Pipeline corridors through wetlands - impact on plant communities: Mill Creek Tributary Crossing, Jefferson County, New York, 1991 survey. Topical report, June 1991--April 1993

摘要

The goal of the Gas Research Institute Wetland Corridors Program is to document impacts of existing pipelines on the wetlands they traverse. To accomplish this goal, 12 existing wetland crossings were surveyed. These sites varied in elapsed time since pipeline construction, wetland type, pipeline installation techniques, and right-of-way (ROW) management practices. This report presents the results of a survey conducted in June 1991 at the Mill Creek tributary crossing, Jefferson County, New York. One pipeline had been installed through the wetland in 1966, and another was scheduled to be installed later in 1991. Data were collected along the existing pipeline ROW and also along the planned ROW for use as baseline data in future studies. Four separate communities were surveyed. A scrub-shrub wetland and a forested wetland were sampled along the existing ROW where the planned pipeline was to be installed. A mixed vegetation community was sampled along the existing ROW, west of where the planned pipeline would joint the ROW. A marsh community was sampled along the route of the planned pipeline. All plant species found on the ROW of the scrub-shrub community were also present in the adjacent natural areas. The vegetation on the ROW of the forested wetland community also consisted mostly of species found in the adjacent natural areas. In the mixed vegetation community, a small drainage channel present on the ROW, possibly resulting from the pipeline construction, provided habitat for a number of obligate species not found in other areas of this community. Differences noted among different areas of this community were also attributed to slight variations in elevation.