2. 2SpringBrookWetlandDelineation
1 Table of Contents
1- Table of Contents
2- Narrative
A. Executive Summary
B. Introduction
1. Purpose of Delineation
C. Site Location & Site Description
1. Location Map
2. Site Map
3. Site Description
D. Wetland Delineation Procedure
1. Intro
2. Field Conditions
3. Vegetation
4. Hydric Soils
5. Hydrology Summary
6. Determination of being a wetland
E. Background Information
1. NRCS Soils Survey
2. NWI Map
F. Wetland Delineation Results
1. Wetland 1
a. Vegetation Data Sheet
b. Soils Data Sheet
c. Hydrology Data Sheet
G. Conclusion
1. Conclusion Statement
2. Mitigation Efforts
Appendix
1. Soil Survey
2. NWI
3. Site and Location Maps
3. 3SpringBrookWetlandDelineation
4. Photo’s
5. Data Sheets
6. Resumes
2. Narrative
2A. Executive Summary
Spring Brook Delineation Group investigated a small 1.6 acres palustrine fresh water forested
shrub wetland located at 409 Spring Brook Road Wellsboro Pennsylvania 16901 Tioga County.
The wetland was mostly shrub but the western 0.6 acres was forested. All data was collected
over a two week period from September 11, 2015 to September 25, 2015. The reason for the
delineation is for the placement of a driveway will have a 15 foot by 300 foot section cutting
through the wetland to an upland property that will be the site of a future house. From this
investigation it was found that the property is indeed classified as a wetland with and
abundance of wetland plants such as green ash (fraxinus pennsylvanica), sugar maple (acer
saccharum) and Fringed Brome grass (Bromus ciliatus). In addition to vegetation, the hydric soil
is classified as channery silt loam of the Chippewa soil according to NRCS and ranges from 5YR
to 10YR with the majority of sites being 7.5YR color based of the munsell color book and all wet
land sites had adequate hydrology having at least three indicators despite dry conditions.
2B1. Purpose of the Delineation
The main purpose of this wetland delineation is to see how much wetland will have to be
mitigate for the driveway to a house on the western upland. The driveway will be crossing
through a portion of the wetland area to the upland section that has a 20 degree slope.
Through investigation there where two natural springs found uphill from the main wetland
area. The springs are both located within the depression of the wetland, therefore any water
that flows out of these springs will be collected within the main depression promoting wetland
development.
2C1-2. Site Location and Map
The site is located in Charleston Township of Tioga County at the coordinates 41.749240 N,
77.234024 W. To get to the site from U.S. 15 Take route 6 about 8.3 miles west towards
Wellsboro from Mansfield, then take a left on to Spring Brook Road and drive 500 feet up the
road to the wetland on the right next to two driveways the site has a two unnamed tributaries
of the Crooked Creek basin. The watershed that this wetland and streams belong to is part of
4. 4SpringBrookWetlandDelineation
the Tioga River watershed and then that is connected to the West branch of the Susquehanna
River Watershed. The tributaries are a classification 4 from the Susquehanna River which is
classified as MF (migratory fishes), WWF (warm water fisheries) and is use for the propagation
of native fish and flora.
2C3. Site Description
To the north of the wetland is old farm land that has been reforested with planted saplings and
the rest of the surrounding area is naturally forested. The locations is about 1818 feet above
sea level. The site topography starting from the west to the east is very significant to how our
wetland is created. To the west there is a hill side that comes to the height of 2000 feet and
drops off to about 1700-1650 feet which leaves a decent gradient of 300-350 feet in the
distance of a 1000 feet; this forms about a 20 degree slope. After this, the wetland then is
formed right at the toe of this slope plateauing about 500 feet across the landscape heading to
the east. After stepping foot on the site and visualizing the wetland there is a bit of a
depression specifically to the landscape where the wetland is. From the south to the north
there is a slight grade in the land giving way to ground water movement to the north in high
water events. Our wetland area is mostly made up of small shrubs and medium shrubs with
some forested cover throughout. Majority is medium sized shrub cover over the 1.6 acre
wetland.
2D. Wetland Delineation Procedure
2D1. Introduction- Spring Brook Delineation Group collected data over a 2 week time period
from September 11, 2015 to September 25, 2015 in which there was no rain fall. The time prior
to collecting this data was minimal precipitation which played a key role to the wetland area
being unseasonably dry. The data for the delineation was collected in the late summer/early fall
giving way to a dry time of the year. The delineation guidelines for the northeastern regional
supplement was followed to classify three parameters of hydric vegetation, hydric soils and the
presence of water within 10-12 inches of the surface.
2D2. Field Conditions- Overall, through the two week period of doing field work the area
investigated was in an unseasonably dry period. For most of the holes dug there were many
indications of a wetland area; however, it could have been more prominent if there would have
been a more typical amount of rain within the weeks prior to the delineation. Most plants
where past their season of bloom and some plants began to lose leaves which eliminated key
identification features making it more difficult to identify the vegetation. On the southeast edge
of the wet land there is man-made drainage route that directs water to a collection pond just
cross the drainage ditch which was perversely farm land which has been replanted with native
tree samplings.
2D3. Vegetation- The vegetation of the area was mostly made up of shrubs, saplings, and
smaller herbs throughout. Moving toward the center of the depression the surrounding area
was made up of wetland indicator trees and other shrubs and grasses as well. When collecting
5. 5SpringBrookWetlandDelineation
the data at each site we went through the proper produce of taking note of the different
species every 5, 15, and 30 foot intervals. These guidelines helped us in the process of gathering
supporting evidence in the dominance of wetland vegetation. From the upland it was mostly
tree covered and moving down in elevation towards the wetland there was a noticeable
different in vegetation layers. Moving close to the depression area vegetation became denser
with few larger tree’s becoming more shrubs, saplings and grasses.
2D4. Hydric Soils- Even before holes where dug to gather evidence for the delineation, it was
noted that the landscape of the area off to the west was quite hilly and had a good sized slope
leading to the wetland. It is believed that this slope plays a vital role in recharging this wetland
area with runoff water during non-dry periods. Also, it is believed that the groundwater comes
off the slope into the depression area. Once several holes where dug around each site the most
average looking hole was documented. This was done by looking at the mottling of the soil and
evaluating soil samples. The samples were evaluated by checking for chemical reactions such as
oxidation and were checked for any sort of high organics or gleyed soils. The soil color was
determined by using a wet sample and comparing it to a munsell color book. After that portion
of the process was finished, the hole was then examined to see if there was any sort of
moisture settling at the bottom of the holes or leaking from. While doing this note was made of
there being any type of sulfuric smell. According to the soils survey we took throughout this
area the frangipane was measured to be 8- 20 inches below the surface playing a role in there
being a restrictive surface. According to the NRCS the area is should be mostly made up of very
poorly drained channery silt loam of the Chippewa soil unit which was confirmed.
2D5. Hydrology- With this area being a part of the Crooked Creek watershed drainage basin
area there are two unnamed tributaries that are not listed under the 93 classification listing.
The two names of the streams that are influencing this wetland through groundwater recharge
are Charleston Creek and Babb Creek. These two tributaries from interpreting topographic
maps make us believe these two creek systems play a role in the unnamed tributary to the east
of this wetland which may play a role in the hydrology of this area. Another point to be made is
that of a change in elevation off to the west that acts as a runoff source during rain or melt
events as well as groundwater recharge too.
2D6. Determination of Wetland- With completion of our data sheets the holes dug off of the
upland show evidence of there being wetland indicators. Having dug 5 wetland holes all 5 sites
passed the dominance test of there being over 50 percent wetland oriented vegetation in the
surrounding area of each hole. Another key point to make is that all 5 holes dug in the area met
the prevalence test of being less than 3 on each calculation. When finding indicators of the soils
dug from the 5 location sites around the depression area all of them showed some sort of
wetland indicator being mostly gleyed soils from a high water table as well as there being
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mottling in more than half of the digressional holes dug. In terms of hydrology more the half of
the holes after being dug had standing water or very moist soil conditions on the side of the
holes giving way to there being a perch water table and a large amount of ground water
recharge within the soil unit.
2E. Background Information
2E1. Soil Survey- After going through the process of finding what this areas soil is made up of it
was pretty obvious that it was going to be a pretty wet area. With the site area being mostly
made up of the Chippewa Unit at 85 percent of the soil unit it was pretty easy determining
what kind of soils we were dealing with. The setting area being described as a digressional area
with there being a toe slope, base slope, and concave shaping of the landscape. From the soil
survey the restrictive layer is measured to be 8-20 inches below the surface and there being
mostly poorly drained silt loamto channery slit loam. Other landscape features to take note of
is the elevation change being measured from the depression to the highest elevation, 330 feet
to 2,460 feet according to the soil survey.
