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This feature class consists of 411 points, consisting of 386 sites in the Northern Tampa Bay Area and 25 northern sites. Each point generally represents a part of the wetland interior that was visited in each of the past several WHA. Below is a series of descriptions for the attributes contained in this feature class.
Field Alias (Field Name):
Sorted by field name
Acres (Acres): Approximate acreage of the wetland.
2016 Categorical Score (Attribute_Score_2016): The average of the three Categorical Wetland Scores (Hydrology, Vegetation, Soils) from the preceding 2016 WHA.
2016 Categorical Score (Attribute_Score_2020): The average of the three Categorical Wetland Scores (Hydrology, Vegetation, Soils) from the 2020 WHA.
Foliage Thinning (Canopy_Foliage): Canopy Condition, with options for percentages of wetland trees (primarily appropriate species) that appear hydrologically stressed as evidenced by thinned canopy or other signs in tree crowns.
Value of 1 = >50% of wetland trees appear to show signs of stress caused by excessive dryness
Value of 2 = 10-50% of wetland trees appear to show signs of stress caused by excessive dryness
Value of 3 = <10% of wetland trees appear to show signs of stress caused by excessive dryness.
Wetland Affinity Score - Canopy (Canopy_WAS): Wetland Affinity Score for the canopy stratum, which is a weighted average of plant wetland affinity where 1 = all OBL wetland plants and 5 = all UPL upland plants.
Change_04_to_20 (Change_04_to_20): Change in WHA Score between the baseline 2004 WHA and the 2020 WHA. Positive values indicate improvements between 2004 and 2020.
Change_16_to_20 (Change_16_to_20): Change in WHA Score between the preceding 2016 WHA and the 2020 WHA. Positive values indicate improvements between 2004 and 2020.
Disturbance Rating (Dist_Rating_2020): A rating of non-pumping human-caused factors that might affect wetland hydrology. Values of “ND” indicate no apparent alterations; values of “MT” indicate apparent alterations that might affect wetland hydrology; values of “D” indicate obvious alterations that likely have a significant effect on wetland hydrology.
Distance to Surface Water from Edge (Dist_to_SW): Estimated distance from the wetland edge to the nearest surface water within the wetland, in feet.
Within 2ft drawdown contour? (Drawdown2ft): Value of “Yes” indicates the site is within a simulated 2-ft or greater drawdown of the surficial aquifer system due to production by Tampa Bay Water. Value of “No” indicates the site experiences less than 2 ft of surficial aquifer drawdown.
Hydric Soil Verified near Historic Wetland Edge? (Edge_Hydric): This field is notated “Yes” if soils near the historic wetland edge were determined to be hydric. When soils near the historic edge appeared to be non-hydric due to fill or many years of drainage, this field was notated as “No”.
Hydric Soil Indicator – Wetland Edge (Edge_Soil_Indicator): The most prominent observed hydric soil indicator, if any, observed near the wetland edge.
Fallen Trees (Fallen_Trees): Describes proportion of fallen trees. Attempts are made to count trees that appear to have fallen in more recent years (e.g. last 5-10 years).
Value of 1 = >25% of wetland trees have fallen, potentially indicating severe loss loss/erosion.
Value of 2 = 5-25% of wetland trees have fallen, potentially indicating moderate soil loss/erosion.
Value of 3 = <5% of wetland trees have fallen, indicating natural variability.
Field Date (Field_Date): The date that the field evaluation was performed at the site for the 2020 WHA.
Fire Scars (Fire_Scars): Describes the presence of recent fire evidence within the wetland. Choices are “Present”, “None”, and “N/A”.
Fuel Accumulation (Fuel_Accumulation): Describes the amount of vegetation overgrowth or other wetland indicators that might indicate a lengthy period without fire, particularly for wetland types that would historically burn given natural surroundings.
Value of 1 = High Fuel Accumulation, potentially indicating a long period of fire suppression and/or depressed hydrology
Value of 2 = Moderate Fuel Accumulation
Value of 3 = Low Fuel Accumulation, potentially indicating a healthy fire regime and/or healthy hydrology
Wetland Affinity Score - Groundcover (Groundcover_WAS): Wetland Affinity Score for the herbaceous stratum, which is a weighted average of plant wetland affinity where 1 = all OBL wetland plants and 5 = all UPL upland plants.
Current WL relative to HNP (HNP_offset): An estimated vertical offset in decimal feet that represents the vertical distance between the current (i.e. instantaneous) water level and the estimated wetland normal pool elevation at the time of the evaluation. This value is entered after measurement of numerous indicators throughout the site.
