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The Northeastern States contain over 17,000 dams with most built before 1910 for agricultural and industrial water power uses. A few have been built more recently for flood control, recreation, water supply, and energy generation. In many cases, the dams have outlived their expected life expectancy and use, but continue to block the passage of migratory fish species, such as American Shad, river herring, American Eel, Rainbow Smelt, and Atlantic Salmon, to and from their historic upstream spawning grounds. Additionally, the fragmentation of stream systems by dams have reduced Brook Trout populations in some locations. Progress is being made on this impairment as over 67 dams were removed during 2010 to 2014 in...
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Lands within the watersheds of the Great Plains streams that are not used for crops are often used for cattle grazing and hay production. Northern Plains States are one of the nation’s top producers of cattle, which outnumber people almost three to one in North Dakota. Cattle can have direct habitat impacts by trampling stream banks, which destroys beneficial vegetation and increases sedimentation and nutrient loads. Hofmann and Ries (1991) found that livestock increased sediment runoff in North Dakota streams. Schepers and Francis (1982) reported that runoff from a Nebraska cattle farm increased total phosphorus levels in runoff by 37%. In addition, cattle watering ponds, often constructed by diverting streams,...
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The agricultural areas of the Mountain States have created a substantial drain on the water resources of this region. Northern Montana stands out as an area of very high risk for fish habitat degradation on the few streams and rivers in the area. This threatened area is principally comprised of row crops, such as wheat, barley, and alfalfa production, and cattle farms. Other areas of high risk of habitat degradation, such as southern Idaho and northeastern Colorado, correspond to areas with a high density of row crops, typically corn and wheat, cattle farms, alfalfa and potato (particularly in Idaho) production, and rangeland. Farms and ranches dependent on irrigation require large amounts of water diverted from...
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There are three designated megaregions in the Pacific Coast States: Southern California, with a population of 22.4 million; Northern California, with a population of 14.6 million; and Cascadia (from Vancouver, British Columbia to Eugene, Oregon), with a population of 8.4 million. These areas have enormous effects on both the inland and coastal aquatic habitats. Continual development increases areas of impervious surfaces (completely altering natural water flows and hydrology) and the amount of sewage discharge, sediments, and other pollutants associated with urbanization. Ever increasing urban water needs can be far reaching and affect systems and fish habitat far away from the urban areas. Los Angeles, which is...
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Most of Alaska has an abundance of unaltered clean fresh water habitat that maintain remarkable self-sustaining fish populations requiring water flows in the proper amount at the right time. These habitats face an increasing number of demands. New hydroelectric projects, such as the recently proposed Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, and the expansion of existing projects can, if not very carefully sited and designed, increase barriers to fish migration and create adverse hydrologic and sediment effects on streams that provide critical spawning and rearing habitat for self-sustaining salmon populations. These potential barriers are not just an issue for fish but the entire ecosystem as everything from trees...
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Major cities, such as Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and numerous smaller lakefront cities support a population of over 21 million people in the Upper Midwest area. Converting land to urban areas has reduced fish habitat through the filling of wetlands, altered rivers and streams to convey artificially-caused high-flow events through these areas, decreased the streams ability to meander, and has converted natural lake shorelines to bulkheads and seawalls. Many parcels of private land in the forested portions of this region: are being sold for development of subdivided vacation communities; have impoundments developed on free flowing streams to create “new” lakefront properties; and are seeing a rapid...
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Forty-three percent of the surface area of Alaska is wetlands. On a state-wide basis, less than 2 percent of all wetlands have been developed. However, in many developing areas and communities, wetlands may be the only land type available for development. In urbanized and developed areas of Alaska, such as the Anchorage Bowl, it is estimated that over half of the wetlands have been lost to transportation corridor construction, utility installation, buildings, and other development projects. Wetland loss fragments habitat and disrupts migration of fish that use wetlands as resting places on their lengthy migrations, and it is also critical rearing habitat for young salmon. Wetland loss is also linked to altered native...
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Urban areas significantly and negatively affect aquatic habitat quality in the Mountain States. This was particularly apparent in the rapidly growing Denver/Ft. Collins, Boise, Salt Lake City, Great Falls, and Billings areas. Highway corridors along Interstates 25 and 90 in Wyoming and 76 in Colorado were implicated to be causing high to very high risk factors. In 2015, the highly urbanized I-25 corridor between Cheyenne, WY and Pueblo, CO had a population of 4.49 million people. In these cities and their surrounding suburbs, large areas of impervious surfaces (i.e. buildings, parking lots, and roads) replace natural streamside habitat, increase pollution and sedimentation, alter hydrology, and increase the demand...
