Springs Ecosystem Assessment Protocol

Completing a SEAP

Following the first survey phase, the Springs Inventory Protocol (SIP), is the Springs Ecosystem Assessment Protocol (SEAP). The SEAP guides surveyors through assessing current conditions and risks facing the site in five different categories. Risk is interpreted as the potential threat or the “condition inertia” of that variable. In other words, what is the probability of that variable remaining unchanged?

The five categories are:

1. Aquifer and Water Quality

2. Geomorphology

3. Habitat Characteristics

4. Biota

5. Human Uses and Influences

Each category is scored on the basis of 5-8 subcategories that are ranked on a 0-6 scoring scale. There is also a sixth category for administrative context under which the spring is managed, which can be completed by the land manager independently or through discussion with the survey crew. The SEAP allows users to evaluate ecological health in relation to human influences at multiple levels of detail, which then informs the stewardship plan for the site. The SEAP’s quantitative approach also allows it to be used as a monitoring tool, permitting the comparison of ecological condition over time, or following management actions.

SEAP criteria sheets are available here.

Implementation

SSI has tested the SEAP on springs in several regional landscapes, including southern Alberta, southern Nevada, and northern Arizona. Our studies to date show that the SEAP is multi-culturally effective, efficient, comprehensive, and applicable for virtually all spring ecosystems.

A great example of SEAP implementation is SSI's Level 2 inventory of Montezuma Well, a large limnocrene (pool-forming spring) in Montezuma Castle National Monument in central Arizona. The SEAP produced from that inventory showed that the Well was in fairly good ecological shape but is threatened by regional groundwater pumping and intensive recreational impacts.

SSI also used the results of the SEAP to advise federal and Tribal managers on prioritized stewardship and restoration options. The SEAP section of Springs Online includes the opportunity to report management recommendations.

The advisory reports have been used to undertake springs restoration projects in Ash Meadows, Nevada (Otis Bay2006) and on the Arizona Strip (Grand Canyon Wildlands Council 2002, 2010).