2016 Hydrology Score (Hydro_Score_2016): The 2016 Attribute Score for Hydrology assigned only on the basis of hydrologic factors.
2020 Hydrology Score (Hydro_Score_2020): The 2020 Attribute Score for Hydrology assigned only on the basis of hydrologic factors.
Hydrology Comments (Hydrology_Comments): Comments related to the current hydrology of the wetland.
Death of Inappropriate Trees/Shrubs (Inapp_Death): Observed death of inappropriate (especially hydrologically inappropriate) species, indicating wetland recovery. An “N/A” option is provided for systems lacking inappropriate woody species (e.g. marshes or healthy forested wetlands).
Value of 1 = Minimal Death of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Value of 2 = Moderate Death of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Value of 3 = Significant or Near-Total Mortality of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Stress of Inappropriate Trees/Shrubs (Inapp_Stress): Observed stress of inappropriate woody species, indicating wetland recovery. An “N/A” option is provided for systems lacking inappropriate woody species (e.g. marshes or healthy forested wetlands).
Value of 1 = Low Stress of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Value of 2 = Moderate Stress of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Value of 3 = High Stress of Inappropriate Woody Plants
Comments on wetland surroundings (Landscape_Comments): Comments on surrounding land uses that might be relevant to understanding wetland health at the site.
Leaning Trees (LeaningTrees): Describes the amount of trees observed leaning, which may be a sign of soil loss (a wetland impact).
Value of 1 = >25% of wetland trees are leaning, potentially indicating severe loss loss/erosion.
Value of 2 = 5-25% of wetland trees are leaning, potentially indicating moderate soil loss/erosion.
Value of 3 = <5% of wetland trees are leaning, indicating natural variability.
Skipped Soil Sample - Reason (No_Pit): Lists the reason why the evaluator did not conduct soil sampling at the site (if applicable).
% FACW or OBL - Canopy (OBL_FACW_Canopy): Percent cover of OBL or FACW plants in the canopy stratum. Auto-calculated from entered plant cover percentages.
% FACW or OBL - Groundcover (OBL_FACW_Groundcover): Percentage of OBL and FACW species in the Herbaceous stratum. Auto-calculated from entered plant cover percentages.
% FACW or OBL - Subcanopy (OBL_FACW_Subcanopy): Percentage of OBL and FACW species in the shrub strata. Auto-calculated from entered plant cover percentages.
% FACW or OBL - Overall (OBL_FACW_Manual): Percentage of OBL and FACW species for the site overall. Manually selected from a series of ranges by the investigator.
Value of 1 = <50% OBL and FACW species throughout the site.
Value of 2 = 50-75% OBL and FACW species throughout the site.
Value of 3 = >75% OBL and FACW species throughout the site.
Percent Inundation (Pct_Inundation): Estimated percent inundation for the wetland at the time of the evaluation.
Rain Gage (Rain_Gage): The District ID and name of the SWFWMD near-real-time gage that was used to reference the rainfall amounts preceding the evaluation.
6-months Rain (Rain_6Months): Rainfall, in inches, for the 180-day period preceding the evaluation. Retrieved from the closest Near-Real-Time SWFWMD rain gauge for the period ending at midnight before the evaluation.
Month Rain (Rain_Month): Rainfall, in inches, for the 30-day period preceding the evaluation. Retrieved from the closest Near-Real-Time SWFWMD rain gauge for the period ending at midnight before the evaluation.
Week Rain (Rain_Week): Rainfall, in inches, for the 7-day period preceding the evaluation. Retrieved from the closest Near-Real-Time SWFWMD rain gauge for the period ending at midnight before the evaluation.
Root Rot (Root_Rot): Describes the presence of tree root rot within the wetland, sometimes an indicator of poor soil or hydrologic health. This field contains the value “yes” if prominent root rot was observed, and contains a null value if no prominent root rot was observed.
Evaluator(s) (Sci_2020): The last name(s) of the lead scientist(s) for the 2020 evaluation.
Scoring Justifications (Scoring_Comments): Overall comments to justify the assigned WHA score.
Soil Comments (Soil_Comments): Comments on the soil qualities of the wetland.
Soil Condition (Soil_Condition): Describes the soil condition in the wetland out of a set of three categories.
Value of 1 = Seasonally inappropriate fissures or oxidation
Value of 2 = Fissures/oxidation not pronounced, but unseasonably dry
Value of 3 = Moisture or recent hydric soil indicators prominent near soil surface (especially near wetland center); edge/intermediate soils may be dry if evaluation conducted in dry season
Edge Soil Pit Dug? (Soil_Pit): Records whether soil sampling was performed at the site in yes/no format.
