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Future work will be needed to develop further the metrics associated with the hydrologic restoration
targets fo r Biscayne National Park, including measures o f seasonal and interannual variability, and the
development o f a timeline o f infrastructure implementation and associated salinity changes. The National
Park Service looks forw ard to continued cooperation with our partner agencies in the establishment o f
restoration targets fo r south Florida national parks, and to working with the responsible agencies to provide
the needed water fo r restoration o f these nationally important natural areas.
Robert Johnson
Director
South Florida Natural Resources Center
Everglades National Park
March, 2006
viii South Florida Natural Resources Center Technical Series (2006' 1)
Ecological and Hydrologic Targets for Western Biscayne National Park 1
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this document is to establish a set of scientifically-based ecological and hydrologic targets in the western areas of Biscayne National Park and to use these targets
to estimate the current water deliveries that are required for
the protection of fish and wildlife and the natural resources.
These current water deliveries will provide a baseline for
Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) projects
to build upon in order to achieve substantial restoration of
natural areas.
Conservation Designations
Biscayne National Park comprises the majority of the central
and southern portions of Biscayne Bay. It was originally designated by Congress in 1968 as Biscayne National Monument,
and later established as a national park in 1980. Biscayne Bay,
its tributaries, and Card Sound are also designated by the state
of Florida as aquatic preserves, and Card and Barnes Sounds
are part of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Biscayne Bay was designated under the Surface Water Management and Improvement Act of 1987 as a priority water body
by the Florida Legislature. The waters of Biscayne National
Park, Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, and the two sounds are
classified as Outstanding Florida Waters and, as such, are subject to the most stringent regulations, including Florida antidegradation policies. Card and Barnes Sounds are important
for the endangered American crocodile because they contain
one-third of all crocodile nesting habitat in the continental
United States, and the east shore of Barnes Sound is included
within the Crocodile Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
All of these areas, including those in the Coastal Mangrove
Zone, are Essential Fish Habitat as described by a federal mandate to improve fishery management plans in the United States
(NOAA 1996). By definition, “essential habitat” incorporates
habitat required by the full life cycle of a species, recognizing
the need for protection of nursery and spawning habitats that
are critical to the survival of a species.
The National Park Service mission, as defined by the
Organic Act of 1916, is “to conserve the scenery and the
natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to
provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by
such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of
future generations.” The National Park Service (NPS) believes
that Biscayne National Park deserves a particularly high level
of consideration for resource protection and restoration.
Relationship to CERP Processes
In drafting this report, existing performance measures and
targets developed through the CERP Restoration, Coordination, and Verification (RECOVER) team for Biscayne Bay
were used as the basis for interim targets for desired conditions. Modifications were made based on results of studies
conducted in the bay or similar habitats in south Florida to
improve the performance measures. In particular, while the
RECOVER SE-6 performance measure is applicable in 3,200
acres adjacent to the mainland shore, we modified the measure to apply to 10,000 acres after considering physical conditions (including the sedimentary environment and the circulation of the bay) that affect the potential spatial extent of
seagrass, the basis for the diverse benthic communities in the
western part of Biscayne Bay.
The hydrologic targets and flow volumes described in this
report were developed using the process described in draft
CERP Guidance Memorandum 4. The Guidance Memorandum method was developed jointly by staff from the Corps of
Engineers, the South Florida Water Management District, the
National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and, while the GM is specifically designed to quantify water
made available by a CERP project, we determined that the
method could be applied for the purposes of this report with
minor modifications. The quantification method requires the
use of hydrologic restoration targets based on desired and/or
historic ecological conditions. According to this method,
water that is available for the protection of fish and wildlife
includes all existing managed flows or water levels that are
equal to, or less than, the restoration target as determined by
comparing time series. Water in excess of the daily restoration
targets may be beneficial if delivered at other times of the year,
but the sum of the daily exceedences are less than the additional water required to meet annual restoration targets.
This report describes the desired conditions of the park in
terms of biology, ecology, and available historical record. The
“desired condition” takes into account historical information
about the ecosystem, but is not necessarily equivalent to a
pre-drainage state. Biological indicators, including those described by RECOVER, are used to set environmental targets
affected by inflows, primarily as measures of seasonal salinity
patterns in key areas of the park. By using target values for
salinity, hydrologic targets (freshwater inflows and their interaction with precipitation and circulation) can be estimated.
Other relevant indicators of bay health derived from previous
and current studies in Biscayne Bay also are discussed in support of defining desired conditions and the salinities needed
to sustain them.
This report provides a description of ecological targets
and targets for salinity, but does not provide an estimate of
quantitative hydrologic targets for the Coastal Mangrove
Zone. The Coastal Mangrove Zone presents a challenge for
the calculation of beneficial water using the methodology
outlined in draft Guidance Memorandum 4 because human
development has lowered the water table and eliminated surface water that historically entered the coastal wetlands via the
tranverse glades. Because canals deliver freshwater all the way
to the bay shore, freshwater inputs to the Coastal Mangrove
Zone are dependent on canal stages and local rainfall. The
task of estimating quantitative hydrologic targets for this area
Florida Turnpike
2 South Florida Natural Resources Center Technical Series (2006:1 )