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A major hub for manufacturing and transportation, the Great Lakes and their tributaries were once an easy dump site for their waste products that included organic toxins, mercury, PCBs, and dioxins. As a result of the Federal Clean Water Act (1972) most of the direct pollution discharges from known point sources have stopped, but the legacy pollutants remain because many are trapped in lake and stream sediments. Other dissolved pollutants have long residence times because less than one percent of the water in the Great Lakes exits the lake system annually. Discharge from sewage treatment systems remains a problem, particularly where stormwater and sewage systems are combined in large urban areas. The inland fish...
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A significant number of dams are located in Iowa (> 4,000), Illinois (> 1,759), Indiana (> 1,088) and Ohio (> 2,600). Dams in the Central Midwest were built to provide mechanical power for mills, hydropower, recreation, water supplies, and water retention for urban and agricultural use. Nearly all of these dams impede fish movements in the region and particularly in the Mississippi River drainage and in the watershed of lakes Erie and Michigan. Some communities are removing dams to deal with obsolete infrastructure issues and to improve water quality, flow, and stream connectivity. For example, the removal of Black Berry Creek Dam near Aurora, Illinois in 2013 opened up 32 miles of the Fox River for fish spawning...
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The southeastern states contain the rapidly growing urban centers of Atlanta, Greenville, Columbia, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem/Raleigh with suburban corridors between them. In these cities and the surrounding suburbs, large areas of impervious surfaces replace natural streamside habitat, increase pollution and sedimentation, and alter water flow (hydrology). In this 2015 assessment, land cover type was estimated to be a major risk factor for about one-third of the estuaries of the Southeastern states. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that from 1982 to 2012 over 2.6 million acres of rural land in Georgia was developed. Development in North Carolina was almost as high, while South Carolina lost...
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Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville rank in the top 50 largest cities in the nation by area. Atlanta and New Orleans are the only other top 50 cities in the Eastern Gulf States region. These four Florida urban centers anchor what is known as the Florida Megaregion, one of eleven recognized in the United States. New Orleans and Baton Rouge are part of the Gulf Coast Megaregion. The growing urban sprawl throughout the Gulf States leads to increasing areas of impervious surface, which results in altered water flows and more urban runoff that transports high levels of nutrients and pollution to aquatic resources. For example in central Mississippi, pathogens, litter/trash, nutrients, and pesticides from increasing...
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Runoff and other land-based pollution from large riverside cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Wilmington, and Washington, DC, New York City, and surrounding suburban sprawl adversely affect fish habitats in the Delaware, Susquehanna, Ohio, Hudson,and Potomac River basins, as well as many smaller streams. A concentration of human population and impervious surfaces extends from northeastern New Jersey to southeastern Virginia and to the coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic. For example, the 2015 assessment determined high degradation risk in streams along the I-95, I-81, and I-79 corridors. Urban development continues to spread, as rural land in the states of this region declined by 5.9 million acres from 1982...
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Almost 46 percent of the land in Hawaii is agricultural and includes most of coastal Kaua’i, western Maui, and the perimeter of the island of Hawai’i, which are areas assessed to be at high risk of aquatic habitat degradation. The dominant agricultural products are corn, vegetables, nuts, potted and landscape plants, and cattle. Poor farming practices lead to excessive sedimentation due to open, cultivated soil being exposed to erosion from rainfall and cattle overgrazing and trampling stream banks. The United States Department of Agriculture reported that nearly 5 tons/acre of soil eroded from agricultural land in Hawaii during 2012, an amount that is similar to Central Midwest. Sediment transported from agricultural...
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Agriculture is limited in the desert states but numerous hay fields, cotton and vegetable farms along the Colorado River near Parker, Arizona, and alfalfa and row crops in southwest of Reno, Nevada are located in areas estimated to pose high risk of fish habitat degradation. The agricultural areas of the desert states continue to demand more water from an over-allocated regional water supply. Farms dependent on irrigation and ever growing urban populations use increasing amounts of water diverted from streams and rivers, leaving less water for fish and other aquatic life and impairing connectivity of their habitats. Fragile and unique spring systems are drying up due to development of groundwater, as well as through...