2016 Soils Score (Soil_Score_2016): Categorical Wetland Score for the soil aspects of the wetland from the preceding 2016 WHA. A qualitative assignment.
2020 Soils Score (Soil_Score_2020): Categorical Wetland Score for the soil aspects of the wetland. A qualitative assignment.
Soil Subsidence (Soil_Subsidence): Classifies the severity of subsidence on a categorical basis.
Minor = 1-6 inches
Moderate = 6-12 inches
Severe = Greater than 12 inches
None/Minimal = None observed.
Soil Texture (Soil_Texture): Describes the dominant texture of the soil as observed in the upper 12 inches of the soil profile within the outer 15 feet of the wetland. Choices are “Sand”, “Loam”, and “Clay”.
Wetland Affinity Score - Subcanopy (Subcanopy_WAS): Wetland Affinity Score for the shrub/small tree stratum, which is a weighted average of plant wetland affinity where 1 = all OBL wetland plants and 5 = all UPL upland plants.
Surface Water present in wetland? (SW_present): Lists whether or not surface water was present in the wetland at time of evaluation, in yes/no format.
Total Percent Cover - Canopy (Total_Canopy): Total cover of canopy species.
Total Percent Cover - Groundcover (Total_Groundcover): Total cover of groundcover species.
Total Percent Cover - Subcanopy (Total_Subcanopy): Total cover of shrub and small tree species.
Understory Horizontal Zonation (Understory_Zonation): Describes the zonation of understory vegetation within the wetland from choices of “Normal” or “Abnormal”. Normal zonation is often characterized by transitional species near the edge, mostly emergent and obligate wetland species in the outer deep zone, and deep emergent, submersed, or floating near the center of the wetland. Abnormal zonation is characterized by heavy invasion of species (e.g. woody recruits or facultative wetland species) into a deeper zone/elevation than they should normally appear.
Vegetation Comments (Veg_Comments): Comments on the vegetation aspects of the wetland at the time of the evaluation.
2016 Vegetation Score (Veg_Score_2016): Categorical score of vegetative characteristics only, from the preceding 2016 WHA. A qualitative assignment used to help assign the overall WHA score.
2020 Vegetation Score (Veg_Score_2020): Categorical score of vegetative characteristics only. A qualitative assignment used to help assign the overall WHA score.
Visible Distance from Wetland Interior (ft) (Visib_Dist): Distance viewable from the wetland interior. Helps describe the vegetation density and amount of overgrowth as well as characterize the length of the transect, which was to include observed species beyond the farthest point traveled.
Water Depth at Wetland Edge (WD_Edge): The observed water depth at the wetland edge. Categories include:
12+ Inches Below Ground
6-12 Inches Below Ground
0-6 Inches Below Ground
0-6 Inches Above Ground
6+ Inches Above Ground
Water Depth in Wetland Interior (WD_Interior): The observed water depth at the wetland edge. Categories include:
12+ Inches Below Ground
6-12 Inches Below Ground
0-6 Inches Below Ground
0-6 Inches Above Ground
6-12 Inches Above Ground
1-2 ft Above Ground
2-3 ft Above Ground
>3 ft Above Ground
Exotic/Weedy Plants (Weedy_Plants): Describes presence of exotic and weedy plants, which can sometimes be an indicator of hydrologic or wetland health changes.
Value of 1 = Weedy plants are abundant throughout the site.
Value of 2 = Weedy plants are present and notable but relatively uncommon throughout the site.
Value of 3 = Weedy plants are rare or absent throughout the site.
Wetland Hydration (Wetland_Hydration): A qualitative rating of wetland hydration on a 3-point scale.
Value of 1 = Severely depressed hydration when compared to seasonal reference conditions.
Value of 2 = Moderately depressed hydration when compared to seasonal reference conditions.
Value of 3 = Appropriate hydration when compared to seasonal reference conditions. This category also includes sites that are excessively hydrated due to artificial changes (e.g. runoff).
Wetland Type (Wetland_Type): A general designation of wetland community type. These were mostly obtained from historic land cover inventories (e.g. 1990s FLUCFCS datasets).
WF Area (WF_Area): The closest and/or most influential Tampa Bay Water wellfield to the site. If the site was determined to be significantly far from wellfield effects, they were designated as “Inter-Wellfield” sites, or “IWF”. This field contains the three-character abbreviation for each wellfield.
WF Full Name (WF_FullName): The closest and/or most influential Tampa Bay Water wellfield to the site. If the site was determined to be significantly far from wellfield effects, they were designated as “Inter-Wellfield” sites, or “IWF”. This field contains the full name for each wellfield.
