Annotated bibliography of scientific papers discussing issues relevant to buffer zones around wetlands in the East Valley near Crested Butte, Colorado USA.

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Burke Vincent J. and J. Whitfield Gibbons 1995 Terrestrial buffer zones and wetland conservation: A case 
study of freshwater turtles in a Carolina Bay. Conservation Biology 9(6)1365-1369. 
	This study used Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis to test the effectiveness of state 
and federal laws in the United States at protecting the habitats freshwater turtles need to complete their 
lifecycles. The researchers spent a summer studying the life history of three species of turtles around the 
Ellenton Bay wetland at the United States Department of Energy Savannah River Site in South Carolina. 
They found that the federally delineated wetland failed to include any nests or hibernation burrows. The 
most stringent standards evaluated were those of the state Massachusetts. Massachusetts requires a 30.5-
meter upland buffer zone beyond the federally delineated wetlands. The 30.5-meter buffer zone protected 
44 percent of the nests and burrows. Full protection of turtle habitat would require a 275-meter buffer 
beyond the current federal delineation. Considering only the 90 percent of nests closest to the federally 
delineated wetland reduced the necessary buffer zone to 73 meters. The authors suggest that buffer zones 
may vary by wetland type, upland characteristics and geographic region and resident species. They also 
comment that preserving only one portion of a landscape (for example the aquatic habitat) is futile for 
retaining the long-term viability of wetland species. 

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Cairns Jr., John   1995  Ecological integrity of ecological systems.  Regulated Rivers: Research and 
Management  11:313-323.
	John discusses the ecological integrity of large rivers.  He notes that ecological integrity is 
impossible without biological integrity.  It is difficult to extrapolate local measures of ecological integrity 
to a landscape scale.  In those cases it may be more valuable to make measurements at a larger scale.  Until 
we have those measurements, we should continue to use whatever biological data we have at our disposal.  
Since humans and ecosystems have been coevolving since the agricultural revolution or before, it may be 
helpful to evaluate two possible types of coevolution between human society and natural systems.  1) Arms 
race - where humans ignore changes in ecological systems that lead to unpleasant consequences.  2) 
Mutualism where the society responds to ecosystem changes and attempts to preserve ecological integrity.  
"The simplest measures of ecological integrity may be the actions of human society to minimize or 
markedly reduce negative impacts on natural systems."  

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Findlay, C. Scott and Houlahan, Jeff  1997 Anthropogenic correlates of species richness in Southeastern 
Ontario wetlands.  Conservation Biology  11(4)1000-1009.
	They looked at the relationship between road construction and forest removal/ conversion on total 
number of species (species richness) of birds, mammals, herptiles and plants.  They found that bigger 
wetlands had more species of all taxa.  Species richness of all taxa except mammals decreased with 
increasing road density within 2 km of the wetlands.   Species richness of herptile and mammals increased 
with increasing forest cover within 2 km of the wetlands.   "These results provide evidence that at the 
landscape level, road construction and forest removal on adjacent lands pose significant risks to wetland 
diversity.  Furthermore, they suggest that most existing wetland policies, which focus almost exclusively on 
activities within the wetland itself and/or a narrow buffer zone around the wetland perimeter, are unlikely 
to provide adequate protection for wetland biodiversity."

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Hodges Jr., Malcom F. and David G. Krementz.  1996  Neotropical migratory breeding bird communities in 
riparian   forests of different widths along the Altamaha River, Georgia.  Wilson Bulletin 108(3) 496-506.
	After surveying riparian forest corridors of different widths, the authors found that species 
richness and abundance of three species increased with increasing forest corridor width.  "We suggest that 
if Neotropical breeding bird communities are a target group, that land managers should consider leaving a 
100 m buffer strip along riparian zones."

Hubbard, R.K. and R.R. Lowrance  Riparian forest buffer system research at the Coastal Plain Experiment 
Station, Tifton, GA.  Water, Air and Soil Pollution  77:409-432.
	The authors are interested in reducing the sedimentation of wetlands from agricultural lands.  They 
recommend a three zone riparian buffer strip.  The researchers start with  5-10 meter buffer of permanent 
trees next to the wetland, followed by a forest management zone where trees can be harvested, then a grass 
buffer strip up to 10 meters wide to provide control of coarse sediment and to spread overland flow.  They 
are testing the efficiency of various buffer treatments on nutrient filtration.

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Josselyn, M., J. Zedler, and T. Griswold.  1990 Wetland mitigation along the Pacific Coast of the United 
States.  pp. 3-36 in Kusler, JA., and ME Kentala, eds. Wetland Creation and Restoration.  Island Press.  
Washington D.C.
	This is a summary chapter that mentions the work of many researchers.  I do not have original 
copies of all the references mentioned in this except:   "Buffer zones may have a more diverse flora and 
fauna than either of the two adjoining habitats (Jordan and Shisler, 1988).  Buffers are important in 
reducing excess nutrient and sediment loading to wetlands... Width is the most frequently cited criterion for 
buffers.  Generally thirty meters is recommended.  ...the width should depend on the use of the upland area 
and the sensitivity of the species planned for the mitigation site.  Ecologists usually do not have the 
information necessary to determine the most appropriate distance for individual situations.  Based on field 
study, White, (1986) recommended that 30m buffers would reduce impacts of human intrusion on Beldings 
savannah sparrows, an endangered species in southern California.  Josselyn et al. (1988) determined that 
water birds varied in their response to disturbance depending upon acclimation and distance, but usually 
reacted within 25 to 45 m."  If wetland mitigation is part of a project, the authors recommend a monitoring 
program of the constructed wetland for two reasons:  1) Enforcement - to determine the project is 
completed in compliance with the permit specifications.  2) Evaluating effectiveness of the restoration 
project.

