1. Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Cooperative Restoration Project: Bringing back peatlands while reducing catastrophic wildfire threats
Sara Ward, USFWS Raleigh Field Office
TNC Fire and Pocosins Conference, October 11, 2011

2. Overview Introduction
Pocosins and fire regimes
History of fire at PLNWR
Recent NC peatland fires
A tool for the toolbox – peatland restoration example, Pocosin Lakes NWR
Restoration approach
Restoration Benefits
Costs
Restoration Implications
Summary

3. Pre-Alteration Pocosin Fires
Frequency: natural return interval determined by soil type, depth, water tableand vegetative community
Severity: peat ground fire dependent on water table; mostly above ground fire
1962 pocosin distribution (Richardson 2003)
Today: 70% habitat loss
Histosols – fire return interval between 7 and 300 years
Peat bogs with plant communities like those burned at PLNWR and GDSNWR: higher end of range
In particular, AWC-associated return interval > 50 years
Source: Frost, 1995

4. (in Frost, 19951)
1Frost, Cecil C Presettlement fire regimes in southeastern marshes, peatlands, and swamps. Pg in S.I. Cerulean and R.T. Engstrom, eds. Fire in wetlands: a management perspective. Proc. of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecol. Conf., No Tall Timbers Res. Station, Tallahassee, FL.

5. (in Frost, 19951) PISE = pond pine
1Frost, Cecil C Presettlement fire regimes in southeastern marshes, peatlands, and swamps. Pg in S.I. Cerulean and R.T. Engstrom, eds. Fire in wetlands: a management perspective. Proc. of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecol. Conf., No Tall Timbers Res. Station, Tallahassee, FL.

6. PLNWR Fire History Allen Road Fire March 1985 95,000 ac burned
Peat loss: ≤ 1 m
Estimated C loss: million tons C1
Evans Road Fire
6/1/2008 – January 2009
40,704 acres
Peat burned
Non Federal land (private and NC State Park): 24” over 15,350 ac
Federal land west of Western Rd – 12” over 16,100 ac
Federal land east of Western Rd – 6” over 9,650 acres
Estimated C loss: ~10 million tons C1
Credit: NCFS-Chris Carlson
1Michler and Welch, 2011

7. 2011 Peatland Wildfires in NC
~ 88K acres burned to date:
Source: InciWeb, Incident Information System,

8. So, why are we seeing more frequent and severe pocosin wildfires than predicted??
In a word…drainage!
Historically:
Summer water table drawdown (up to 1 m+1) in domed peat caused some peat fire; rewetting regularly occurred
Seasonal soil saturation limited ground fire potential; allowed vegetation to burn (necessary in pocosin ecosystems)
Now:
Extensive drainage network limits duration of seasonal flooding
Water table is lowered; peat is aerated/drier
Drainage prevents even significant rainfall (tropical) retention on landscape
Much more frequent ground fire; significant soil loss
1Ingram and Otte, 1982

9. Fire Return Interval: PLNWR

10. Fire Return Interval: GDSNWR
Predicted RI > 50 yrs; Actual – 3 yr. Wildfire recurring in footprint
2008 South One Fire footprint
2011 Lateral West Fire footprint

11. Above ground fuel reduction not always enough…need to address fire vulnerability of peat soils
Hydrology restoration
Raises water table
Allows water storage before (prevention) and during (suppression) wildfires
Permits above ground fire for habitat and fire management with less risk
Cost effective
Many restoration “co-benefits”
Credit: USFWS-V. Carver

12. Hydrology restoration: a tool for the practitioner’s toolbox
PLNWR Cooperative Restoration Project Example
Photo: D. Suiter, USFWS
Healthy pocosin wetlands

13. PLNWR : Refuge History
Land south of Lake Phelps ditched /drained in 60’s for ag and peat mining
Refuge established 1990 with a focus on pocosin restoration
Hydrology restoration plan 1994
Restoration and research on-going since

15. Restoration Approach Install water control structures and culverts
Use raised roads along the canals as levees
Re-saturate historically drained areas via rainfall
Promote sheet flow via water level management
Photo: S.Ward, USFWS
Photo: E. Hinesley, NCSU

16. 2008: PLNWR partial restoration likely helped
Infrastructure complete
Infrastructure in progress
Planned restoration
Importantly, observations made during that fire documented that partially-restored pocosins burned far less than their neighboring drained lands. Undrained pocosins and areas where restoration work was complete did not burn.

