Wetlands of the Palouse Prairie: historical extent and plant composition

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This is a final report for our project on “Reference Conditions for Wetland Restoration in the Palouse Prairie" funded by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency Wetland Grants Program. The project was designed to support restoration efforts within the South Fork of the Palouse watershed (USGS 4th code Hydrologic Unit Code) by determining the extent and plant community composition of “pre-settlement” wetlands (that is, wetlands that existed prior to the arrival of substantial numbers of Euro-American settlers). This project was originally funded for three years and extended one year in 2001. The Palouse Bioregion comprises the eastern portion of the Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington and adjacent northern Idaho. In this report, we focus on the region’s wetlands, especially those typical of places where water accumulates seasonally in topographic depressions with deep, well drained or moderately well drained soils. We do not address other types of wetlands that occurred in the Palouse prairie, such as vernal pools or ponds. The seasonally moist or wet meadows we studied are a type of palustrine, emergent wetland that was once widespread in the Palouse.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

SWAP (2/19/16) citation:
Servheen G, Morgan P, Weddell B, Gessler P, McDaniel P. 2002. Wetlands of the Palouse Prairie: historical extent and plant composition. Final report. Boise (ID): Environmental Protection Agency. 16 p. Grant No.: CD-980545-01-0. [accessed 2015 Dec 03]. http://palouseprairie.org/pubs/Weddell__Wetlands_of_palouse.pdf

Other information: This report was submitted to the EPA.