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Kashiwaya, K., T. Okimura and T. Harada 1997 Land transformation and pond sediment information. Earth 
Surface Processes and Landforms. 22:913-922. 
	The researchers studied 2 ponds in the Kobe district of central Japan for 5 years, one in a 
developed watershed and one in an undeveloped watershed. They found the sedimentation rate in the pond 
without land transformation nearby was roughly proportional to the rainfall intensity. The sedimentation 
rate in the pond with land transformation occurring in the watershed above it had 4 times the sedimentation 
rate than the pond surrounded by natural vegetation.  As the bare soil revegetated, sedimentation rates 
dropped to about twice that of the pond without land transformation.  While grain size did not vary between 
the ponds, the organic content of the sediments did vary. The pond with bare soil in its watershed had less 
organic matter in its sediment based on grain density and loss on ignition of the sediments. The authors 
presented a model of pond sedimentation that included factors for geomorphology of the watershed, rainfall 
intensity and internal pond conditions.
The authors use the term "reclaim" to indicate the conversion of land from "natural slope" to "bare 
slope". In America the term reclamation has changed in meaning in the past few decades. Reclamation used 
to mean the conversion of wetlands to farmland, and has changed to refer to the attempts by humans to 
return a habitat to something resembling the natural state. 

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Machtans, Craig S., Marc-Andre? Villard , Susan J Hannon  1996  Use of riparian buffer strips as 
movement corridors by forest birds.  Conservation Biology 10(5) 1366-1379.
	They studied the movement of birds through riparian buffer strips before and after forest 
harvesting in the boreal forests of Alberta.  Capture rates of birds in mist nets increased for juvenile birds in 
the buffer strips after clearcutting.  Capture rates of adults decreased immediately after harvesting.  The 
number of adults was positively correlated with the number of territories within the strips.  Movement rates 
of forest species were significantly higher in buffer strips than in adjacent clearcuts.  Buffer strips acted as a 
corridor and enhanced the movements of dispersing juveniles and maintained movement rates of resident 
birds.  There appeared to be a threshold distance below which the birds were willing to fly across the 
opening, reducing corridor use.

Mann, W. P. Dorn and R. Brandl  1991  Local distribution of amphibians: the importance of habitat 
fragmentation.  Global Ecology and Biogeography  1:36-41.
	The authors surveyed amphibians in northern Bavaria.  They found that habitat parameters such as 
altitude, pool area and area of emergent vegetation was of minor importance in predicting the presence of 
certain species.  As the number of ponds in an area increased, the probability that a species occupied a 
particular habitat increased.  "It is suggested that habitat fragmentation (increasing number of ponds) 
decreases the extinction and/or increases the colonization probability in a potential breeding habitat. 
These authors use the phrase "habitat fragmentation" to indicate multiple ponds in an area.  Americans tend 
to use the phrase "habitat fragmentation" to indicate human disturbance breaking a large habitat into 
smaller habitats.

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Pearce, Robert A., M.J. Trlica, Wayne C. Leininger, James L. Smith, Gary W. Frasier 1997 Efficiency of 
grass buffer strips and vegetation height on sediment filtration in laboratory rainfall simulations. Journal of 
Environmental Quality 26:139-144. 
	These researchers investigated the influence of three widths of grass buffer strips on sediment 
transport in a laboratory experiment. The original purpose of the study was to evaluate the stubble height 
grazing guidelines. The results suggested that "vegetation height alone was not a suitable guideline for 
estimating sediment filtration and that length of vegetation buffer was more important than vegetation 
height in filtering sediment."

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Tang, Swee May and David R. Montgomery  1995  Riparian buffers and potentially unstable ground.  
Environmental Management 19(5) 741-749.
	The authors looked at unstable ground and riparian buffer zone width in the Olympic Penninsula 
of  Washington.  "The proportion of the potentially unstable ground in each watershed within riparian 
buffers is a function of both buffer width and the extent of the stream channel network being buffered.  
While current buffers required by Washington State cover less than 5% of the potentially unstable ground, 
buffering all stream channels in these watersheds with 100-m buffers covered 75-90% of the potentially 
unstable areas."  The authors think the use of buffer zones is not adequate because many steep slopes are 
outside of the 100m buffer zone.  They recommend modeling each site and modifying the buffer on a site 
by site basis.  Many of the steeper sites need a wider buffer than 100 meters while many of the low angle 
slopes could have a narrower buffer.

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Vander Haegen, W. Matthew and Richard Degraaf  1996  Predation on artificial nests in forested riparian 
buffer strips.  Journal of Wildlife Management  60(3)542-550.
	The authors found that nests in 20 - 40m riparian buffer strips were depredated more often than 
those in intact forests.  Red squirrels and Blue Jays were responsible for >50% of the nest depredations.  
Black bears were observed only in tributary buffer strips and may have been using them as corridors 
between larger forested stands.  "Managers should leave wide (? 150 m ) buffer strips along riparian zones 
to reduce edge-related nest predation, especially in landscapes where buffer strips are an important 
component of the existing  mature forest."