17. Importance of pocosin restoration
Benefits beyond reducing wildfire threat/impacts:
Carbon and nitrogen sequestration
Restore wildlife habitat and threatened ecosystems
Water quality
Adaptation to climate change
Human community benefits
Photo: USFWS
Water Quality
Drainage network enhances Hg and nutrient delivery to sensitive downstream waters, this will fix it
Aquatic Habitat
Improve/reconnect important essential nursery habitat
Anadromous fish use
Terrestrial Habitat
AWC globally threatened
Pond pine canebrake critically endangered
Adaptation to sea level rise by preventing incremental (oxidation) and catastrophic (burning) soil loss and promoting soil genesis
Photo: SSEC

18. Pocosin restoration = ideal N & C offset
Peatland drainage promoted organic matter decomposition and loss of N and C to atmosphere
Restoration stops soil loss: incremental (oxidation) and catastrophic (burning)
Since acquisition in 1990, hydrology restoration a priority; project accelerated that effort
Drained Condition
loss of nitrogen, C and Hg via oxidation
(SOURCE)
Restored Condition
nitrogen, C and Hg sequestration
(SINK)

19. Emerging C Markets for “Rewetted” Peatlands
In NC peatlands, sequestration driver is amount C retained that would otherwise be lost without hydrology restoration
Estimated sequestration potential:
200 lb/ac/year of N
6500 lb/ac/year of C
Project sequesters the amount of C in ~82,000 tons of CO2/yr
2. Soil C as soil genesis reestablished
3. Amount in AGB
Emphasize that estimates are being verified now by DUWC
Equivalent to the average annual CO2 impact of 11,000 Americans
Photo: E. Hinesley, NCSU

20. Costs of Restoration
Conservative cost range for restoration on conservation lands between $140 (in- house) and $310 (contract) per acre
We estimate PLNWR project cost of ~ $5M if work completed through external contracts
One time investment… annual return
Encourage group to think about the costs of not doing it…
Photo: E. Hinesley, NCSU

21. Restoration Implications: Avoided Losses
Avoided loss of valuable ecological habitat
Avoided wildfire response costs:
Evans Rd – nearly $20M by Jan 2009
Juniper Road - $3.5M as of
Pains Bay - >$14M as of ; up to $350K/day at peak
Peat soils have potential value in C markets upon restoration
C trading at $10/ton, peat worth up to $139M was lost during Allen Rd and Evans Road fires combined
Peat soils exhaustible – fires can burn to depth of underlying mineral soil

22. Summary
Restoration will not prevent fire in pocosins; just promotes return to more nature fire regime
Frequency and intensity of fires in drained pocosins exceeds natural baseline for these fire-dependent habitats with significant costs
Ecological community impact (e.g. globally threatened AWC)
Fire fighting costs/resources in tough budget times
Feet of soil loss in sea level rise vulnerable areas
CO2 emissions equivalent to industrial releases
Tourism and health impacts
Evans Rd Fire – positive impact of partial restoration
Partially-restored pocosins burned far less than neighboring drained lands
Undrained pocosins and areas where restoration work was complete did not burn

23. Summary (cont.) Restoration is cost-effective preventative measure
Potential for restoration projects to be important in carbon markets
Restored peatlands are a valuable resource
Took geologic time to form; support unique habitats; rapid loss
Value of peat lost exceeds $100M on Evans fire alone
New partners / external funds focused on C or N may expand restoration and even acquisition in future
C and N benefits and project costs estimated; 3-year verification study underway…those tools may help others with similar projects

24. Thanks! NCDENR William Ross Dempsey Benton NCSU Horticultural
Eric Hinesly
U.S. Geological Survey
Duke University Wetlands Center
The Nature Conservancy
Conservation Fund
FWS - Raleigh
Mike Wicker
Tom Augspurger
FWS - Refuges
Howard Phillips
Chris Lowie
Mike Bryant
Dave Kitts
Wendy Stanton
Fred Wurster
Photo: Hollingsworth, USFWS

25. NC Pocosins with Restoration/Enhancement Potential

26. NC Pocosins with Restoration/Enhancement Potential

27. Juniper Road Fire, 2011
Left: June 19, Right: July 21, Photo Credit: USGS