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The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is collaborating with the New York Department of State (NYDOS) Office of Planning and Development to prepare a new Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve (SSER) Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS). Since 2000, when the last CWRMS was published, numerous research projects and studies are demonstrating several new threats to the ecologic health and resilience of the SSER. Contemporary threats include: Eutrophic conditions brought on by high levels of nutrients from sewage treatment plant discharges, stormwater runoff, groundwater seepage, and atmospheric contributions; Increased occurrences of harmful algal blooms in the past 15 years; and, Growing concern...
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 and Land-Use Change, Climate and Land-Use Change, All tags...
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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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This dataset has been archived; it has been superseded by version 4.0 (November 2022) which can be found at https://doi.org/10.5066/P9ZCMH8S. The dataset is composed of two tables containing environmental DNA (eDNA) data and site location information from round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) surveys conducted on parts of the Champlain Canal and upper Hudson River in New York during 2022. First posted May 5, 2022, ver. 1.0 Revised June 2022, ver. 2.0 Revised August 2022, ver. 3.0
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How did this multi-LCC initiative develop? The framework for this landscape conservation design is objective-driven across three sectors for wildlife, water quality and agriculture – ultimately doing our part to strategically maximize the value of every conservation dollar for the Mississippi River Basin and Gulf of Mexico. An intensive year-long dialogue culminated in the Memphis workshop in August 2014, setting the stage for research and development of design tools this past year. For more information, see: https://www.fws.gov/science/catalog….What is the workshop purpose? Reconvene multi-sector participants to examine the set of high impact conservation practices, web-based spatial analysis tools, and research...
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The US FWS Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge is associated with a Lower Wabash River LCD team exploring voluntary conservation on public and private lands in a region with fairly cohesive ecology, issues and practices in mixed habitat types of uplands, wetlands and floodplain forest in the mainstem and headwaters along the Lower Wabash River in two states: south of Terre Haute, IN; the Eel River & Lower White River below the confluence with the Wabash River in Indiana; and the Little Wabash and Fox Rivers below Highway 50 in Illinois. The project focuses on management of floodplains and headwater areas that have direct effects on these bottomland habitats. Initial objectives include: wildlife conservation; nutrient...
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The Colorado River is a crucial water source for millions of people in the Southwest. Warming temperatures, clearly documented in climate records for the Colorado River basin, are having an impact on the amount of annual streamflow yielded from rain and snow. Recent work has revealed that warming temperatures have played an increasingly important role over the past decades, both exacerbating droughts and dampening the effects of wet winters on high stream flows. Understanding and anticipating how warming temperatures will influence future water supply in the Colorado River basin is increasingly important for resource management, particularly in light of recent drought conditions. The overarching goals of this...
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Description of Work The invasive form of Phragmites australis (common reed) is a well-established pest in many parts of the Great Lakes and the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, including designated Areas of Concern. New innovative control options that sustainably target the competitive advantage often enjoyed by Phragmites and other invasive plants will contribute to a broad Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy. This project targets the microorganisms that may help Phragmites spread and will employ a molecular genetic approach to silence the genes in Phragmites that give it a competitive edge over many native plants. This project helped build and will continue to be closely aligned with the Great Lakes Phragmites...
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Description of Work U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provided a one-week training course for ''Geomorphic Analysis of Fluvial Systems'' to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other state and local agencies in Chicago. This provided an introduction to the concepts of how stream channels change over time due to natural and human-caused changes in the watershed. This training assisted managers in understanding the goals and limits of stream restoration specific to Great Lakes streams. Much of the training centered on sediment movement in channels and also was applicable to EPA managers working on clean-sediment TMDLs and nutrient-sediment interactions.
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These normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) raster data were compiled to develop time series data of the lower Colorado River (LCR) riparian corridor vegetation greenness and phenology since the year 2000. An objective of our study was to evaluate short and long-term effects of drought and biocontrol on LCR riparian and aquatic ecosystems south of Hoover Dam. These data represent spatially explicit scaled normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI*) difference maps between two decades (2000 to 2010 and 2011 to 2020) and two 5 year periods (2000 to 2005 and 2016 to 2020). NDVI* is an additional correction to the NDVI to account for the illumination conditions; it is a processing correction step to improve...
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Problem Over the past century, the Harlem River watershed has become highly urbanized with 90 percent of the waterway constrained by infrastructure, which has limited access for recreational use. Bound by New York (Manhattan) and Bronx Counties, the Harlem River is a tidal strait between urbanized estuaries to the north (Hudson River) and south (East River). Direct inputs include the more than 50 combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that discharge runoff from impervious surfaces and untreated sewage to the Harlem River during precipitation events. Historic uses of the Harlem River included swimming, boating, and fishing, as well as horseback riding and hiking through adjacent parklands. As urban sprawl continued...
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Background: The USGS propose a collaborative investigation with the NYSDEC and NOAA to evaluate the current condition of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of bed sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern (AOC). Using a probabilistic study design, sediment-toxicity data compiled by the USGS, invertebrate community data collected by NYSDEC, and sediment-chemistry data collected by NOAA will be assimilated using a Sediment Quality Triad approach (Chapman et al., 1992; USEPA, 1992) to provide a sediment-quality baseline needed to gauge changes expected to follow remediation of contaminated sediments in parts of the AOC. These data will also be used directly to confirm that the macroinvertebrate...
