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Filters: Tags: {"type":"Water Science Field Team Keywords"} (X) > Types: Shapefile (X) > Categories: Data (X) > partyWithName: Barry P Baldigo (X)

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Background: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) plan to obtain data on chemical contaminants in fish from multiple Areas of Concern (AOCs) in New York State and use this information to evaluate fish consumption advisories, which are a critical component of most removal criteria for “Restriction on Fish and Wildlife Consumption” beneficial use impairments (BUI). The first project in the Buffalo River AOC will help determine if current fish consumption advisories are appropriate, if they can be modified, and if they support or do not support BUI removal as recommended in the June 2014 “Buffalo River AOC: A Monitoring Plan for the Delisting of...
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Background The Upper Esopus Creek, a popular trout-fishing and recreational stream in the heart of the Catskill Mountains, received historic flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on August 28, 2011. Streamflows approached or surpassed the 1% annual exceedance probability (>100 year) flood levels at several USGS streamgages in this basin. Short-term flood impacts on biological assemblages have been assessed in several studies, but longer-term effects, recovery, and analysis of factors affecting ecosystem resiliency have rarely been investigated. The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS), New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP), and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County (CCEUC) collaborated on...
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Background Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the hereditary material in organisms that contains the biological instructions for building and maintaining them. The chemical structure of DNA is the same for all organisms, but differences exist in the order of the DNA building blocks, known as base pairs. Unique sequences provide a means to identify individual species and detect their presence within aquatic or terrestrial environments. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is nuclear or mitochondrial DNA that is shed from an organism into the environment. Sources of eDNA include feces, mucous, and gametes; shed skin; and carcasses. In aquatic environments, eDNA is diluted and distributed by currents and other hydrological processes....
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Background: The waters of the Mohawk River and its tributaries are inhabited by some of the most diverse fish communities in the Northeast. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825, and later the Barge Canal in 1918, enabled the westward expansion of fishes from the Hudson River drainage as well as the eastward expansion of fishes indigenous to the Great Lakes drainage. Today, almost half of the fish species in the Mohawk River are nonnative (Carlson and Daniels, 2004) and George et al (2016), yet the fish community still fulfills many important economic and ecological functions. The Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is an invasive benthic fish indigenous to Ponto-Caspian region of Eurasia that is invading eastward...
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Background Heavy metals, phosphorus, and organic contaminants in water and sediments of the lower Genesee River, resulted in the designation of fourteen beneficial uses as impaired in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The benthic macroinvertebrate community or “benthos” Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was designated as degraded in the Genesee River because the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) impairment metrics generally identified slight to moderate impacts through the 1990s and 2000s. Accumulation of “sediments on more suitable substrates” and “contaminants in sediment of the Genesee River related to past municipal and industrial waste-water treatment plant discharges...
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BACKGROUND Chemistry data from a group of Adirondack lakes monitored since the mid-1990s indicate that chemical recovery is currently underway and can be attributed to declining deposition loads of sulfate and nitrate in direct response to the 1990 amendment to the Clean Air Act (CAA) and other regulations. Changes in the water quality of several western Adirondack streams suggest that chemical recovery from acidification is underway as well, while data from recent large-scale stream surveys also support the assertion. Changes in stream chemistry, however, appear to be more complicated than changes in lake chemistry. The pH levels in Buck Creek, for example, have changed very little since the 1990s but dissolved...
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Background Past water-quality issues in the St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY resulted in a determination that selected beneficial uses were impaired in a surrounding Area of Concern (AOC) and on the Canadian side of the international boundary (Cornwall, Ontario). The benthic macroinvertebrate community or “benthos” Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was designated degraded because impairment metrics were unavailable or inconclusive. Recent sampling efforts by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) as part of their Rotating Integrated Basin Studies (RIBS) program indicate that macroinvertebrate communities in some sections of the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries in the Massena AOC are...
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Background : Contaminated bed sediments in much of the Buffalo River AOC (Figure 1A, 1B) were removed (dredged) between 2011 and 2015. Plans to monitor and assess the effectiveness of this management action on 8 of 9 beneficial-use-impairments (BUI), included the benthic macroinvertebrate (benthos) BUI, were revised by the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper (Riverkeeper, 2014). Funds needed to implement various monitoring efforts proposed in this plan, however, were not available at that time. The USGS-New York Water Science Center (NYWSC) and the NYSDEC propose a collaborative study to evaluate multiple lines of evidence (toxicity of sediments and the condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities) to determine...
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Background Industrial discharges of toxic and bio-accumulating compounds to the Niagara River and its tributaries have occurred over many decades. High concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have been found in samples of fish tissue from many locations, including three tributaries to the Niagara River: Tonawanda Creek, Two mile Creek, and Rattlesnake Creek (study reaches listed in Table 1). Study site for SPMD sampler in a tributary to the Niagara River High PCB concentrations have also been found in mussel tissues during in situ experiments in the latter two creeks PCBs have been detected in sediments from many locations, but they were generally lower than expected given the elevated PCB concentrations...
