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American Eel (Anguilla Rostrata) Background The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has worked in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) over the past 11 years to study the effects of channel geomorphology and impoundments on the distribution of common and rare mussels in the Neversink River and to characterize fish assemblages in tributaries to the Upper Delaware River in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The focus of this research and monitoring program has recently shifted toward studies of the rapidly declining American eel (Anguilla rostrata) populations in rivers of the tri-state region. There are many factors that could potentially cause the observed declines in local and continental populations of...
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Project Summary. The Western Adirondack Stream Survey (WASS), conducted in 2003-2005, showed that acidic deposition was causing toxic forms of Al to move from soils to streams in 66% of the 565 watersheds assessed in the study region. The WASS encompassed only 20% of the Adirondack region, and for the remaining 80% (referred to hereafter as the East-Central Adirondack region), there is little information on the extent of soil and stream acidification. Based on lake-chemistry data, acidification in the East-Central Adirondack region has been considered minimal relative to the Western Adirondack region. However, some lake acidification has been identified, and WASS results showed that lake acidification under...
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Background Although New York State has more than 70,000 miles of streams and rivers, little is known about the status, distribution, and trends of mercury (Hg) levels in stream fish, or the environmental drivers of these patterns. Streams and their riparian zones provide critical habitat for fish, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and serve as the interface between aquatic and terrestrial Hg transfer, transformations (most notably methylation) and bioaccumulation. Importantly, monitoring data from lakes (e.g., Simonin et al. 2006) does not transfer reliably to streams because of fundamental differences in Hg cycling and bioaccumulation processes. An assessment of fish Hg bioaccumulation focused on New...
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Problem Almost 1900 public, private, and commercial waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs), many located upstream of drinking water intakes or within tributaries to water-supply reservoirs, are permitted to release effluents into surface- or ground-waters across New York State. More than 150 facilities have New York State SPEDES permits to discharge waste waters in the New York City East of Hudson and West of Hudson Water Supply Watersheds (NYC Watersheds), which provide drinking water to more than nine million people in and around New York City. Some common waste water treatment plant (WWTP) contaminants (e.g., polycyclic musks, alkylphenols, and estradiol) can cause estrogenic or androgenic changes in the reproductive...
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, Biogeochemical and Hydrologic Assessment, BiogeochemicalandHydrologicAssessment, Completed, Contaminants, Emerging, All tags...
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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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Purpose and Scope The Natural Resources Department of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Odanah, Wisconsin has requested assistance with compiling existing mercury (Hg) concentration data from measurements in a variety of environmental media in an effort to evaluate risks to ecosystem and human health and to identify key data gaps that could be addressed through future sampling. These data include Hg concentrations in fish, frogs, otters, birds, wild rice, the atmosphere, surface water, and sediment. The purpose of this proposed study is to compile existing Hg data collected by the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, evaluate the potential risks to humans and to local ecosystems, and to recommend...
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The current Adirondack Long-Term Monitoring Program combines monitoring of streams and soils based on a watershed design. Not only are headwater streams an important component of Adirondack ecosystems, they are closely tied to the terrestrial environment through runoff that is strongly influenced by soil and vegetation processes. This linkage makes headwater streams a useful tool for monitoring the overall condition of the watershed, and by combining stream and soil monitoring within watersheds, the response of Adirondack ecosystems to environmental disturbances such as acid rain and climate change can be better understood. For example, the unexpectedly slow reversal of stream acidification from decreased atmospheric...
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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: Streams are ecologically, culturally, and economically important systems that are subject to impacts from a large array of human activities. There has been a relatively recent increase in efforts to manage, protect, and restore streams that have experienced physical, chemical, and biological degradation. Unfortunately, interest in any single restoration effort tends to be relatively short lived, and despite spending >$1 billion annually in the U.S. on stream restoration, little or no effort is devoted to evaluating the effectiveness or ecological success of most restoration projects (Bernhardt et al., 2005; Roni and Quimby, 2005). The limited post-restoration monitoring that occurs in many restoration...
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Problem Nutrients and sediment are generated by and removed from agricultural and urban areas, transported in streams, and ultimately delivered to the Great Lakes. The nutrients stimulate excessive algal growth and potentially cause noxious blooms and hypoxia. Sediment increases turbidity near stream mouths and, when deposited, can smother bottom-dwelling animals, drive fish from affected areas, and decrease water depth in navigation channels. An understanding of the hydrologic and water-quality processes that generate these loads will assist water-resources managers in making informed decisions regarding prevention or mitigation of these problems. A precipitation-runoff watershed model is a tool, which can...
