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About the CWC

Wetlands are fascinating places. Yet the features that make them fascinating also contribute to their controversial status. No other land type is regulated as intensively, and few other habitats offer such a wide range of ecological benefits. Institutions, agencies, and industries need a source of objective and technically rigorous information about wetlands and the issues surrounding their regulation and management.

The goal of the Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center (CWC) is to conduct, facilitate, and coordinate interdisciplinary research, monitoring, and training regarding wetlands and related resources, with an emphasis in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states.

Wetlands and streams serve as vital links between urban and rural communities, and between forests and farmlands. However, they often bear the brunt of landscape alterations and pollution.


The CWC can address the concerns of both resource agencies and economic interests regarding the management and protection of wetland resources.
Work is conducted at a variety of scales, from individual plants and soil samples, to landscape-level GIS projects, the latter being conducted in cooperation with Penn State's Office of Remote Sensing of Earth Resources (ORSER).


The majority of freshwater wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states are forested and contain minimal standing water. They are often not recognized by the casual observer. Forested wetlands, as well as other types, seldom occur in isolation. Typically they form part of a larger hydrologic system composed of other wetlands, streams, and riparian areas. Research conducted by the CWC is directed at understanding how these integrated systems function.

A variety of research projects and outreach activities are conducted by the Cooperative Wetland Center including:

    • Developing and testing science-based methods and tools to assess and predict wetland functions.
    • Identifying and studying groups of reference wetlands and mitigation projects as a means of assessing ecological health and defining success and performance criteria for created wetlands.
    • Conducting landscape-level studies of the ecological integrity and restoration potential of wetlands in a watershed context.
    • Assessing and predicting habitat use by wetland-dependent wildlife, fish, and macroinvertebrates.
    • Analyze and act as a repository for wetland monitoring data and remotely-sensed data.
    • Offering technical training and information via seminars, short courses, and publications.
    • Focusing attention on priority topics and issues, such as ecological indicators, non-point- source pollution, habitat loss, reclamation of mined lands, and mitigation.

 

Formal establishment of the CWC builds upon a decade of wetlands research conducted at Penn State by the Director, staff, graduate students, and affiliated faculty. The "cooperative" aspect of the CWC means we have the flexibility to bring the vast resources of Penn State and other partners to bear on difficult problems or controversial issues.

 

Opportunities for graduate and post-graduate research are available through several degree programs at Penn State, including: Ecology, Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Soils Science, Environmental Pollution Control, and Landscape Architecture.

Penn State's University Park campus is particularly well-suited as a central location for focusing research and outreach activities on the investigation and monitoring of impacts of human activities on freshwater wetlands, headwater streams, wetlands of glaciated and unglaciated regions, and the riparian areas that interconnect this network of water resources.
The Penn State Cooperative Wetlands Center was established in 1993 through a grant from Region 3 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The CWC is supported through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements, and by the Environmental Resources Research Institute and School of Forest Resources of the Pennsylvania State University.

 

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Contact: Mary Easterling - mme2@psu.edu
302 Walker Building
University Park, PA 16802