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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 - There is a stated need to provide information on loading of persistent toxic pollutants to Lake Ontario from New York tributaries. The information is specifically required for the Lake Ontario Mass Balance Model, which is an integral part of the long-term Great Lakes research. The project described here is designed to demonstrate a cost-effective approach for estimation of loads of polychlorinated-biphenyls (PCBs) through use of a relatively small number of large-volume whole-water samples for PCB analysis. The Black River basin was selected to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach because it is the largest New York contributor of PCBs to Lake Ontario. Objectives - The objective of this project...
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Problem The Adirondack region of New York has 128 lakes that are listed as impaired by acidity under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Acidity can limit the survival and reproduction of native fishes such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Chronic and episodic acidification also stresses fish, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and other biota of inflowing tributaries of these and many additional lakes. Acidification of these tributaries can also affect the health of fish populations in receiving lakes, by limiting suitable spawning and nursery habitat. Although many Adirondack lakes have shown decreased acidity resulting from decreases in atmospheric sulfur and nitrogen emissions, the ecological improvements...
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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...
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The growth of temperate forests is typically limited by the availability of nitrogen. Elevated concentrations of nitrate in some Catskill Mountain streams, which are tributary to New York City's water-supply reservoirs west of the Hudson River, indicate that the forests of this region are at the early stages of nitrogen saturation. That is, nitrogen is available in excess of the amount utilized by vegetation and soil microorganisms in the forests. Nitrogen saturation is a concern because the mobile nitrate that moves through soil is accompanied by other nutrients such as the base cations calcium and magnesium that are necessary for forest growth but are present in short supply in some Catskill soils. And, nutrient...
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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 Ellison Park wetland, a 423-acre, predominantly cattail marsh at the mouth of Irondequoit Creek in Monroe County near Rochester, N.Y., was evaluated for its potential role to decrease phosphorus loads that are derived from a 151-square-mile largely urbanized area and that ultimately enter and exacerbate efforts to ameliorate the eutrophic conditions in Irondequoit Bay. Monroe County's water-quality management plan included (1) modification of flow patterns upstream from and within the wetland by diverting storm runoff into backwater areas of the wetland, and (2) construction of a flow-control structure midway through the wetland that would cause short-term rises in water levels and increased dispersion of...


map background search result map search result map Building local capacity to address nonpoint source problems Invasive Phragmites: Prevention, Monitoring, and Control Strategies in an Integrated Pest Management Framework Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed Estimation of PCB Loads from the Black River Basin to Lake Ontario, NY Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species The Effects of Watershed and Stream Liming on Mercury Dynamics at Honnedaga Lake Balancing Wetland Functions in an Urban Setting -- Water-Quality Improvement and Habitat Preservation, Ellison Park Wetland, Monroe County, New York An Assessment of Forest Health and Soil Nutrient Status to Determine the Effects of Logging Practices on Water Quality in New York City's West-of-Hudson Watersheds Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Urban Waters Initiative – BRONX & HARLEM RIVERS Lower Wabash Landscape Conservation Design Mississippi River Basin/Gulf Hypoxia Research and Design Forum March 1-3 Anticipating Future Impacts of Temperature on Streamflow in the Colorado River Basin Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries Colorado River Delta Project: Growing Season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Difference Maps Environmental DNA data for Round Goby from the Champlain Canal (ver. 3.0, August 2022) Balancing Wetland Functions in an Urban Setting -- Water-Quality Improvement and Habitat Preservation, Ellison Park Wetland, Monroe County, New York Effects of Watershed and In-stream Liming on Accelerated Recovery of Macroinvertebrate Assemblages in Tributaries to Honnedaga Lake The Effects of Watershed and Stream Liming on Mercury Dynamics at Honnedaga Lake Urban Waters Initiative – BRONX & HARLEM RIVERS Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Natural Resources of the Neversink River Watershed An Assessment of Forest Health and Soil Nutrient Status to Determine the Effects of Logging Practices on Water Quality in New York City's West-of-Hudson Watersheds Status of benthic macroinvertebrate communities and toxicity of sediments in the Niagara River Area of Concern, New York Responses of fish assemblages to changing environmental conditions in the Neversink River and Rondout Creek Environmental DNA data for Round Goby from the Champlain Canal (ver. 3.0, August 2022) Development of a Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy for the South Shore Estuary Reserve, Long Island NY Estimation of PCB Loads from the Black River Basin to Lake Ontario, NY Colorado River Delta Project: Growing Season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) Difference Maps Assessing Spatiotemporal Patterns in Fish Assemblages from Acid-Sensitive Streams in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains Quantitative Fish Surveys of Mohawk River Tributaries Lower Wabash Landscape Conservation Design Anticipating Future Impacts of Temperature on Streamflow in the Colorado River Basin Invasive Phragmites: Prevention, Monitoring, and Control Strategies in an Integrated Pest Management Framework Building local capacity to address nonpoint source problems Mississippi River Basin/Gulf Hypoxia Research and Design Forum March 1-3