California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands - State Water ...

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California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands v. 5.0.2 – Chapter 2 Figure 2.1: Spatial hierarchy of factors that control wetland conditions, which are ultimately controlled by climate, geology, and land use. Stress and disturbance originate outside the wetland, in landscape context Buffer zone exists between stressors and wetland Condition is assessed at the wetland Figure 2.2: Spatial hierarchy of stressors, buffers, and wetland condition. Most stressors originate outside the wetland. The buffer exists between the wetland and the sources of stress, and serves to mediate the stress. 12
California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands v. 5.0.2 – Chapter 2 2.3 Developmental Framework The CRAM developmental process consists of nine steps with distinct products organized into three phases: basic design, calibration, and validation (Table 2.1). Core Team Core and Regional Teams Table 2.1: Basic outline of CRAM development. Basic Design Phase Calibration Phase Validation Phase Develop conceptual models of wetland form and function Identify universal Attributes of wetland condition Nominate Metrics of the Attributes Nominate descriptions of alternative states for each Metric Clarify and revise the Metrics and narrative descriptions of alternative states based on regional team input and inter- and intra-team comparisons Develop a checklist to identify stressors Test and select methods of scaling and weighting Attributes and Metrics Test and select formulas for calculating Attribute scores and AA scores Validate Metrics and Attributes using Level 3 data Conduct independent peer review Provide outreach and training 2.3.1 Basic Design This phase of CRAM development involved creating conceptual models of wetland form and function, defining key terms, developing the wetland typology, identifying the attributes, and formulating metrics that describe each attribute. The basic design work was done primarily through initial field-testing and feedback by Regional Teams and the Core Team. Version 2.0 of CRAM marked the completion of the basic design phase. Each CRAM attribute is represented by a set of metrics (Table 2.2 below), and each metric is represented by a set of mutually exclusive narrative descriptions of alternative states. In aggregate, the alternative states of all the metrics for any type of wetland represent its full range of visible form and structure. An effort was made to separate assessments of condition from assessments of stress. This was done to explore correlations between stress and condition. For example, CRAM AAs can be grouped according to their associated stressors, and the groups can be compared based on their CRAM scores. The separation has been difficult to achieve, however, For example, the Plant Community metric of the Biotic Structure attribute includes a sub-metric about the relative abundance of non-native plant species, although biological invasion is usually considered a significant stressor. Some autocorrelation can therefore be expected between stress and condition as assessed using the current version of CRAM 2.3.2 Calibration The calibration phase was used to determine if the draft wetland classification scheme, the attributes, the metrics, and the narrative descriptions of alternative states were (1) clear and 13
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