Wetlands Science Series

Prerequisites: Familiarity with Window 2000 operating system highly recommended, basic college level statistics course also helpful

Course description: A refresher course in statistics with emphasis on examples from wetlands science.Topics will include probability models and distributions, statistical measures of central tendency and spread, applications of the normal distribution, hypothesis testing, one way analysis of variance and comparisons of means, linear regression and correlation and analysis of frequency tables. Calculators and the MINITAB statistical package will be used.

Class format: 50% lecture and 50% computer exercises.

Instructor: Steve Obrebski

Duration: 4 Days, 3.2 CEU

Cost: $860

Prerequisites: Basic Wetland Delineation Course

Course description: This course will expand upon the wetland delineation principles discussed in the basic wetland delineation course. The course will focus on implementing the delineation procedures described in the Arid West and Western Mountains, Valleys and Coast Supplemental Delineation Manuals. Students will learn how to document vegetation, soil, and hydrology using Comprehensive Wetland Delineation techniques. Upon completion of the course students will be able to develop a wetland hydrology monitoring program, determine plant species composition and percent cover using transect sampling/direct sampling techniques, and analyze soil characteristics useful in wetland delineation using field and laboratory techniques. In addition, the course will discuss the new wetland delineation submittal requirements established by the Army Corps of Engineers to determine if identified wetlands and waters are federally-regulated according to the SWANCC and the Rapanos/Carabell Supreme Court decisions. This course will not cover how evaluate a "significant nexus" according to the June 5, 2007 guidance issued by the Corps. At this time, it appears that the Army Corps and EPA have determined that every drainageway has a "significant nexus" no matter how small or far away from the traditional navigable water. Rather, the course will describe methods and procedures for collecting and presenting the data requested by the Army Corps. Such information will include how to determine stream order, relevant reach, ascertain if a drainage is a relatively permanent water, and how to document physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the relevant reach. Any recent changes to the Army Corps wetland delineation verification procedures that arise due to public review and comment will also be discussed.

Class format: 50% lecture and 50% field demonstration

Instructor: Tim DeGraff

Duration: 2.5 Days, 2.0 CEU

Cost: $535

Prerequisites: Familiarity with Window 2000 operating system highly recommended, statistics refresher, or recent statistics usage.

Course description: An introduction to extensions of Analysis of Variance to Nested and Factorial Designs and Analysis of Covariance and their use in field and laboratory experimentation in Wetlands Science. The MINITAB statistical package will be used.

Class format: 25% lecture and 75% computer exercises.

Instructor: Steve Obrebski

Duration: 2 Days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic biology recommended

Course description: Basic Wetland Delineation is a 40-hour training course that focuses on procedures used to delineate wetland boundaries using the 1987 Corps Wetland Delineation Manual (Technical Report Y-87-1) and the Interim Regional Supplement: Arid West Region (2006). The course will also discuss the Draft Interim Regional Supplement: Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast Region. The main objective of this training is to provide participants with a comprehensive and hands-on introduction to delineation of jurisdictional wetlands in California. Field demonstrations of proper procedures to identify wetland vegetation, hydric soils, and wetland hydrology indicators will be covered. Examples of challenging delineations will be discussed - atypical situations, problem areas, difficult wetland situations in the Arid West, and delineations for restoration projects. This course will be taught by an interdisciplinary team of experienced instructors. Each of the instructors specializes in one of the three parameters, soils, hydrology and vegetation, used in delineation of jurisdictional wetlands. Instructors include: Dr. Gretchen Coffman (wetland ecologist), Mr. Tim DeGraff (wetland scientist), Dr. Bruce Orr (restoration ecologist), Mr. Jan Novak (soil scientist), and Mr. Casey Stewman (botanist). In addition, a wetland regulation specialist from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will discuss regulations, interpretation of recent Supreme Court decisions, and their application to jurisdictional wetland delineations. A large student to teacher ratio and field-based training will enhance this learning experience. This course will consist of 50% lecture and 50% field excursions and laboratory exercises, emphasizing a hands-on approach. Throughout the course, we will take field trips to many types of wetland ecosystems throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including tidal salt marshes, freshwater marshes, riparian habitats, vernal pools, wet meadows, and degraded wetlands. Participants will work closely with instructors in small groups to learn how to delineate extent of jurisdictional wetlands in the field. Various approaches to delineation of different wetland types and sizes will be discussed and demostrated. After successful completion of this course, participants will receive certification that documents 40-hours of training in the use of the 1987 Corps of Engineers Wetlands Delineation Manual and two Interim Regional Supplements: Arid West Region/Western Mountains, Valleys, and Coast Region.

Class format: 50% lecture and 50% field demonstration.

Instructor: Gretchen Coffman

Duration: 5 days, 4 CEU

Cost: $980

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic biology recommended

Course description: This course will provide an overview of the ecology of bird species breeding and wintering in the San Francisco Estuary. It will include an introduction to methods developed to study these populations in the context of wetland restoration monitoring, including population censuses and food web studies. The course is designed for those with minimal or basic knowledge of ecological concepts and bird identification.

