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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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INTRODUCTION Naturally occurring methane has been noted at some locations in the upper Devonian shale bedrock and in overlying glacial deposits in parts of Broome, Tioga, and Chemung Counties in south-central New York State (Williams, 2010). Systematic sampling of water wells for dissolved methane is needed to determine if the topographic and hydrogeologic setting of a well is related to methane occurrence. Objective and Study Area - The objective of this study is to characterize the natural occurrence of dissolved methane gas in groundwater from water wells within four different topographic and hydrogeologic settings (upland and major valley areas where bedrock is confined or unconfined by glacial deposits)....
Categories: Data, Project; Types: Downloadable, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, Shapefile; Tags: Broome County, Chemung County, Completed, Contaminants, Natural, Contaminants, Natural, All tags...
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Summary The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Long Term Monitoring (LTM) network has supported the collection of stream chemistry data in the Catskills since the 1990s. Trends in stream chemistry have periodically been evaluated in these streams but the most recent assessments only extend through the early 2000s. An updated assessment of stream chemistry trends will help evaluate the effects of recent substantial declines in acid deposition during the last decade. This study will evaluate changes in surface water chemistry from 1991 through 2013 at 5 stations in the Neversink and Rondout watersheds in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The results will be compared to changes in atmospheric deposition...
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This project provides weekly wet-only mercury deposition samples at the Mercury Deposition Network (MDN) station in the Biscuit Brook watershed at the Frost Valley YMCA. The station has been in operation since 2004 and is currently funded by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This is the only MDN station located in the Catskill Mountains and one of only 3 stations in New York State. The Catskill Mountains supply 85% of New York City’s drinking water through a system of surface water reservoirs. All of these reservoirs have fish consumption advisories because of the high level of mercury (Hg) in fish in the reservoirs and atmospheric Hg deposition is the main source of Hg to the...
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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 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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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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The overall goal of this project has been the development of forest health and sensitivity indicators and “1st-generation” maps of potential sensitivity to disturbance for lands within watersheds of the NYC water supply in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The methodologies and data layers created in this effort can now be used to aid management decisions and help determine the extent and magnitude of terrestrial and aquatic responses to acidic deposition. The data products derived from this effort have been produced and documented in such a manner that stakeholders can now use these products for site evaluation as well as to perform more extensive analysis on the suite of readily available GIS and image-based...
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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...
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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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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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Summary Acid rain levels in the Adirondack region have substantially declined and recovery from acid rain is underway. Recovery is being limited by the depletion of soil calcium that occurred over past decades. Not only is calcium needed for neutralizing acidity, it is an essential nutrient for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. However, recovery of soil calcium has not yet been observed. Whole-ecosystem restoration through watershed liming, possibly combined with in-stream liming, may provide a practical option for stimulating recovery of certain acid-sensitive, high-value natural resources. Information from past liming efforts, however, is insufficient for determining the degree of success that could be achieved...
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BACKGROUND Air emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels in electrical power plants, building heating systems and vehicles are the major source of gaseous sulfur (SOx) and nitrogen (NOx) oxides in the atmosphere. These oxides dissolve in atmospheric moisture forming ions which are deposited by rain, snowfall and dust particles as acidic deposition. Acidic deposition releases soluble aluminum from the soil which can reach toxic concentrations in adjacent water bodies such as streams and wetlands. Acidic deposition also removes important nutrients such as calcium, potassium and magnesium from the soil negatively impacting local flora and fauna. Depletion of calcium combined with excess aluminum makes forest...
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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...
    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 Response of Fish Assemblages to Changing Acid-base Chemistry in Adirondack Long Term Monitoring Lakes, 1984-2012 Mercury concentration in water, sediment, and fish in the Neversink watershed, New York Assessment of Regional Forest Health and Stream and Soil Chemistry Using a Mulit-Scale Approach and New Methods of Remote Sensing Interpretation in the Catskill Mountains of New York Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Changes in Soil and Stream Water Chemistry in Response to Reduction in Acid Deposition in the Catskills Mercury Deposition in the Biscuit Brook Watershed Whole Ecosystem Restoration Through Liming of Honnedaga Lake Tributary Watersheds Natural Methane Occurrence in Water Wells of South-Central New York State- Evaluation of Topographic Position and Hydrogeologic Setting 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 Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates Effects of acid rain on the ecological health of Long Island’s forests and ponds Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region 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 Mercury Deposition in the Biscuit Brook Watershed Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake Whole Ecosystem Restoration Through Liming of Honnedaga Lake Tributary Watersheds 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 Effect of Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene on Fish Assemblages in the Upper Esopus Creek Basin Effects of acid rain on the ecological health of Long Island’s forests and ponds Natural Methane Occurrence in Water Wells of South-Central New York State- Evaluation of Topographic Position and Hydrogeologic Setting 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 Assessment of Regional Forest Health and Stream and Soil Chemistry Using a Mulit-Scale Approach and New Methods of Remote Sensing Interpretation in the Catskill Mountains of New York Changes in Soil and Stream Water Chemistry in Response to Reduction in Acid Deposition in the Catskills Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region 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 The Effectiveness of Total Mercury as a Surrogate for Methylmercury in Aquatic Invertebrates