Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) wetland assessments

Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) wetland assessments quantify the effects of voluntary conservation efforts for wetlands located in agricultural settings at both regional and national scales.

Wetlands occur where water covers the soil or is present near the soil surface either seasonally or year-round. They include marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. Beyond providing wildlife habitat and increasing biodiversity, wetlands serve to remove sediment, nutrients, and other pollutants, contain floodwaters, and store carbon. Through CEAP, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) develops monitoring and modeling processes that improve wetland conservation efforts on private working lands.

CEAP wetland assessments across multiple scales inform voluntary conservation actions for a diversity of land managers and partners by improving predictions of responses in wetland functions and ecosystem services. Details on the methods for CEAP wetland assessments are available on the CEAP Frequently Asked Questions page.

Reports, Articles, and Bibliographies

The below publications provide data and associated insights on the effects of voluntary conservation across the nation’s wetlands. Categories include reports and articles and bibliographies. Within each category publications are organized in descending order by date.

Mid-Atlantic Region

• Developmental framework for a desktop hydrogeomorphic wetland functional assessment derived from field-based data, 2024, Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
• Drainage ditch network extraction from lidar data using deep convolutional neural networks in a low relief landscape, 2023, Journal of Hydrology
• Detecting causal relationship of non‑floodplain wetland hydrologic connectivity using convergent cross mapping, 2023, Scientific Reports
• Estimation of base and surface flow using deep neural networks and a hydrologic model in two watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay, 2022, Journal of Hydrology
• Combined use of crop yield statistics and remotely sensed products for enhanced simulations of evapotranspiration within an agricultural watershed, 2022, Agricultural Water Management
• Utility of remotely sensed evapotranspiration products on assessing an improved model structure, 2021, Sustainability
• Uncertainty assessment of multi-parameter, multi-GCM, and multi-RCP simulations for streamflow and non-floodplain wetland (NFW) water storage, 2021, Journal of Hydrology
• Evaluating a remote wetland functional assessment along an alteration gradient in coastal plain depressional wetlands, 2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
• Overview of the USDA Mid-Atlantic Regional Wetland Conservation Effects Assessment Project, 2020, Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
• Assessing the Effectiveness of Riparian Buffers for Reducing Organic Nitrogen Loads in the Coastal Plain of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed using a Watershed Model, 2020, Journal of Hydrology
• Assessment and Combination of SMAP and Sentinel-1A/B-Derived Soil Moisture Estimates With Land Surface Model Outputs in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain, 2020, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing
• Use of Topographic Models for Mapping Soil Properties and Processes, 2020, Soil Systems
• Effects and Effectiveness of USDA Wetland Conservation Practices in the Mid-Atlantic Region: A Report on the CEAP Mid-Atlantic Regional Wetland Assessment 2008 – 2015 Summary, 2015, (195 KB)
• Effects and Effectiveness of USDA Wetland Conservation Practices in the Mid-Atlantic Region: A Report on the CEAP Mid-Atlantic Regional Wetland Assessment 2008 – 2015 Full Report, 2015, (9.05 MB)
• A Regional Classification of the Effectiveness of Depressional Wetlands at Mitigating Nitrogen Transport to Surface Waters in the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain, 2012, USGS Report
• Forested Wetlands in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, 2010, Agricultural Research
• Choptank Watershed Wetland Study, 2008 (34 KB)
• Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment, 2008 (28.3 KB)