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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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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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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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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 Water temperature is a critical component of trout habitat. Stream temperatures not only affect the distribution, behavior, and survival of trout (and other species), but also compel these species to move toward small areas of preferred temperatures, known as refuges, to maximize growth, survival, and fitness. The Schoharie watershed in the Catskill Mountains, including East Kill, West Kill, and Batavia Kill tributaries as well as the main-stem Schoharie Creek, supports small or transient populations of wild brook trout as well as naturalized and hatchery brown trout. Water temperatures in parts of these rivers typically exceed lethal thresholds for these species for several weeks each summer. Managing agencies...
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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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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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Problem - The New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) Stream Management Program, in cooperation with local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, is implementing stream-restoration demonstration projects to decrease channel bed and bank erosion and improve water quality (lower suspended sediment and turbidity) in several priority streams of the Catskill Mountain Region (Fig. 1). A variety of issues relating to (a) the hydraulic geometry of stable and unstable stream channels, (b) validation of underlying assumptions used to characterize channel stability and design, and (c) the effects of restoration on stream-channel geomorphology, stability, biota, and sediment transport have not been...
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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 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 - Turbid waters originating in the Schoharie Reservoir allegedly impair habitat and resident trout populations in Upper Esopus Creek; however, to date no scientific studies have documented adverse affects of altered thermal, suspended sediment (turbidity), and flow regimes on survival, growth, or behavior of trout or the health of their populations. The 424 mi2 Esopus Creek watershed is a tributary to the Hudson River in the south-central Catskill Mountains of New York State and is often considered to be two systems separated by the Ashokan Reservoir. The Upper Esopus Creek is considered the reach between its source, Winisook Lake, and the reservoir. Flows in the Upper Esopus Creek are supplemented by...
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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 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 basin are inhabited by one of the richest fish communities on the East Coast. The American Eel, Anguilla rostrata, is a unique member of this community, exhibiting a catadramous (maturing in fresh water and spawning in salt water) life history. Like many migratory fish, the American Eel has suffered a general decline across the East Coast largely attributed to barriers to migration and habitat degradation and other anthropogenic disturbances to the point that the species has been recommended for listing under the Endangered Species Act twice in the past ten years A recent study by Machut et al. (2007) and the implementation of a NYSDEC-initiated citizen science juvenile...
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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: 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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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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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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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 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...
map background search result map search result map Regionalization of Channel Geomorphology Characteristics for Streams of New York State, Excluding Long Island Estrogenicity in Streams of New York State Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Estimating Acute and Chronic Toxicity of Waters from the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern Using Two Plankton Species Assessing American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River 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 Identifying Thermal Refuges in the Schoharie 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 the Upper Esopus Creek using fatty acid content of periphyton Use of telemetry to assess potential effects of Schoharie Reservoir waters on trout populations in the Upper Esopus Creek 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 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 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 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 Status of American Eel populations in the Mohawk River Basin 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 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 the Upper Esopus Creek using fatty acid content of periphyton Use of telemetry to assess potential effects of Schoharie Reservoir waters on trout populations in the Upper Esopus Creek 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 Identifying Thermal Refuges in the Schoharie Watershed 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 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 American Eel Populations in Tributaries to the Upper Delaware River Geomorphology, Biology, & Stability of Catskill Mountain Streams, New York Status of American Eel populations in the Mohawk River Basin Assessment of Acidic Deposition Effects on the Chemistry and Benthos of Streams of the East-Central Adirondack Region Estrogenicity in Streams of New York State Regionalization of Channel Geomorphology Characteristics for Streams of New York State, Excluding Long Island