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White River Riparian Restoration Project Dr. Lenore P. Tedesco Executive Summary The White River Riparian Restoration Project will strengthen experiential environmental education in the curriculum at IUPUI by providing students opportunities to engage in service and research related to riparian (river margin) restoration along the White River. Restoration of the floodplain ecosystem along the west side of the IUPUI campus (Map 1) will help complete the last key component of a conservation corridor through Marion County. The first phase of the project will involve planting and monitoring the growth of trees along eight acres of the floodplain along the White River immediately west of the IUPUI campus. This work is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2000. Restoration planning and plantings will be done by students participating in a series of courses and in service learning in introductory science courses already being offered by IUPUI faculty and staff, and supervised by members of the Office of Stewardship, Indianapolis Parks Department. The Division of Nature Preserves, Indiana Department of Natural Resources has agreed to assist in the project with technical oversight. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have allocated 4000 trees and shrubs for the restoration. Representatives of eleven organizations have agreed to serve as project advisors. Restoration of the floodplain will be planned and completed in the fashion typical of other riparian restoration projects undertaken by federal and state agencies operating within the State of Indiana. These restoration projects typically utilize the principle of self design for the establishment of a naturalistic vegetation community. The White River Riparian Restoration Project will be accomplished by supplementing existing pioneer species with a tree and shrub assemblage provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Department of Biology greenhouse will assist in the restoration project by housing a seed bank study and propagating additional plants from seeds gathered at the site. In an effort to improve the success of future restoration projects, this project will include a minimum of 5 years of monitoring and assessment in an effort to identify and develop improved methodologies, initial species compositions, and planting strategies. The restoration project will incorporate some of the approaches being conducted at an NSF-funded Long Term Research Site for urban ecology in Baltimore as models for research methodologies. CEES staff have spearheaded this project and fostered collaboration across IUPUI schools and with relevant government agencies. Faculty from the Departments of Earth Sciences, Biology, Geography, and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs will oversee the project to combine expertise in a truly interdisciplinary way. This effort will bring together numerous government agencies, faculty from at least four IUPUI schools, students and environmental professionals to collaboratively enhance a natural environment within our urban setting. This project description addresses the purpose of the project, its goals and objectives, project framework, proposed activities, initial methodology, and project personnel. Goals and Objectives The White River Riparian Restoration Project has two primary goals: 1. Strengthen experiential environmental education, including service learning, in the Schools of Science (SOS), Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), Education (SOE) and Liberal Arts (SLA) at IUPUI; and 2. Support restoration of a riparian forest along the White River in central Indianapolis while evaluating currently utilized restoration procedures. The project’s educational objectives are to
The project’s research objectives are to
Project Framework Two recent projects in Indianapolis create a context for riparian restoration near IUPUI. The White River State Park is working with the Indy Parks Office of Greenways, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and other agencies to develop the Central Indianapolis Waterfront Project. This project includes extension of the White River Trail near the western edge of the IUPUI campus along the White River. The second project involves floodplain restoration being undertaken by the Corps south of the Washington Street Bridge. Restoration of floodplain forest in the riparian area adjacent to campus would help to link these projects and complete the last key component of a conservation corridor that would extend across Marion County. During the summer and fall of 1999, a number of people representing a wide range of public and private organizations have been approached and have expressed interest in restoration of the riparian area along the White River west of the IUPUI campus and between 10th and New York Streets. On behalf of CEES, Robert Barr has met with representatives of 11 different agencies, divisions of agencies, or organizations (Table 1). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has committed to provide 4000 trees to be planted by students in service learning courses in the spring of 2000. The White River State Park has agreed to the placement of the new trail overlooking the restoration area. The Department of Natural Resources, Division of Nature Preserves has agreed to provide oversight and supervise pre-planting assessments of existing vegetation. Representatives of other organizations have volunteered to serve in an advisory capacity for the project and to assist with implementation.
