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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 The invasive diatom Didymosphenia geminata (didymo) has historically been a wide-spread, but rare, micro algae found in moderately flowing cold-water streams of North America, Europe, Asia, and (more recently) New Zealand. Demographic patterns of didymo have recently changed resulting in greater spatial coverage and temporal persistence (e.g. blooms) in streams worldwide. Didymo blooms can form dense “woven fabric” aggregate up to 20 cm think, that trap algae, macroinvertebrates, detritus and other debris. The recent discovery of didymo in parts of New York State, including the Upper Esopus Creek in 2009, is concerning because blooms can affect benthic habitat, river hydraulics, the structure and function...
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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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DEC collaborators collect fish from a Niagara River tributary using an electrofishing boat The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and Department of Health (NYSDOH), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are gathering data on chemical contaminants in fish from multiple Areas of Concern (AOCs) in New York State and plan to 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). This second project is being implemented in the Niagara River AOC during summer 2018. It will help identify sources areas for contaminants in fish and to determine...
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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 Past water-quality issues in the St. Lawrence River at Massena, NY resulted in a determination that selected beneficial uses may be impaired in a surrounding Area of Concern (AOC) and on the Canadian side of the international boundary (Cornwall, Ontario). The plankton (phytoplankton zooplankton) Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) was so designated because impairment metrics were unavailable or inconclusive. Recent investigations, however, suggest that plankton communities are relatively healthy and no longer threaten the local ecosystem. Thus, the BUI for plankton may now be outdated in all, or parts of, the St. Lawrence River in the Massena AOC. The primary goal for the Massena (and Cornwall) Remedial Action...
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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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Background: Eighteenmile Creek was designated as an Area of Concern (AOC) in 1985 because water quality and bed sediments were contaminated by past industrial and municipal discharges, waste disposal, and pesticide usage. Five Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) were identified in the Eighteenmile Creek AOC, including BUI #3 - the degradation of fish and wildlife populations. The remedial action committee (RAC) for the Eighteenmile Creek AOC has identified the following removal criteria for this BUI: · Fish and wildlife diversity, abundance, and condition are statistically similar to diversity, abundance, and condition of populations at non-AOC control sites; AND · PCB levels in bottom-dwelling fish...
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Background Acidification of lotic and lentic environments has been found to adversely affect the integrity of resident biological assemblages. These effects have been particularly severe in poorly buffered regions like the Western Adirondacks. Although the Clean Air Act and its amendments have greatly reduced levels of atmospheric deposition, many streams in this region are still chronically or episodically acidified. In-stream and watershed-wide liming are two directed-mitigation techniques which could be used to accelerate ecosystem recovery and help restore the condition of biological assemblages. The costs and abilities (as well as effective duration) of these techniques to improve water and soil chemistry,...
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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 Fish communities of the mainstem Mohawk River and Barge Canal have been well-documented (Carlson, 2015; George et al., 2016) but comparatively less information is available regarding the current status of fish communities in tributaries to the Mohawk River. This information gap is problematic because long-term shifts in species distributions or abundances due to climate change, eutrophication, or other anthropogenic stressors may go unnoticed in the absence of baseline data. More importantly, an approaching invasive fish species, the Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus), is expected to colonize much of the Mohawk River and the lower portion of many major tributaries. Introductions of Round Goby have had...
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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...
map background search result map search result map Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Estimating chronic toxicity of waters from the St. Lawrence River at Massena 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 Didymosphenia geminata in the Upper Esopus Creek: Seasonal changes in density and distribution, controlling environmental factors, and potential ecosystem impacts 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 Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake 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 Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Niagara River AOC Track down survey of PCBs in three tributaries to the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC) Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern Fish Community Assessment 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 Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake Estimating chronic toxicity of waters from the St. Lawrence River at Massena 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 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 Eighteenmile Creek Area of Concern Fish Community Assessment Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed Didymosphenia geminata in the Upper Esopus Creek: Seasonal changes in density and distribution, controlling environmental factors, and potential ecosystem impacts 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 Contaminants in fish tissues from AOCs in New York State: The Niagara River AOC 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 Monitoring the Status and Expansion of Round Goby Populations in the Mohawk River/Barge Canal System Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries 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