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City of Ramsey February 12, 2007 Functional Assessment of Wetlands Field Assessment Procedures All 136 wetlands were evaluated in the field for wetland function and for restoration potential. The field maps, digital camera, and a letter explaining the project to property owners were used each day during fieldwork. During the field assessment, all the questions posed in the MnRAM 3.0 were answered on MnRAM 3.0 field sheets. The field assessment included an evaluation of the presence and abundance of hydrophytic and invasive vegetation to identify and appraise the plant community, an observation of surface drain tile inlets, ditches or any other drainage feature to identify hydrogeomorphology, buffer of the wetland, land-use within the subwatershed, and apparent public use of the wetland. Also during the field assessment, a digital photograph was taken of all inventoried wetlands to provide a visual record. Each photograph is named using the unique Wetland ID. Field Data Entry into MnRAM 3.0 Access Database The MnRAM 3.0 methodology is programmed into a Microsoft Access database which TM all wetland field data is entered, tabulated and stored. The database computes the various functions attributed to wetlands using formulas outlined in the methodology. Upon return to the office, the wetland functional data collected in the field was entered into a copied version of the MnRAM 3.0 database used in the preliminary GIS analysis. A copied version was used in order to update the MnRAM analysis with wetlands verified in the field and also to maintain the MnRAM analysis for those wetlands not field verified. The MnRAM database contains The National List of Plant Species that Occur in Wetlands: North Central (Region 3) (USFWS, Reed, 1988), which includes common and scientific names and the indicator status for each species. This list was used for entering the dominant plant species within each wetland along with the cover class for each species. When wetlands with uncommon or native vegetation were evaluated, those species were also recorded, even if they weren't dominant for the entire wetland. Species were selected from the drop down list to avoid misspellings and improper names. If a species was not present in the plant list, it was added to the species list. For each assessed wetland, the field evaluator recorded their initials and the date of the assessment within the MnRAM database for future reference. All data entered into the MnRAM database was automatically saved and became part of the permanent record as soon as entered. The database also contains a "Complete Box" which, when checked, indicated that the wetland assessment has been completed. The final MnRAM database contains a total of 349 records which consist of: 1) 136 records updated with the wetland functional data collected in the field for each of the 136 field verified wetlands, and 2) 213 records with the preliminary GIS analysis for the 213 wetlands not assessed in the field. 10