of the hydrology proposed to be restored is proposed to come from filling the network of shallow ditches found throughout the Bohn site restoration area along with a few shallow scrapes to generate the ditch fill. The sponsor is proposing the hydrology of the site to range from shallow standing water during the wet spring season to drier upland in high spots found around the site. The Bohn site is relatively flat, so a small hydrologic change is anticipated to have a broad lateral effect, re-hydrating the historically drained wetland soils. Drainage tiles or tile outlets have not been observed during field visits but the sponsor has proposed to conduct a tile survey during the pre-construction period. If tile tiles are found, the whole site will be mapped for tile lines and a plan will be developed to completely remove or effectively disable tiles using accepted NRCS technical standards.

CURRENT LAND USES: The current land use on the Bohn site is primarily agricultural with the exception of approximately 20 acres of forested wetland area and approximately 8 acres of pasture. The amount of pre-existing wetland area on site has not been delineated at this time. Historical aerial

Page 4 of 6

Regulatory Branch (2013-00984-RMG, Fox Service Area: Bohn site) photographs depict agricultural use on the Bohn site for at least the last 80 years. The sponsor has anticipates work on the Bohn site to result in the enhancement of approximately 20 acres of hardwood swamp, re-establishment of approximately 9.5 acres of hardwood swamp, re-establishment of approximately 30.5 acres of sedge meadow, rehabilitation of approximately 11 acres of sedge meadow, and enhancement of approximately 13.5 acres of wetland and upland buffer. Dominant species within each area will be consistent with similar native plant communities in the surrounding area. The sponsor anticipates that the proposed project will significantly reduce sediment and nutrient loading from the agricultural fields, attenuate stormwater runoff from the site, and create wildlife habitat.

COORDINATION WITH RESOURCE AGENCIES: This project has been coordinated with the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

3. FEDERALLY-LISTED THREATENED OR ENDANGERED WILDLIFE OR PLANTS OR THEIR CRITICAL HABITAT None were identified by the bank sponsor or are known to exist in the action area. However, Winnebago County is within the known historic range for the following Federally-listed species: Northern Long-Eared Bat

Hibernates in caves and mines ­ swarming in surrounding wooded areas in autumn. Roosts and forages in upland forests during spring and summer.

Whooping Crane

Open wetlands and lakeshores.

Snuffbox Mussel

Mississippi River.

Eastern Prairie Fringed Orchid

Wet grasslands.

This notice is being coordinated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Any comments it may have concerning Federally-listed threatened or endangered wildlife or plants or their critical habitat will be considered in our final assessment of the described work.

4. JURISDICTION This proposal is being reviewed in accordance with the practices for documenting Corps jurisdiction under Sections 9 & 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 and Section 404 of the Clean Water Act identified in Regulatory Guidance Letter 16-01.

5. HISTORICAL/ARCHAEOLOGICAL The Corps will review information on known cultural resources and/or historic properties within and adjacent to the project area. The Corps will also consider the potential effects of the project on any properties that have yet to be identified. The results of this review and the Corps' determination of effect will be coordinated with the State Historic Preservation Officer independent of this public notice.

Page 5 of 6

Regulatory Branch (2013-00984-RMG, Fox Service Area: Bohn site) Any adverse effects on historic properties will be resolved prior to the Corps authorization of the work in connection with this project.

6.

PUBLIC HEARING REQUESTS

Any person may request, in writing, within the comment period specified in this notice, that a public hearing be held to consider this application. Requests for public hearings shall state, in detail, the reasons for holding a public hearing. A request may be denied if substantive reasons for holding a hearing are not provided or if there is otherwise no valid interest to be served.

7.

REPLIES/COMMENTS

Interested parties are invited to submit to this office written facts, arguments, or objections within 30 days of the date of this notice. These statements should bear upon the suitability of the location and the adequacy of the project and should, if appropriate, suggest any changes believed to be desirable. Comments received may be forwarded to the applicant. A copy of the full prospectus submitted by the Sponsor is available to the public for review upon request. Replies may be addressed to:

Rebecca Graser, Wisconsin Program Manager Regulatory Branch St. Paul District Corps of Engineers 250 N. Sunnyslope Road, Suite 296 Brookfield, WI 53005

Or, IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE PROJECT, call Rebecca Graser at the Brookfield, Wisconsin office of the Corps, telephone number (651) 290-5728. To receive Public Notices by e-mail, go to: http://mvp-extstp/list_server/ and add your information in the New Registration Box.

Chad Konickson, Chief, Regulatory Branch Enclosure(s)

Page 6 of 6

2013-00984-RMG, Bohn ILF site (Fox Service Area), Page 1 of 5

2013-00984-RMG, Bohn ILF site (Fox Service Area), Page 2 of 5

2013-00984-RMG, Bohn ILF site (Fox Service Area), Page 3 of 5

2013-00984-RMG, Bohn ILF site (Fox Service Area), Page 4 of 5

2013-00984-RMG, Bohn ILF site (Fox Service Area), Page 5 of 5

Rough impact

We use the fields in this section to decide whether to conduct an in-depth review.

Permit Manager

Dates

Identity numbers

Permits, certifications, and locations related to this particular notice

History of edits

Data are available as CSV download in the following schemas