The influence of the proximity of urbanization and agriculture to stream water quality is often difficult to quantify. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare the influence of far-field land-use, encompassing a watershed drainage area, to a near-field, 200-m buffer on each side of the stream in an attempt to determine on which zone of influence land-use has the largest impact on water quality, and (2) incorporate the EPA's Rapid Habitat Assessment Protocol (Barbour et al., 1999) to characterize the riparian and channel characteristics of a stream that influence water quality, which can improve New York State's monitoring protocols. Impacts were assessed through biological, chemical, and physical-habitat data from 29 streams [...]
