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Problem - 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 Schoharie Reservoir, located 27 miles north of the Ashokan Reservoir, supplies water to Upper Esopus Creek 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 Reservoir. The two reservoirs account for approximately 40% of NYC’s mean annual water supply. Waters from the portal have been the focus of controversy and legal action,...
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Background The Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) coastal drainages NAWQA study is one of the 1994 set and is coordinated from our West Trenton, NJ office. Tasks for the first two years, 1994-95, included staffing, developing a liaison process, analyzing existing data, and designing a data collection program that started in 1996. These planning activities lead to the study design for 3 years of intensive data collection in 1996-98. The intensive efforts includes multi-scale study approaches to collect samples of water, suspended and bed sediment, biologic tissues, and aquatic communities. The LINJ NAWQA study is scheduled to enter a low-intensity phase of monitoring and report writing in 1999 and return to another...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Climate and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, Coastal Science, Coastal Science, All tags...
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) is developing a unit management plan/environmental impact statement (UMP/EIS) for the Hudson Gorge Primitive Area, an area of Forest Preserve land encompassing a scenic stretch of the Hudson River in the Adirondack Park. Two goals of the UMP/EIS are to inventory natural resources and ecosystems and take actions to protect those resources while providing for appropriate types and levels of public recreational use. Because of the river's extensive whitewater reaches, it is the setting for a commercial rafting industry that operates during spring, summer, and fall. To increase flows in the Indian and Hudson Rivers, the Town of Indian Lake conducts...
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Background: Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) have thrived in the Esopus Creek since their introduction in the 1880s. The construction of the Ashokan Reservoir in 1915 changed the fishery by providing a stable lentic environment where adult trout could grow large and find refuge during periods when stream conditions become stressful. Although many adult Rainbow Trout spend time in the reservoir, it is believed that spawning occurs almost exclusively in the tributaries; most notably the Upper Esopus and its tributaries. Thus, the health of individual Rainbow Trout and the size of their spawning runs out of the Reservoir not only regulate the species’ future population in the reservoir, but also the population...
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Background The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Department of Health (NYSDOH), 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 will be implemented in the Buffalo River AOC during summer 2017. This project will help determine if current fish consumption advisories each AOC are appropriate, if they can be modified, and if they support or do not support BUI removal...
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Problem: The Clean Water Act (PL 92-500) requires that the health of the Nation’s rivers and streams be assessed on a regular basis, and in the Northeast such assessments often use information from aquatic biological communities that live in the stream. Biomonitoring programs implemented by individual states evaluate biological data to assess stream health on the premise that certain sensitive species that are native to the region cannot survive when water quality is poor. The aquatic community data are typically condensed into a set of biological condition metrics that are scaled numerically to convey the relative degree of stream impairment (e.g., excellent, good, fair, poor). However, biological condition...
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The Great Lakes Restoration initiative (GLRI) template #77 (Beach Recreation Water Quality) in cooperation with 23 local and state agencies expanded the use of predictive modeling at 45 beaches throughout the Great Lakes (fig 1). Local agencies measure fecal-indicator bacteria such as Escherichia coli (E. coli.) along with easily obtained environmental variables used as surrogates to estimate concentrations of fecal-indicator bacteria through a predictive modeling approach. The predictive modeling is being developed by the use of linear regression and/or partial least-squares techniques. The models use software developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency known as “Virtual Beach”. Each beach model is based...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, Climate Impacts, Climate Impacts, All tags...
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A. BACKGROUND Aquatic macroinvertebrates, such as dragonfly larvae or crayfish have great potential for Mercury (Hg) monitoring, both as indicator organisms (or "sentinels'), and to provide critical information on Hg in lower food webs to assist in interpreting fish Hg levels. Despite these advantages, macroinvertebrates are not widely used in Hg monitoring because of the current need to directly analyze macoinvertebrate tissue for methyl-mercury (MeHg), at much greater expense than analyzing for total Hg (THg) (i.e. as a surrogate for MeHg), as with fish tissue. This is because the ratio of MeHg to THg in macroinvertebrates exhibits large taxonomic, spatial, and temporal variation, and there is no clear...
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The distribution of mercury (Hg) and sites of greatest Hg methylation are poorly understood in Catskill Mountain watersheds. Although concentrations of Hg in the water column are low, high concentrations of Hg in smallmouth bass and walleye have led to consumption advisories in most large New York City reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains. Mercury in natural waters can exist in many forms, including gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0), dissolved and particulate inorganic forms (Hg(II)), and dissolved and particulate methylmercury (MeHg). Most Hg in living organisms is MeHg, a highly neurotoxic form that bioaccumulates in aquatic food webs. The production of MeHg by methylation of inorganic Hg in the environment...
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Background The Shinnecock Nation is located on the south fork of eastern Long Island adjacent to the town of Southampton to the east, and the hamlet of Shinnecock Hills to the west, in Suffolk County, NY. Shinnecock Nation tribal lands encompass approximately 1.2 square miles and are bounded to the east and west by tidal creeks, and to the south by Shinnecock Bay. The Shinnecock Nation has a population of 662 residents who live in 256 housing units (U.S. Census, 2016). The Shinnecock Nation became the 565th federally recognized Tribe by the United States government in October 2010. (Shinnecock Nation, 2014). Shinnecock Nation tribal lands are situated in a coastal environment where bay and wetland health are...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Emerging, Contaminants, Microbial, Contaminants, Microbial, Contaminants, Natural, All tags...