Class format: 100% lecture and slides.

Instructor: Hildie Spautz and Letitia Grenier, PhD

Duration: 1 days, 0.8 CEU

Cost: $215

GIS for Wetlands

Prerequisites: Familiarity with Window 2000 operating system highly recommended

Course description: This course offers an intensive, hands-on introduction to the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology and its application to wetlands. Students will learn basic GIS concepts, terminology, and techniques through exploring ArcGIS 9 from Environmental Systems Research Institute, which is the industry standard GIS software package. Specific emphases will be: creating and editing shapefiles, importing GPS field data, and integrating these with nautical charts and air photos. The final sections of the class will introduce students to the most common wetlands classification schemes for GIS, simple map overlay analysis and the fundamentals of cartographic design.

Class format: 25% lecture and 75% computer exercises.

Instructor: Barry Nickel

Duration: 2 Days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic biology recommended

Course description: This course will address current topics in ecology and their application to restoration of wetland habitats. We will discuss how ecological concepts and experimentation can guide wetland restoration projects, from establishing goals, to monitoring and assessing success, to adaptively managing wetland restoration sites. This course will be half lecture and discussion, half field demonstration.

Class format:50% lecture and 50% field demonstration.

Instructor: Gretchen Coffman

Duration: 2 Days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Prerequisites: Familiarity with basic biology recommended

Course description: This course introduces the dominant hydrologic processes active in tidal wetland systems. Using examples throughout California, it provides an understanding of how these processes, and their geomorphic context, contribute to the ecological health of tidal wetlands and their plant and animal communities. The class will examine the influences of tidal cycles, tidal inlets, channel/marsh plain morphology and control structures on flow structure and circulation. The role of seasonal freshwater supply, groundwater, substrate and setting will also be discussed. This class focuses on linkages between physical and biological processes in wetland systems that are critical to effective, sustainable restoration design and wetland resource management.

Class format:75% lecture and discussion 25% field demonstration.

Instructor: Rachel Kamman

Duration: 2 Days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Prerequisites: Some knowledge of ecology & plant morphology helpful

Course description: Common wetland plant species provide important indicators of wetland habitat conditions and are a key component to wetland habitat mapping. Through a combination of field, lab, and lecture, this course will provide resources and methods designed to enable students to identify common wetland plant indicator species. The focus will be on Bay Area wetland plant species but the emphasis will be on learning techniques that are designed to solve identification problems and that can be applied in a broader geographic context.

Class format: 25% Lecture, 50% Field, 25% Lab.

Instructor: Mike Vasey

Duration: 2 days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Prerequisites: Basic, non-specialized familiarity with ecology and Bay Area wetlands is assumed.

Course description: San Francisco Estuary has the greatest number of invasive exotic species of all estuaries in the continental US. In this course we will focus on those species that have invaded the tidal marsh habitats and adjacent channels and mudflats in the estuary. We will examine mechanisms of invasion and identify taxa of greatest concern in current and future invasions. We will explore effects of invaders on the ecology of the estuary's marshes, including modifications to habitat, changes to community structure, and influences on ecosystem processes. We will discuss current efforts to prevent further introductions, and methods for monitoring the distribution and abundance of invaders, assessing impacts, and control. Finally, we will explore implications of current and future invasions for conservation and restoration of native species and habitats in the estuary.

Class format: 60% lecture/lab and 40% field.

Instructor: Kathy Boyer and Chela Zabin

Duration: 1 days, 0.8 CEU

Cost: $215

Remote Sensing for Wetlands

Prerequisites: Familiarity with Window 2000 operating system highly recommended

Course description: This course introduces the theory and application of remotely-sensed imagery for mapping, monitoring, and analyzing wetland environments. Students will be given hands-on instruction in visual/manual interpretation methods and computer-assisted techniques for image enhancement, rectification, and classification using ERDAS Imagine 8.7, an industry standard image-processing software system. A brief introduction to the WETMAAP project for teachers will also be covered.

Class format: 30% lecture and 70% computer exercises.

Instructor: Trish Foschi

Duration: 2 Days, 1.6 CEU

Cost: $430

Course description: Tidal marshes of the San Francisco Estuary support relatively high plant species diversity compared with their counterparts on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Much of the historic diversity of the Estuary's wetlands has been reduced by reclamation, filling, and species invasions, but significant geographic patterns of natural community variation persist. Pockets of relict pre-historic marshes, and even some recent, naturally regenerated wetlands, provide windows on past and present wetland diversity. Understanding the surprisingly rich variation that remains in the Estuary's plant communities is important for conservation planning and wetland restoration design, which tends to homogenize marshes according to simplified assumptions. This course will provide an overview of tidal marsh plant species and communities, historic and modern, through lectures (virtual field trips) and discussion. Applications to modern wetland management and restoration will be featured. Basic, non-specialized familiarity with Bay Area wetlands is assumed.

Class format:100% lecture and discussion

Instructor: Peter Baye

Duration: 1 Days, 0.8 CEU

Cost: $215