Wetland Coffee Break: Floristic quality benchmarks for rare and unique wetland plant communities

Floristic quality benchmarks provide quantitative measures of wetland condition, helping to inform wetland permitting decisions as well as prioritizing conservation and management of high quality sites such as State Natural Areas. A WDNR team embarked on a project to develop benchmarks for “rare and unique” wetland communities, such as white pine-red maple swamps and interdunal wetlands, to complement benchmarks already completed for more common types wetlands. The team also refined our knowledge of how to identify these less common wetland communities as well as re-evaluated how rare they are in Wisconsin. Ecologist Ryan O’Connor will share what makes these communities unique, how the team developed benchmarks, and what threats these communities are facing.