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Background: The USGS propose a collaborative investigation with the NYSDEC to evaluate the current condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of bed sediments in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern (AOC). Sediment-toxicity data provided by the USGS and benthic-community data provided by the NYSDEC from inside the AOC will be compared to similar data from non-AOC sites in Eighteenmile Creek or nearby reference streams (of comparable drainage areas) to determine if the benthos-BUI (Beneficial-Use Impairment) designation is appropriate or if the BUI could be removed in Eighteenmile Creek. The remainder of this pre-proposal addresses only the direct USGS (sediment toxicity assessment) contribution...
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Problem: The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was established to accelerate ecosystem restoration in the Great Lakes by confronting the most serious treats to the region, such as nonpoint source pollution, toxic sediments, and invasive species. Much of the effort associated with GLRI is being placed near the most impacted areas in the Great Lakes Basin. Priority Watersheds have been targeted by the Regional Working Group’s Phosphorus Reduction Work Group. These Priority Watersheds (Fox/Green Bay, Saginaw, Genessee, and Maumee) are characterized by having a high density of agricultural land use and have ecosystem impairments that have been clearly identified. The outlet of each of the Priority Watersheds...
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BackgroundDetailed investigations of mercury cycling and bioaccumulation have been done in the Upper Hudson River basin (upstream of the Hudson River near Newcomb, in New York's Adirondack Mountains, with a focus on the Fishing Brook sub-basin, part of the western headwaters of the Hudson River. This study is part of a National mercury study that includes a concurrent study of McTier Creek, a headwater sub-basin of the Edisto River, located in South Carolina's Coastal Plain. These two study areas provide contrasting and complementary settings for the study of mercury cycling and bioaccumulation in headwater streams with close connectivity to out-of-channel wetlands. Atmospheric deposition is the dominant source...
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The Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York receive among the highest loads of acid deposition in New York and the northeastern U.S. Additionally, the Catskills are underlain by sandstone and conglomerate, which is base poor and weathers slowly. Thus, the Catskills contain numerous streams with low (< 50 µeq/L) acid-neutralizing capacity (ANC) and are sensitive to impacts from atmospheric acid deposition. Since at least 1983, however, the levels of acidity in atmospheric deposition (primarily sulfuric acid) have been declining in the Catskills and throughout New York. While widespread recovery of streams in the Catskills has not yet been confirmed, recent data suggest that recovery in waters with ANC values...
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Problem Water temperature is a critical component of trout habitat. Stream temperatures not only affect the distribution, behavior, and survival of trout (and other species), but also compel these species to move toward small areas of preferred temperatures, known as refuges, to maximize growth, survival, and fitness. The Schoharie watershed in the Catskill Mountains, including East Kill, West Kill, and Batavia Kill tributaries as well as the main-stem Schoharie Creek, supports small or transient populations of wild brook trout as well as naturalized and hatchery brown trout. Water temperatures in parts of these rivers typically exceed lethal thresholds for these species for several weeks each summer. Managing agencies...
map background search result map search result map Potential Recovery of Water Chemistry and Stream Biota from Reduced Levels of Acid Deposition at a Sensitive Watershed in the Catskill Mountains, New York Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Hydrologic Assessment of the Shallow Groundwater-Flow System Beneath the Shinnecock Nation Tribal Lands, Suffolk County, New York Identifying Thermal Refuges in the Schoharie Watershed Effects of recreational flow releases on natural resources of the Indian and Hudson Rivers Quantitative assessment of water quality in the Upper Esopus Creek using fatty acid content of periphyton Mercury Cycling and Bioaccumulation in the Upper Hudson River Basin--Fishing Brook Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study -- Land Use Study (NY) Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern, New York The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates Effects of flow alteration on ecological health of streams across the Atlantic Highlands Ecoregion GLRI Edge of Field Watershed Monitoring Project Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Long-term trends in Rainbow Trout growth and naturalized populations in the Ashokan Basin Hydrologic Assessment of the Shallow Groundwater-Flow System Beneath the Shinnecock Nation Tribal Lands, Suffolk County, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern, New York Potential Recovery of Water Chemistry and Stream Biota from Reduced Levels of Acid Deposition at a Sensitive Watershed in the Catskill Mountains, New York Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Quantitative assessment of water quality in the Upper Esopus Creek using fatty acid content of periphyton Identifying Thermal Refuges in the Schoharie Watershed Long-term trends in Rainbow Trout growth and naturalized populations in the Ashokan Basin GLRI Edge of Field Watershed Monitoring Project Effects of recreational flow releases on natural resources of the Indian and Hudson Rivers Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study -- Land Use Study (NY) Effects of flow alteration on ecological health of streams across the Atlantic Highlands Ecoregion Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches Mercury Cycling and Bioaccumulation in the Upper Hudson River Basin--Fishing Brook The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates