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Peter S. Murdoch

Publications and source records attributed to Peter S. Murdoch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2022

Use case development for earth monitoring, analysis, and prediction (EarthMAP)—A road map for future integrated predictive science at the U.S. Geological Survey

Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 21st-century science strategy 2020–30 promotes a bureau-wide strategy to develop and deliver an integrated, predictive science capability that works at the scales and timelines needed to inform societally relevant resource management and protection and public safety and environmental health decisions (U.S. Geological Survey, 2021). This is the overarching goal of the USGS Earth Monitoring, Analysis, and Prediction (EarthMAP) vision, which consists of three components: (1) integrated data and information, (2) integrated predictive science, and (3) actionable information—all designed and delivered to respond to user needs. To launch this vision and help shape the design and implementation of integrated predictive science, the USGS Regional Offices each developed a set of use cases (hereafter Use Cases)—short descriptions of potential science applications that could clearly address high priority decision-making needs of our stakeholders and that align with an integrated science focus. Use Cases are not actionable science planning documents, nor stand-alone scholarly works, but should be considered as innovative, next-generation science ideas that can be considered as potential components of science plans still under development. The goal of Use Case development was to (1) identify and characterize existing USGS scientific capacities and expertise that can support science goals and products, (2) identify opportunities to leverage current capacities for next-generation science, and (3) foster engagement across the entire Bureau to further refine the USGS strategy for EarthMAP and integrated predictive science. The Use Case development effort documented in this report was coordinated by the Use Case Development Team (UCDT), consisting of representatives from each region. The UCDT undertook five tasks: (1) develop a unified approach to engage bureau scientists consistently across all regions in aspirational thinking about what can be accomplished; (2) work with the regions and their Science Centers to generate an initial set of Use Cases, authored directly by scientists; (3) characterize, summarize, and document the initial set of Use Case submissions from authors to illuminate bureau-level demand for integrated science; (4) compare existing and needed capacities from the Use Case descriptions with preliminary results of the EarthMAP Capacity Assessment (Keisman and others, 2021); and (5) describe lessons learned from the Use Case development process and provide recommendations to inform future efforts to generate integrated science activities. This report outlines the approach the UCDT developed to solicit Use Cases from the regions and summarizes the high-level qualitative findings from this first-round effort. The UCDT received 36 Use Cases from the regions and identified potential points of convergence and commonalities considered useful in making connections among the participating scientists. The Southwest (SW) Region and the Rocky Mountain (RM) Region asked scientists to give special consideration to Use Cases with applicability to the Colorado River Basin, and seven of the Use Cases specifically named that geographic area as a focus. Coastal hazards and coastal resilience were identified in Use Cases from the Alaska (AK), Northeast (NE), and Southeast (SE) Regions. Aspects of wildfire and post-wildfire response were part of Uses Cases from AK, RM, and SW Regions. The greatest convergence of Use Case themes was related to conservation of public lands and waters, which is a powerful linkage lending strength to future collaborative efforts. The most common type of stakeholder decisions that would be informed by the Use Case science applications were related to adaptation, mitigation, and response (for example, how to increase the resilience of coastal communities to climate-related stressors and how to prevent or respond to harmful algal blooms). Other common types of decisions included water and land management decisions (including operational water management decisions such as reservoir operations and land use planning in the sagebrush biome), decisions about how to manage and conserve habitats and species, and risk management decisions (such as managing the post-wildfire flood risks). These decision types are not exclusive because many Use Cases cross categories. Use Case authors identified existing and needed science and technology capabilities required for Use Case implementation, which were then aligned to capabilities assessed in the EarthMAP Capacity Assessment (Keisman and others, 2021). Strong alignment was found for data and information integration approaches, modeling and prediction approaches, and capabilities related to delivery of actionable information. A majority of Use Cases indicated insufficient current capacity for needed data collection methods, data integration, and modeling and prediction approaches, whereas only 25 percent indicated insufficient capacity for actionable information delivery. Overall, many Use Case capacity demand gaps could potentially be met by existing bureau-wide capacity. In addition, nearly half of the Use Cases could potentially be implemented within 3 years if funding, capabilities, and personnel impediments were removed and science priorities were realigned. Several challenges emerged during the Use Case development process. The first challenge was developing an approach that was flexible enough to accommodate regional differences in planning and implementation, while also ensuring enough guidance to promote meaningful summary analyses. The UCDT encountered a strong demand for continuous communication and education to improve overall understanding of the integrated predictive science strategy. Another challenge was managing expectations about EarthMAP activities as a design effort that was not aligned to an immediate funding opportunity. Connecting the Use Cases to stakeholder needs without the opportunity for direct stakeholder engagement was also challenging. The last notable challenge was in obtaining consistent interpretation and characterization of the qualitative data housed in the narrative descriptions of Use Cases, written in different styles. Overall, the 36 Use Cases can serve as components of a road map for advancing integrated monitoring and predictive science throughout the USGS by revealing opportunities to (1) encourage cross-region initiatives that address shared interests in common themes by integrating similar Use Cases and through direct involvement of stakeholders in identifying needs and designing effective responses, (2) leverage the Use Cases to target investments that are aligned with the Bureau and Department of the Interior (DOI) priorities, (3) connect Use Cases and the results of the companion EarthMAP Capacity Assessment (Keisman and others, 2021) to identify potential priorities for capacity building investments, and (4) raise awareness of common integrated and interdisciplinary science interests within and across the regions through Use Case and Capacity Assessment summary outreach activities.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2021

Capacity assessment for Earth Monitoring, Analysis, and Prediction (EarthMAP) and future integrated monitoring and predictive science at the U.S. Geological Survey

Executive Summary Managers of our Nation’s resources face unprecedented challenges driven by the convergence of increasing, competing societal demands and a changing climate that affects the stability, vulnerability, and predictability of those resources. To help meet these challenges, the scientific community must take advantage of all available technologies, data, and integrative Earth systems modeling capacity to better inform resource and risk management decisions. This is the overarching goal of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Monitoring, Analysis, and Prediction (EarthMAP) vision: “By 2030, the USGS will deliver well integrated observations and predictions of the future state of natural systems—water, ecosystems, energy, minerals, hazards—at regional and national scales, working primarily with federal, state, and academic partners to develop and operate the capability” (U.S. Geological Survey, 2021). Providing more integrated Earth systems science and actionable information to decision makers, stakeholders, and the public requires a better understanding of the depth and distribution of existing capacity (capabilities, tools, and techniques) across the Bureau. Identifying existing capacity is also a critical first step toward gap analysis and targeted investments to increase capacity over time. The USGS formed a Capacity Assessment Team (CAT) and charged it with (1) conducting a Request for Information (RFI) to identify existing USGS expertise and activities supportive of integrated and predictive science to inform decision making, (2) developing a strategy and proof-of-concept for a continuously updated capacity assessment capability, and (3) identifying lessons learned to inform development of best practices for future capacity assessment efforts. The RFI took the form of a survey, with content guided by the science and technology needs identified in a USGS report titled “Grand Challenges for Integrated U.S. Geological Survey Science—A Workshop Report” (Jenni and others, 2017). The 44-question survey provided respondents the ability to rate their level of experience with a suite of priority disciplines, analysis and modeling approaches, technologies, and stakeholder engagement strategies and to enter optional narrative text for supporting context. An introductory portion focused on general science capacity assessment, followed by three sections targeting capabilities related to the foundational components of EarthMAP: (1) data and information integration, (2) integrated predictive science, and (3) actionable information. The survey results provided a high-level snapshot of USGS capacity in the targeted areas. Respondents (1,035 individuals) represented approximately 13 percent of the USGS across all mission areas and regions. Seventy-four percent of the respondents held a science-focused position title and the remainder had position titles in information technology, computer science, management, administrative, or other (contractors, volunteers, emeritus, and unknown). To provide greater insight into respondent capabilities and activities, information from the U.S. Department of the Interior and USGS enterprise information systems were used to further characterize topical expertise and organizational associations of survey respondents. To address the ongoing need to assess the Bureau’s capacity to address integrated predictive science priorities, the CAT developed a software-based proof-of-concept called the Integrated Science Assessment Information Database (iSAID) for assembling various information sources together toward making the full extent of USGS capabilities and scientific assets available for routine capacity assessment. This proof-of-concept is intended to serve as a catalyst for further development. The process of implementing the EarthMAP capacity assessment survey, analyzing survey responses, and developing the proof-of-concept resulted in lessons learned, findings, and recommendations. Example scenarios throughout the report