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Problem - Geomorphologic techniques for stream channel and bank restoration are fast becoming the techniques of choice among federal, state, county, and local agencies to reduce suspended sediment loads, reduce flood damage, improve aquatic habitat, and generally stabilize stream channels. One reason for this upswing in use is that appropriate application of these techniques has been shown to reduce the need for repetitive visits to a reach to remove sediments or repair stream banks, and thus reduce long-term channel maintenance expenses. Geomorphologic restoration projects require data that define what a stable stream channel should look like in a given region. Regional hydrologic curves and regional channel-geomorphologic...
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This project provides a regional assessment of sugar maple health and associated soil conditions in the Adirondack Region of New York, where sugar maple are a major component of the forest. The focus of the study is to develop an improved understanding of relationships among watershed characteristics, soil chemistry, and acidic deposition effects on sugar maple trees and other tree species that grow in association with sugar maple, which are one of the most highly valued tree species in the northeast. Project results are therefore important for the management of sugar maple in the Adirondack region where acidic deposition has lowered the nutritional status of soils by depleting calcium, a key nutrient for trees.Purpose...
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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 U.S. Geological Survey's Strategy to Evaluate Persistent Contaminant Hazards Resulting from Sea Level Rise and Storm-derived Disturbances SCoRR: Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response Strategy Project Page Natural and anthropogenic contaminants, pathogens, and viruses are found in soils and sediments throughout the United States. Enhanced dispersion and concentration of these environmental health (EH) stressors in coastal regions can result from sea level rise and storm-derived disturbances. The combination of existing environmental health stressors and those mobilized by natural or anthropogenic disasters could adversely impact the health and resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems....
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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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Problem Perchlorate detected in a shallow supply well within the southern portion of the Locust Valley Water District (LVWD) has prompted interest in determining the possible existence of a deeper confined aquifer (North Shore Aquifer) that may be protected from shallow contamination (fig. 1). Previous USGS studies in this area indicate the northern part of Nassau County has a complex hydrogeologic framework (Stumm and others, 2004). A previously mapped buried glacial valley may extend and be present at this location. If such a buried valley exists, all Cretaceous age deposits (Magothy aquifer, Raritan clay, and Lloyd aquifer) may have been eroded and Pleistocene-aged deposits including the North Shore aquifer...
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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...
map background search result map search result map Regionalization of Channel Geomorphology Characteristics for Streams of New York State, Excluding Long Island Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Estrogenicity in Streams of New York State Assessing American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River 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 Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches Simulation of Streamflow and Water Quality by a Precipitation-Runoff Model of the Tonawanda Creek Basin in Western New York Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study -- Land Use Study (NY) Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) Strategy 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 Assessment of sugar maple health and associated soil conditions in the Adirondack Region of New York Adirondack Long-Term Stream and Soil Monitoring Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish in New York's Streams and Rivers Hydrogeology and Water Quality of the North Shore Aquifer in Locust Valley, Town of Oyster Bay, New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Compilation of Mercury Data and Associated Risk to Human and Ecosystem Health, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Response of fish assemblages and habitat to stream restoration in the Ashokan Watershed Simulation of Streamflow and Water Quality by a Precipitation-Runoff Model of the Tonawanda Creek Basin in Western New York Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Buffalo River AOC 2-year post remediation Hydrogeology and Water Quality of the North Shore Aquifer in Locust Valley, Town of Oyster Bay, 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 Response of fish assemblages and habitat to stream restoration in the Ashokan Watershed Compilation of Mercury Data and Associated Risk to Human and Ecosystem Health, Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Effects of recreational flow releases on natural resources of the Indian and Hudson Rivers Assessment of sugar maple health and associated soil conditions in the Adirondack Region of New York Assessing American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region Adirondack Long-Term Stream and Soil Monitoring Long Island-New Jersey (LINJ) Coastal Drainages Study -- Land Use Study (NY) Estrogenicity in Streams of New York State Regionalization of Channel Geomorphology Characteristics for Streams of New York State, Excluding Long Island Mercury Bioaccumulation in Fish in New York's Streams and Rivers Effects of flow alteration on ecological health of streams across the Atlantic Highlands Ecoregion Sediment-bound Contaminant Resiliency and Response (SCoRR) Strategy Developing and Implementing Predictive Models for Estimating Recreational Water Quality at Great Lakes Beaches The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates