Introduction

This old mine site is a one acre emergent wetland creation located in the Youghiogheny River - Casselman River -  (05-02-02-04) watershed of Garrett County. 

Construction

In 2005, the MDE Wetlands and Waterways Division, in cooperation with MDE Bureau of Mines, constructed this site.        

Construction 2006

Status

In 2007, MDE conducted intensive site monitoring which included installing IRIS tubes , evaluating the soil, monitoring hydrology multiple times during the spring growing season, monitoring transects, and scoring the site.  The installed IRIS tubes and the hydrological observations found sufficient hydrology to satisfy the wetland hydrology requirement.  During the multiple spring growing season visits, the soils were saturated or inundated 1”.  Some of the soils were already hydric, and it is expected that given the current hydrology, the remaining soils will become hydric soon.  Vegetation is dominated by wetland species, including Typha, various Juncus species, Eleocharis, and Sagittaria.  The conclusions from the observational transects also found that the site was a wetland.  Using the newly developed Mitigation Site Scoring Method , MDE gave this site a score of 87/100.  This site provides many valuable wetland functions, including filtering sediment/pollutants, discharging groundwater, and providing habitat for wetland dependent species (e.g. woodducks).  This site is on private property.

Blue vervain

Wetland Mitigation in 2008