demonstrate how capacity assessment data can inform science planning. Three overarching findings and recommendations are: (1) Finding: Capacity is limited in some critical disciplines, skills, and technology applications, but “sufficient” depends on the question and the need relative to availability at a given point in time. Recommendation: Develop an on-demand capacity assessment framework that enables rapid identification and evaluation of existing and available expertise to support decision needs as they arise. (2) Finding: Institutional barriers and lack of awareness constrain the ability of USGS staff to adopt new technologies, collaborate across administrative boundaries, and deliver actionable information to stakeholders in a timely manner. However, these barriers are not universally experienced. Recommendation: Pursue more targeted inquiries to clarify which institutional barriers are obstructing the adoption of new technologies and approaches or the sharing of expertise and equipment across organizational and regional boundaries. These inquiries should inform USGS leadership, mission areas, and regions whether policies can be revised or whether a lack of understanding is creating perceived obstacles. Highlight cases when staff have successfully adopted new technologies and approaches to advance EarthMAP priorities and provide actionable information in a timely manner to spread awareness of how perceived obstacles can be navigated and overcome when appropriate. (3) Finding: Examples of people and projects integrating across disciplines and scales and applying advanced approaches to meet complex stakeholder needs exist. Such examples provide transfer value across the spectrum from approach to decision making. Many projects, already underway, appear to meet elements of the EarthMAP vision, and the USGS has people who can provide leadership in multiple types of specific integrated science efforts. Recommendation: Use these findings as a starting point for near-term strategic planning for integrated science. Highlight, incentivize, and build on existing interdisciplinary predictive science and information delivery activities across the USGS to advance toward further realization of an EarthMAP capacity. The CAT efforts to develop and assess existing USGS capacity to advance the EarthMAP vision revealed a fundamental challenge for not only this effort but any effort to assess existing capacity: A considerable amount of thought, time, and effort is required to survey and assess capabilities and tools available to support a given need, yet best results are still likely to provide an incomplete assessment. To better meet the frequent need to assess capabilities, tools, products, and projects that address an expressed strategic priority, the CAT proposes the concept of an on-demand capacity assessment framework supported by a software package that dynamically pulls and integrates information from existing USGS information systems and public domain registries. Although existing USGS enterprise information systems currently lack the structure, cross-system consistency, interoperability, and stability to support a continuously updated capacity assessment capability, we identify reasonable near-term steps to improve the utility of information gathered on expertise and project capacity and to improve the consistency and completeness of information and the ability of USGS systems to share that information. The ability to search and characterize this information will make future assessments of capacity faster, more complete, more efficient, and more targeted. This approach would grow the Bureau’s capacity knowledge over time, iteratively improving the ability to access, leverage, and synthesize existing capabilities and assets as well as identify and fill critical gaps. The greatest promise for developing integrated science could lie in linking across existing projects and expertise to create a multi-project capacity for addressing large, complex environmental issues.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2021

The water quality of selected streams in the Catskill and Delaware water-supply watersheds in New York, 1999–2009