2016 WHA Score (WHA_Score_2016): The WHA score from the preceding 2016 Assessment. This was available to the investigator at the end of their evaluation to serve as a check and to provide an opportunity to validate whether they felt the wetland had truly changed/not changed.
2020 WHA Score (WHA_Score_2020): The final, official 5-point Wetland Health Score. Assigned qualitatively and not the result of any averages or calculations. 1 represents poorest health while 5 represents reference wetland health.
WHA Wetland ID (WHA_Wet_ID): The unique identification number assigned to each wetland for tracking and analysis purposes, first instituted in the 2004 WHA and previously referred to as the “ID_WEA”.
Wildlife Comments (Wildlife_Comments): Comments regarding wildlife observations, habitat features, or other pertinent factors.
Recent Water Level Indicators (WL_Appropriate): Describes the propriety of recent water level in reference to estimated normal pool. A measure of whether water levels in recent periods are attaining the same levels as reached historically.
Value of 1 = None or at Tree Base
Value of 2 = Present but Indistinct or Abnormally Low
Value of 3 = Distinct at Appropriate Level
Woody Successional Trends (WoodySuccession): Describes the successional trends of woody species observed within the wetland.
“Rapid change”: indicates hardwood species proliferating at deeper elevations that expected, often combined with lack of cypress recruitment (if applicable).
“Appears stable or reverting to Historic” indicates hardwood species are limited to shallow elevations or previously encroached to deeper elevations but died back from recovering water levels. If applicable, multiple age classes of cypress (or other appropriate species) trees should be present, indicating the forested community is healthy and self-perpetuating.
Below are descriptions of attribute fields contained within this feature class.
Fields are sorted alphabetically by field name
(Name / Alias: Description)
Acres / Acres: The approximate acreage of the wetland as calculated from generalized polygons inherited from previous iterations of the study that used various land use and cover datasets from the late 1990s or later.
C04to20_5p / 2004 to 2020 Change (5pt): Change in WHA score on a 5-point scale from 2004 to 2020, using simple subtraction. Positive numbers indicate improvement from 2004 to 2020, negative numbers indicate degradation between 2004 and 2020, and values of “0” indicate no change. Null values indicate that the site was not evaluated in 2004 and/or 2020.
CLASS1998 / CLASS1998: A combination of the fields “ENV1998” and “ENG1998”. For wetlands determined by engineers in 1998 as having a human-induced impact not related to groundwater withdrawal, this field contains “Brown” or “Black” with no environmental rating. For wetlands determined to have no such impact, or for 1998 WHA wetlands that were not evaluated by engineers, this field contains the environmental rating (Orange, Yellow, Green). The total combined sample size for engineer- and environmentally-rated wetlands is 1,343.
CSES / CSES: This field contains the identifier “CSES” for any wetlands that were part of Tampa Bay Water’s Candidate Site Evaluation Study. This historic study identified sites that were not expected to fully recover following pumping reductions to 90 MGD, and as such were historic candidates for mitigation measures.
ENG1998 / ENG1998: The engineer rating from the 1998 Assessment. A subset of the 1,343 wetlands evaluated in 1998 were evaluated by engineers for human-caused hydrologic impacts not related to groundwater withdrawal. For wetlands designated as “None”, no such impacts were determined, and an additional environmental evaluation rated the wetland (see the field “ENV1998”). For wetlands where such impacts were determined, this field is denoted “Brown” or “Black”, and an environmental evaluation was not reported. Sites rated as “Brown” had apparent alterations that might affect wetland health, while sites rated as “Black” has clear and significant hydrologic alterations.
ENG2004 / ENG2004: The engineer ratings prior to the 2004 Assessment. See field “ENG1998”.
ENG2020 / ENG2020: The engineer ratings prior to the 2020 Assessment. These were updated using regional elevation datasets (e.g. LiDAR) that clearly indicated some landscape features, such as ditching, that would likely affect wetland hydrology. See field “ENG1998”.
ENV1998 / ENV1998: Contains color-coded environmental health designations for a subset of 1,343 wetlands evaluated in the 1998 Assessment. Only wetlands not determined by engineers to have non-pumping anthropogenic impacts were assigned environmental ratings. These sites were either visited in person or filled in on maps based on general knowledge. A rating of “Orange” refers to significant ecological changes, “Yellow” refers to moderate changes, and ‘Green” refers to lack of significant change.
ENV2004: The color-coded health designation for the 2004 WHA. See field “ENV1998”.
ENV2009: The color-coded health designations for the 2009 WHA. See field “ENV1998”.
ENV2016: The color-coded health designations for the 2016 WHA. See field “ENV1998”.