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Over 10,000 dams impound rivers and streams in the three Southeast Atlantic states. North Carolina has over 5,600 dams and barriers on 17,000 stream miles, many of which are old and obsolete structures. There is an average of one barrier structure every three miles. The state also ranks second in the number of high-hazard dams, which can negatively affect the safety of the citizens of North Carolina and aquatic species. These dams impede movements of many native river resident species, such as Brook Trout and Shoal Bass, but also restrict migrations of marine fish that rely on rivers for various life stages, including Striped Bass, Atlantic Sturgeon, American Shad, American Eels, and river herring. In many cases,...
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Agriculture was highly influential on the fish habitat assessment of the Pacific Coastal States. One of the broadest areas implicated is the California Central Valley that extends 450 miles from Redding to Bakersfield. This region grows a wide variety of row crops and fruit trees and supports abundant cattle and dairy farms. Another region of very high risk is Willamette Valley in Oregon, where crops such as berries, vegetables, sod, and vineyards are grown. Silviculture, particularly large-scale timber clearcuts, is another significant agricultural practice in this area. Also at high risk are aquatic habitats in eastern Washington between Spokane and Walla Walla, where wheat, hay, potatoes and apples are the dominant...
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Agriculture is the primary land use in these states. A wide variety of row crops are grown throughout the region and there is also a substantial amount of managed industrial forests. Dominant crops are soybeans and corn in Louisiana, peanuts and cotton in Mississippi and Alabama, and citrus and sugarcane in Florida. Cattle farms are common in Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. Rice is a major commodity in Louisiana and Mississippi. Aquaculture is also a significant practice in all four states and can alter wetland habitat, water flow patterns, and discharges nutrients into these systems. Phosphate mining (for fertilizer) in wetland areas throughout Florida has interrupted natural water flow and breaks in retention...
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Human-caused modifications to surface and ground water systems throughout Hawaii have drastically altered natural hydrologic regimes (a key fish habitat process), which in turn have profoundly limited the distribution and population sizes of native aquatic fauna. Most water for cities comes from wells, although stream water is used in Upper and East Maui. However, smaller communities and agriculture often rely on surface water obtained through diversions. Irrigation systems have been built to support the cultivation of row crops, such as corn, tomatoes, sugar cane, and nut trees. They transfer large volumes of water from natural watercourses and groundwater and into networks of ditches, tunnels, flumes, reservoirs,...
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Corn, soybeans, other row crops, and dairy farms dominate the landscape across southern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Most of the agricultural activity in this region came at the expense of the large wetland complexes and woodlots that were found across the landscape in this region.Tile drains have been used extensively throughout the region and have turned streams and wetlands into drainage ditches, devoid of fish habitat. These drainage systems have completely altered stream flow patterns (hydrology), increasing watershed-wide peak discharge events that have destabilized downstream river reaches and decreased baseflows, in these areas. These changes in water flow patterns have created higher bank erosion...
map background search result map search result map Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Fffecting Fish Habitat in Southeast Atlantic States Description of dams and other barriers as a human activity affecting fish habitat in Northeastern States Description of Agriculture and Water Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Southwestern States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Hawaii Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Pacific Coast States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Mountain States Description of Pollution as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Eastern Gulf of Mexico States Description of Reduced Water Flows as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Hawaii Description of Competing Freshwater Demands as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Alaska Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Eastern Gulf of Mexico States Description of Dams and Other Barriers as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Southeast Atlantic States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Alaska Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Urban Land Use and Pollution as Human Activities Affecting Fish Habitat in Mid-Atlantic States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Pacific Coast States Description of Pasture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Northern Plains States Description of Dams and Other Barriers as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Central Midwest States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Mountain States Description of Urban Land Use and Pollution as Human Activities Affecting Fish Habitat in Mid-Atlantic States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Fffecting Fish Habitat in Southeast Atlantic States Description of Dams and Other Barriers as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Southeast Atlantic States Description of Pasture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Northern Plains States Description of dams and other barriers as a human activity affecting fish habitat in Northeastern States Description of Dams and Other Barriers as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Central Midwest States Description of Pollution as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Upper Midwest States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Eastern Gulf of Mexico States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Eastern Gulf of Mexico States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Pacific Coast States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Pacific Coast States Description of Agriculture and Water Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Southwestern States Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Mountain States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Mountain States Description of Agriculture as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Hawaii Description of Reduced Water Flows as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Hawaii Description of Competing Freshwater Demands as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Alaska Description of Urban Land Use as a Human Activity Affecting Fish Habitat in Alaska