From October 1, 1999, through September 30, 2009, water-quality samples were collected, and discharge was measured at 13 streamgages within the Catskill and Delaware watersheds of the New York City water supply system. The Catskill and Delaware watersheds supply about 90 percent of the water needed by 9 million customers. On average, 59 water-quality samples were collected at each station during each year of the study and analyzed for major ions and nutrients. At six stations, suspended-sediment samples were collected during 2001–09, and turbidity samples were collected during 2003–09. Surficial geology exerted a strong influence on the water quality of streams in the region. Stations in the Cannonsville Reservoir watershed, which has a high percentage of glacial till, had circumneutral stream water, whereas stations in the Neversink Reservoir watershed, which has a high percentage of sedimentary bedrock outcrops, had acidic stream water. All stations showed significant decreases in stream water sulfate concentrations during the study period; however, only the most acidic watersheds showed decreases in hydrogen-ion concentration. Two of the most acidic stations, East Branch Neversink River northeast of Denning and Rondout Creek above Red Brook at Peekamoose also had significant decreasing trends in inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations, a form of aluminum that is toxic to some aquatic biota at concentrations greater than 0.05 milligram per liter. Three stations in the Neversink Reservoir watershed had inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations that commonly exceeded 0.05 milligram per liter during the study period. At the West Branch Neversink River at Winnisook Lake near Frost Valley station concentrations of inorganic monomeric aluminum exceeded 0.3 milligram per liter at the beginning of the study, but never exceeded that level during the last 2 water years of the study. The East Branch Neversink River northeast of Denning and Rondout Creek above Red Brook at Peekamoose stations also showed decreases in inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations during the study. The reduction in inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations were the result of reductions in stream acidity. The reductions in stream acidity were driven by reductions in sulfate concentrations in precipitation in response to emission regulations included in title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (42 USC §7651). Results indicated increasing trends in sodium and chloride concentrations for all stations with high road density relative to other stations included in the study, which could be a future water-quality concern in the region. The Town Brook watershed southeast of Hobart, the only study watershed that contained dairy farms, had a significant decreasing trend in total dissolved phosphorus concentration that may have been a result of agricultural best management practices implemented on farms by the Watershed Agricultural Program. The watershed with the second highest total phosphorus and total dissolved phosphorus concentrations was a completely forested, but previously agricultural, watershed (Town Brook tributary southeast of Hobart) that had not been actively farmed in about 80 years. The phosphorus concentrations at the Town Brook tributary southeast of Hobart station indicated that previously agricultural watersheds may continue to leach phosphorus to streams for many decades after farming has ceased. At six of the study watersheds, samples of suspended-sediment and turbidity were also collected. The watersheds with the highest suspended-sediment concentrations and turbidity also had the strongest relations between discharge and suspended-sediment concentrations. In general, the relations between discharge and turbidity were not as strong as the relations between discharge and suspended-sediment concentrations. Results indicated strong relations between suspended-sediment concentrations and turbidity levels at each station; however, relations were less strong in the agricultural watersheds. Suspended-sediment concentrations appeared to decrease at the Stony Clove Creek below Ox Clove at Chichester station following a stream stabilization project completed during the study period. However, we were unable to directly attribute the decrease to the stabilization project; there were many complicating variables that made a direct attribution difficult, such as a series of large storms shortly after the stabilization project was completed and differences in flow conditions before and after the project. However, the results have led to additional monitoring within the watershed specifically designed to determine the effectiveness of stream stabilization projects for reducing suspended-sediment concentrations and turbidity in the upper Esopus Creek watershed, the primary source of water to the Ashokan Reservoir. Water quality in the Catskill and Delaware watersheds is generally improving, and although sodium and chloride concentrations increased at some of the stations from 1999 to 2009, the concentrations in 2009 were still well below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standards.

New York↗
USGS2021

The Biscuit Brook and Neversink Reservoir Watersheds: Long-term investigations of stream chemistry, soil chemistry, and aquatic ecology in the Catskill Mountains, New York, USA, 1983 to 2020

This data note describes the Biscuit Brook and Neversink Reservoir watershed Long-Term Monitoring Data that includes: 1) stream discharge, (1983 – 2020 for Biscuit Brook and 1937 – 2020 for the Neversink Reservoir watershed), 2) stream water chemistry, 1983-2020, at 4 stations, 3) fish survey data from 16 locations in the watershed 1990-2019, 4) soil chemistry data from 2 headwater sub-watersheds, 1993-2012, and 5) periodic stream water chemistry sampling data from 364 locations throughout the watershed, 1983-2020. The Neversink Reservoir watershed in the Catskill Mountains of New York, USA drains an area of 172.5 km 2 . The watershed feeds one of 6 reservoirs in New York City's West of Hudson water supply, which accounts for about 90% of the city's water supply. Biscuit Brook is a 9.63 km 2 tributary sub-watershed within the Neversink Reservoir watershed.