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Background The Esopus Creek is located in the Catskill Mountains of New York State and is part of the New York City (NYC) drinking water supply system. The basin was dammed in 1915 to form the Ashokan Reservoir splitting the creek into Upper (upstream of the reservoir) and Lower segments. The drainage area of Upper Esopus Creek, between the source (Winisook Lake) and the Ashokan Reservoir is approximately 192 mi2. The Schoharie Reservoir, located 27 miles north of the Ashokan Reservoir, also supplies water to Upper Esopus Creek (and to the Ashokan Reservoir) via the Shandaken tunnel. Waters from the Schoharie watershed enter Upper Esopus Creek at the Shandaken portal and travel 18 km before entering the Ashokan...
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BACKGROUND Watersheds of the Adirondack Mountains receive high levels of acid deposition resulting from atmospheric emissions of nitrogen and sulfur oxides. Acidic deposition has been shown to reduce acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) and calcium (Ca) concentrations, and increase acidity and aluminum (Al) concentrations in soils and surface waters, and affect forest health as well as fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages across the region. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently developing secondary standards for nitrogen and sulfur emissions that will indirectly protect terrestrial and aquatic species and their communities from further adverse impacts and promote recovery of acidified ecosystems...
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Problem The Neversink River and Rondout Creek are historic trout fishing and recreational streams in the heart of the Catskill Mountains of southeastern NY. Waters throughout upper reaches of both rivers currently range from neutral to severely acidic due to deposition of acid rain throughout their watersheds. Fish surveys conducted by the USGS during the late 1980s and early 1990s found that some fish species and entire assemblages were absent or depressed in many tributaries and second and third order reaches of both rivers. Recent decreases in acidity of atmospheric deposition and changes in hydrologic and thermal regimes are now affecting water chemistry (e.g., pH, acid neutralizing capacity, dissolved organic...
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Background Discharges from non-point sources, municipal and industrial point sources, and combined sewage overflows over the last century resulted in elevated levels of heavy metals, conventional pollutants, phosphorus, and toxic organic contaminants in water and sediments of the Lower Genesee River and Rochester Embayment. As a result, the zooplankton and phytoplankton or “plankton” communities were designated as one of fourteen Beneficial Use Impairments (BUI); i.e., the resource was either impaired or in need of assessment in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern (AOC). The Rochester Embayment Remedial Action Committee (RAC) was formed by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Aquatic Community Health, Aquatic Community Health, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, All tags...
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Problem - A variety of factors potentially impact natural resources in the Neversink River basin and in other tributaries to the Upper Delaware River along the New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey boarders in the northeastern US. Increased urbanization within most watersheds of the Delaware River has decreased forested lands and ground permeability; fractionated forests, streams, and rivers; impounded flowing waters, and discharged municipal, agricultural, and industrial pollutants into many waterways. The effects on water quality and hydrology have been quantified relatively well. The direct impacts of these perturbations on biological components of stream and river ecosystems are sometimes known, however, more...
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Background: The USGS propose a collaborative investigation with the NYSDEC and NOAA to evaluate the current condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of bed sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC). Using a probabilistic study design, sediment-toxicity data compiled by the USGS, invertebrate community data collected by NYSDEC, and sediment-chemistry data collected by NOAA will be assimilated using a Sediment Quality Triad approach (Chapman et al., 1992; USEPA, 1992) to provide a sediment-quality baseline needed to gauge changes expected to follow remediation of contaminated sediments in parts of the AOC. These data will also be used directly to confirm that the macroinvertebrate...
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Background With few exceptions, the contemporary and past effects of acidification on fish populations and communities in streams across acid-sensitive regions of NY have not been documented. The pervasive lack of information only permits anecdotal insight into the spatial effects of acidification on stream-fish assemblages and essentially precludes any broad effort to quantify temporal trends and potential recovery of fish assemblages in less acidic or less toxic streams. Though the effects of acidification on fish assemblages have been qualified in several streams of the eastern Adirondacks during 1979, the 1980s, and early 2000s, (Schofield and Driscoll 1987; Simonin et al. 2005) quantitative impacts were...
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Background - Turbid waters originating in the Schoharie Reservoir allegedly impair habitat and resident trout populations in Upper Esopus Creek; however, to date no scientific studies have documented adverse affects of altered thermal, suspended sediment (turbidity), and flow regimes on survival, growth, or behavior of trout or the health of their populations. The 424 mi2 Esopus Creek watershed is a tributary to the Hudson River in the south-central Catskill Mountains of New York State and is often considered to be two systems separated by the Ashokan Reservoir. The Upper Esopus Creek is considered the reach between its source, Winisook Lake, and the reservoir. Flows in the Upper Esopus Creek are supplemented by...