Proposed Activities CEES will coordinate the White River Riparian Restoration Project and work with an advisory committee of IUPUI faculty and staff and agency representatives to undertake restoration of the riparian or floodplain forest. Specific tasks include:
The initial task will be to convene a meeting of agencies with responsibility for management of the area to identify approvals that are required and to ensure that proposed plans do not conflict with historic uses such as the WENS Sky Concert. Subsequent tasks will involve selection of locations for planting. The Advisory Committee will assist in selection of locations of planting plots. It is believed that much of the eastern riparian zone of the White River, exclusive of the levees, potentially can be restored to a functioning riparian ecosystem. CEES will coordinate planting activities and long-term data collection. All results will be posted on the CEES web site so that students can participate in longitudinal studies. Data will also be made available to cooperating agencies so that the results of the riparian restoration project can be utilized in planning additional restoration projects. In spring 2000, baseline data will be collected and restoration design and research protocols will be established. In April 2000, CEES Outreach Coordinator and Instructor Robert Barr will coordinate planting activities. Students from G107 Environmental Geology, G115 Introduction to Oceanography, G107 Physical Systems of the Environment, E272 Introduction to Environmental Science and Q200 An Introduction to Scientific Inquiry will participate in these plantings and removal of exotic vegetation. Instructors of other courses have been recruited to participate in research and supervise undergraduate research. Methods and Project Personnel CEES-affiliated faculty and project advisors will work to establish restoration methodologies. Students in E400/P550 Greenway Workshop, under the supervision of Greg Lindsey, will evaluate restoration scenarios and protocols and make recommendations regarding monitoring procedures. The scenarios that will be evaluated by the student team include tree planting, reforestation, and ecological restoration. A potential restoration scenario for example, could involve the identification of at least three experimental plots: a control plot, a natural succession plot, and an experimental planted plot. In this approach, vegetation would be allowed to grow without human interference in the control plot. In the natural succession plot, all exotic trees, shrubs, forbs, and grasses would be removed as soon as they have grown large enough to be identified, and succession would occur without modification other than removal of exotic species. In the experimental planted plot, exotic species would be removed and native trees and shrubs planted. Previously, vegetation consisted mainly of grasses and forbs that were mowed periodically. Since October 1999, the floodplain has been on a prescription mow regime to allow a baseline identification of vegetation to begin. Under CEES-faculty supervision, students will collect baseline data to characterize conditions on the floodplain. Restoration sites will be selected based on the distribution of allowable restoration area. These areas have been initially located using existing digital maps. To improve the precision of elevation models, the floodplain site will be surveyed with electronic total stations by Earth Sciences faculty and students by early February. Surveys will provide detailed information regarding site topography and flooding elevations. Surveys will also accurately locate drainage structures, water well locations, permanent monuments and permanent photography stations. Eliot Atekwana, Department of Geology, will work with students in G451 Principles of Hydrogeology, to install groundwater-monitoring wells, measure stream flow, measure water quality parameters, and determine flooding frequency. Lenore Tedesco, Department of Earth Sciences and CEES, will supervise undergraduate research assistants to characterize floodplain sedimentologic characteristics including sediment grain size, soil Ph, and organic content. Students will also monitor these parameters through time to determine the effect of restoration. Gabriel Filippelli, Department of Earth Sciences and CEES, will supervise undergraduate research assistants to determine sediment metal characteristics at selected restoration sites through time. Dawn Bauman, Department of Biology and Greenhouse Technician, will utilize site location maps, site elevation maps, soil and sediment characteristics, water table elevation and flooding frequency, to design the preliminary planting plan. Ms. Bauman will also supervise undergraduate student research projects to characterize existing floodplain vegetation. Jeff Wilson, Department of Geography, will supervise the integration of data in a GIS framework. These include, but are not limited to, catchment areas, impervious surface and land use. CEES staff are also compiling and archiving rainfall and other pertinent weather data. Dr. Wilson will work with CEES to design a low-level aerial photo platform to characterize the restoration site through time. A variety of additional courses and faculty will also participate and contribute to data collection and restoration monitoring. These faculty and students will also monitor a set of ecological response variables that includes plant species composition, plant biomass, net primary productivity, and total soil carbon. Examples of the types of measurements that will be recorded over time include diameter at breast height (dbh), tree height, crown width, condition, leaf surface area, leaf and tree biomass, etc. Students also will monitor and relate periods of inundation to determine the effects on different vegetative communities. In addition to ecological measures, labor requirements and costs also will be recorded. Students will log hours spent in the field so that agencies and managers can learn about costs of restoration. Data will be recorded periodically by students, faculty, and staff and maintained in databases kept by CEES and distributed via the World Wide Web. Mr. Scott Comer, School of Science Web Designer, will design the web database repository. Mr. Bob E. Hall, CEES Network System Engineer, will maintain the databases. Faculty responsible for participating classes also will be responsible for providing data for centralized management. The Department of Geography will establish and maintain a herbarium for plant species collected along this stretch of the White River. The herbarium will be available to students from all classes for exercises in plant taxonomy. The Department of Biology greenhouse will store and germinate some forbs for planting in the restoration area. Abbreviated Summary of IUPUI Project Personnel
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