2E2. National Wetland Inventory-Also doing some background research, the NWI website was
a vital tool to keying in on some knowledge of the area of interest. According to the NWI or
National Wetland Inventory the wetland is listed as a forested wetland as well as a shrub
wetland. This website also gave us insight on what type of vegetation we might come upon with
our delineation of the area. Listing on the NWI, this wetland area has dominantly woody
vegetation less than 20 feet tall, the wetland system is considered Palustrine as well giving us
support that there is wetland dominated trees, shrubs, emergents, mosses, or lichens. Other
classifications stated from the NWI as there being an emergent class of erect, rooted,
herbaceous hydrophytes like mosses and lichens.
2F. Wetland Delineation Results
2F1. Wetland Area
Vegetation- The vegetation of the area was mostly made up of shrubs, saplings, and smaller
herbs throughout. Moving toward the center of the depression the surrounding area was made
up of wetland indicator trees and other shrubs and grasses as well. These guidelines helped us
in the process of gathering supporting evidence in the dominance of wetland vegetation.
Within all the wetland data sheets throughout the area both the dominance test and
prevalence test were met. Every single wetland hole was above the 50 percent hydrophytic
vegetation test and every hole was below the 3 prevalence index calculation as well.
Soils- For the 5 wetland holes dug around the depression area every hole had loamy to clay
type texture. For color, each hole had a range of 10 YR 3/1, 7.5 YR 3/1, and 5YR 4/1 with
mottling occurring in 2 out of the 5 holes dug. Another similarity of all these sites were gleyed
coloring as well indicating either ground water recharge or a perched water table. Being that
7. 7SpringBrookWetlandDelineation
this area was in a long dry period we believed that these holes were getting moisture from the
ground water or water table.
Hydrology- Throughout the wetland area the hydrology became more prevalent as we headed
lower into the heart of the wetland area. The 2 lowest holes dug in this depression had standing
water in them after collecting the vegetation data. This made it believable that ground water or
a perched water table was recharging this wetland even in the most stressful environments
being that the region was going through a prolong dry period. The other 3 holes when dug had
lots of moisture within the soil sample taken.
2F2. Upland Area
Vegetation- From the upland it was mostly tree covered and moving down in elevation towards
the wetland. There was a noticeable difference in vegetation layers. Moving closer to the
depression area vegetation became denser with fewer larger tree’s becoming more shrubs,
saplings and grasses. Within the data we gathered 60 percent of our prevalence test was FACU
and 150 percent of the prevalent vegetation was FACW primarily because of the perennial flow
channels throughout the hill side.
Soils- In the result of the soils we found in our holes that the root structures were very dry with
ped formations throughout. When running it through our hands when looking for the right
munsell matrix it would break down very easily. From 0-12 inches the color taking note in the
data sheets was 7.5 YR 3/1 for the color moisture.
Hydrology- There was not a very good prevalence of hydrology throughout the hole depth.
Previously stated the root structure was very dry with the water table not prevalent at all or
evidence of groundwater recharge. The only thing that was taken note in the surroundings of
this upland location was evidence of surface run off with perennial flow channels.
2G. Conclusion
2G1. Closing statement- After going through a very extensive process this area studied seems
to with stand the presents of many wetland parameters. Whether it is the concentration of
wetland vegetation throughout or the right type of soils beneath our feet and the support of
the ground water hydrology and the surface water runoff from the western slope. With the
data collected we are confident in our findings that this is a healthy wetland area when in
stable environments. Taking consideration that this area was in a week’s long dry period this
wetland still obtained that right evidence to show that this area should be determined as a
wetland.
2G2. Mitigation Efforts- Moving fourth with our house development on the western slope we
would take in consideration mitigation efforts of recreate the wetland area damaged with the
installation of the driveway from the east. This mitigation project would take place to the north
of the driveway where there is a natural ground water spring draining into our wetland area
that meets the needs of the recharging of this created wetland area. Also taking note that to
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the south of this property there is another location of a second natural spring that also drains
into this wetland. Having both of these springs on this property makes us confident that there
will be an occurrence of minimal damage to the undisturbed wetland area and the
implemented wetland.