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Problem - The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) Stream Management Program, in cooperation with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, is implementing stream-restoration demonstration projects to decrease channel bed and bank erosion and improve water quality (lower suspended sediment and turbidity) in several priority streams of the Catskill Mountain Region (Fig. 1). A variety of issues relating to (a) the hydraulic geometry of stable and unstable stream channels, (b) validation of underlying assumptions used to characterize channel stability and design, and (c) the effects of restoration on stream-channel geomorphology, stability, biota, and sediment transport have not been...
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Background The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation (ALSC) repeatedly surveyed fish assemblages and characterized water chemistry from 44 to 52 lakes during the periods 1984-1987 and 1994-2005, and 2008-2012 to document the regional effects of acidic deposition and potential recovery associated with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment (CAAA) under the Adirondack Long-Term Monitoring (ATLM) Project. An initial analysis of changes in fish assemblages between the periods 1984-1987 and 1994-2005 noted modest and mixed recoveries, identified five fish-community response/recovery classes, and helped to devise a fish-community index based on species acid...
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Background Forested watersheds in the southwestern Adirondack Mountains of New York received some of the most acidic deposition in North America from the 1970s through much of the 1990s (NADP 2005). Thus it is not surprising that associated effects on surface-water quality and ecosystems in lakes and streams of the southwestern Adirondack Mountains of New York were investigated to various extents over the past 35 years; first to document acidification effects and then to evaluate potential recovery. In fact, evidence of adverse impacts on water quality and aquatic ecosystems across the region provided much support for implementation of the Clean Air Act (CAA) of 1990. Although the underlying effect mechanisms were...
map background search result map search result map Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed Response of Fish Assemblages to Changing Acid-base Chemistry in Adirondack Long Term Monitoring Lakes, 1984-2012 Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Sediment toxicity and status of benthic invertebrate communities in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries within the Massena Area-of-Concern Sediment Toxicity and Condition of Benthic Invertebrate Communities in the Rochester Embayment Area-of-Concern Use of telemetry to assess potential effects of Schoharie Reservoir waters on trout populations in the Upper Esopus Creek Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Quantitative Assessment of Water Quality in Upper Esopus Creek: Fish, Macroinvertebrates, Periphyton, Turbidity, and Nutrients Emerging Methods for Detection and their Potential for Inventorying Brook Trout Populations in Streams of the Western Adirondacks Long-term Effects of the Clean Air Act on Water Toxicity and Brook Trout Survival in Acidified Streams of the Southwestern Adirondacks, 1984-2017 Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Effect of Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on Fish Assemblages in the Upper Esopus Creek Basin Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of lakes and streams in the Adirondack Mountains Sediment toxicity and status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the remediated Buffalo River Area-of-Concern Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek New York Statewide Fish Collection: Contaminants in fish from the Buffalo River AOC Monitoring the Status and Expansion of Round Goby Populations in the Mohawk River/Barge Canal System Track down survey of PCBs in three tributaries to the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) Documenting Biological Recovery in Acidified Adirondack Streams in Response to the 1990 Amendment to the Clean Air Act Sediment toxicity and status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities in the remediated Buffalo River Area-of-Concern New York Statewide Fish Collection: Contaminants in fish from the Buffalo River AOC Sediment toxicity and status of benthic invertebrate communities in the St. Lawrence River and its tributaries within the Massena Area-of-Concern Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Sediment Toxicity and Condition of Benthic Invertebrate Communities in the Rochester Embayment Area-of-Concern Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed Use of telemetry to assess potential effects of Schoharie Reservoir waters on trout populations in the Upper Esopus Creek Quantitative Assessment of Water Quality in Upper Esopus Creek: Fish, Macroinvertebrates, Periphyton, Turbidity, and Nutrients Effect of Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on Fish Assemblages in the Upper Esopus Creek Basin Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Track down survey of PCBs in three tributaries to the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Emerging Methods for Detection and their Potential for Inventorying Brook Trout Populations in Streams of the Western Adirondacks Long-term Effects of the Clean Air Act on Water Toxicity and Brook Trout Survival in Acidified Streams of the Southwestern Adirondacks, 1984-2017 Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Monitoring the Status and Expansion of Round Goby Populations in the Mohawk River/Barge Canal System Response of Fish Assemblages to Changing Acid-base Chemistry in Adirondack Long Term Monitoring Lakes, 1984-2012 Effects of acid-base chemistry on biology of lakes and streams in the Adirondack Mountains Documenting Biological Recovery in Acidified Adirondack Streams in Response to the 1990 Amendment to the Clean Air Act