ENV2020: The color-coded health designations for the 2020 WHA. See field “ENV1998”.
F1998_WHA_Score_3pt / 1998_WHA_Score_3pt: A converted value on a 3-point scale using the 1998 color-coded environmental ratings. “Orange” ratings are equivalent to a score of 1, “Yellow” ratings are equivalent to a score of 2 and “Green” ratings are equivalent to a score of 3.
F1998_WHA_Score_5pt / 1998_WHA_Score_5pt: Since the diverse methods used in the 1998 WHA did not always include assignment of a five-point score, the 3-point scores in the field “1998_WHA_Score_5pt” were converted to a five-point scale for rough comparisons with later years that used a five-point scale. This conversion used the following process: 1 à 1.5, 2 à 3, 3 à 4.5.
F2004_Firm / 2004_Firm: The firm and/or agency with which the lead scientist was associated during the 2004 WHA.
F2004_WHA_Score_5pt / 2004 WHA Score (5p): The final assigned health score for the wetland during the 2004 WHA, on a five-point scale.
F2009_Firm / 2009_Firm: The firm and/or agency with which the lead scientist was associated during the 2009 WHA.
F2009_WHA_Score_5pt / 2009 WHA Score (5p): The final assigned health score for the wetland during the 2009 WHA, on a five-point scale.
F2016_Firm / 2016_Firm: The firm and/or agency with which the lead scientist was associated during the 2016 WHA.
F2016_WHA_Score_5pt / 2016 WHA Score (5p): The final assigned health score for the wetland during the 2016 WHA, on a five-point scale.
F2020_Firm / 2020_Firm: The firm and/or agency with which the lead scientist was associated during the 2020 WHA.
F2020_WHA_Score_5pt / 2020 WHA Score (5p): The final assigned health score for the wetland during the 2020 WHA, on a five-point scale.
Monitoring_at_Site / Monitoring at Site: Contains a list of wetland evaluation programs conducted at the site, out of the following: Candidate Site Evaluation Study (CSES), SWFWMD Wetland Assessment Procedure (WAP), Tampa Bay Water WAP, and WHA.
STATIONID / STATIONID: Additional non-WHA ID Numbers or Names assigned to certain wetlands routinely monitored by the SWFWMD.
WAP_SWFWMD/ WAP SWFWMD: Identifies wetlands that are monitored by the WAP under SWFWMD monitoring programs. For such wetlands, this field will include the string “SWFWMD WAP”.
WAP_TBW / WAP_TBW: Identifies wetlands that are monitored by the WAP under Tampa Bay Water monitoring programs. For such wetlands, this field will include the string “TBW WAP”.
WAP_Wellfield / WAP Wellfield: Contains the abbreviation code for the Tampa Bay Water wellfield with which this wetland is associated, if it is a WAP site.
Wetland_Type / Wetland_Type: The wetland community type assigned to each wetland. The majority of these designations are informal designations assigned in early years of the WHA, and do not represent an in-depth survey of the wetland. Most wetlands are designated as either “cypress” or “marsh”.
WFAREA / WFAREA: Contains the generalized “wellfield area” that contains each wetland. The wellfield areas assigning approximately 1-square mile land sections to the nearest and/or most influential wellfield. This process thereby related every part of the NTBA of the study area to a particular wellfield except those designated as “IWF” (Inter-wellfield Area). The IWF areas are deemed mostly independent of impacts from specific wellfields.
WHA_ID / WHA Wetland ID: The unique wetland ID numbers assigned to each wetland specifically for the WHA.
WHA_ID_exp / WHA Wetland ID (with Expanded Wetlands): The unique wetland ID numbers assigned to each wetland specifically for the WHA, with different numbers included for the control wetlands in the Expanded Study Area north of the Northern Tampa Bay Area. These control wetlands are routinely monitored outside of the WHA; thus, they have their own wetland IDs apart from those in the WHA database. In this field, the former IDs replace the WHA IDs. The letter “E” is added to the end of each control wetland name to distinguish them from wetlands in the Northern Tampa Bay Area.
WHA_years / WHA_years: Lists the WHA Assessment years during which wetland was evaluated, out of the following: 1998, 2004, 2016, 2020
Z1998: Contains the identifier “1998” for any wetlands assessed during the 1998 Assessment.
Z2004: Contains the identifier “2004” for any wetlands assessed during the 2004 Assessment.
Z2009: Contains the identifier “2009” for any wetlands assessed during the 2009 Assessment.
Z2016: Contains the identifier “2016” for any wetlands assessed during the 2016 Assessment.
Z2020: Contains the identifier “2020” for any wetlands assessed during the 2020 Assessment.