Water Balance Analysis for a Nebraska Sand Hills Wetland Mitigation Site

The objective of this study was to explore the potential for estimating parameters within the water balance equation for the Rose Southeast Wetland Mitigation Bank Site, located in the Sand Hills region of Rock County, Nebraska, USA, from September 21, 2006 through September 14, 2007, to meet regulatory performance standard specifications and to make use of measured estimates to meet credit certification of the site for further use as a banking instrument for future crediting toward Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) projects. Secondary objectives were to determine if methods used could be reproduced on a similar budget under similar site conditions. The development of a water balance for a wetland mitigation site, for purposes of addressing performance standards outlined by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, is an essential task to determine viability of the site to, within reason, maintain functions replaced due to Section 404 procedures of The Clean Water Act. The history of compensatory mitigation within the Sand Hills region of north-central Nebraska is poorly-defined and nearly non-existent. Studies focusing primarily on the enhancement and/or restoration within mitigation are lacking, but essential in maintaining regionally-specific aquatic resources.