Wetland water quality and vegetation composition will be used as indicators of wetland health. Non-estuarine wetland water quality in selected watersheds has been monitored since 2006 as part of a surface water quality monitoring program (Resolution C-22-06). However, while water quality monitoring in wetlands may indicate the chemical condition of waters, it will not, by itself, directly indicate the health of natural biological communities. Therefore, it is important that biological communities be sampled in addition to water quality monitoring. Wetland vegetation will be monitored in the Water Quality Program because it is the most practical and widely accepted indicator of wetland biological health. Initial wetland monitoring effects will consist of identifying wetland plants to species, estimating total vegetative cover, and collecting water quality data at the site. Vegetation monitoring will occur at both the "plot" scale (absolute percent cover by herbaceous species, in quadrats measuring 1m x 1m) and the whole-wetland or "site"(aerial percent cover of non-native herbaceous species) scale.

Herbaceous vegetation will be the primary subject of monitoring because it is more likely to change measurably between years than woody vegetation, and thus is a relatively sensitive indicator of changes in wetland health. The following variables will be used to interpret possible declines in wetland health:

1) A decline in the number of herbaceous species per sample plot and per point-line;
2) Declines in relative and absolute percent cover of native (vs. non-native) herbaceous species per sample plot and per point-line.

A trial of vegetation monitoring protocols occurred in the summer of 2007. Four wetlands were selected and plots established. Starting in 2008, vegetation monitoring occurred in fifteen (15) wetlands. In each of the following three years (years 2, 3 & 4) 15 new wetlands were monitored based on the conditions described below. Thus, over the first four years of monitoring a total of 60 different wetlands were monitored. Starting in year five (2013), the first year's wetlands were monitored again in order to detect changes that have occurred over that time.