New York↗
USGS2021

U.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030

Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, resources, and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations. As a science provider within the DOI, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has an important role in developing actionable science products that can inform decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes. Our landscapes and resources are undergoing continual change from a complex and interacting suite of stressors that include traditional and nontraditional land uses, a changing climate, a dynamic economy, and a culturally diverse and ever-changing society. Landscape science seeks to understand how the physical, biological, and social components of ecosystems and landscapes interact with each other and are affected by these stressors across local to global scales. The USGS has developed this landscape science strategy to focus and strengthen the agency’s efforts to inform critical conservation, restoration, and management decisions for American landscapes. The strategy directly supports the overarching 21st-century science strategy of the USGS and expands our perspective and focus on partnerships, including with internal, external, traditional, and nontraditional partners. The vision for USGS landscape science is to integrate multiple disciplines and approaches to create and deliver relevant, timely, and scientifically sound products that enable our partners to make informed decisions about how to manage complex interacting natural and human systems across changing American landscapes. This strategy seeks to leverage the expertise, data, analytical capacity, and tools of the agency and to strengthen integration of science efforts across programs and scales. A cornerstone of the strategy is working closely with landowners and resource managers to identify the science that is needed to inform management actions, and then working collaboratively with those same partners to coproduce science and data products that are timely, practical, and useful for their decision making. Many individual efforts within the USGS already embrace landscape science ideas and practices. With the development of this strategy, we are seeking to build on these efforts and to focus agency attention and expertise on expanding, connecting, and institutionalizing core practices and approaches for landscape science that produces actionable science products and tools that decision makers can use to help conserve and manage American landscapes.

Circular↗
USGS2020

Ecological forecasting—21st century science for 21st century management

Natural resource managers are coping with rapid changes in both environmental conditions and ecosystems. Enabled by recent advances in data collection and assimilation, short-term ecological forecasting may be a powerful tool to help resource managers anticipate impending near-term changes in ecosystem conditions or dynamics. Managers may use the information in forecasts to minimize the adverse effects of ecological stressors and optimize the effectiveness of management actions. To explore the potential for ecological forecasting to enhance natural resource management, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) convened a workshop titled "Building Capacity for Applied Short-Term Ecological Forecasting" on May 29—31, 2019, with participants from several Federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as well as all mission areas within the USGS. Participants broadly agreed that short-term ecological forecasting—on the order of days to years into the future—has tremendous potential to improve the quality and timeliness of information available to guide resource management decisions. Participants considered how ecological forecasting could directly affect their agency missions and specified numerous critical tools for addressing natural resource management concerns in the 21st century that could be enhanced by ecological forecasting. Given this breadth of possible applications for forecast products, participants developed a repeatable framework for evaluating potential value of a forecast product for enhancing resource management. Applying that process to a large list of forecast ideas that were developed in a brainstorming session, participants identified a small set of promising forecast products that illustrate the value of ecological forecasting for informing resource management. Workshop outcomes also include insights about important likely obstacles and next steps. In particular, reliable production and delivery of operational ecological forecasts will require a sustained commitment by research agencies, in partnership with resource management agencies, to maintain and improve forecasting tools and capabilities.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2014

Reflections on a vision for integrated research and monitoring after 15 years

In May of 1998, Owen Bricker and his co-author Michael Ruggiero introduced a conceptual design for integrating the Nation’s environmental research and monitoring programs. The Framework for Integrated Monitoring and Related Research was an organizing strategy for relating data collected by various programs, at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and by multiple science disciplines to solve complex ecological issues that individual research or monitoring programs were not designed to address. The concept nested existing intensive monitoring and research stations within national and regional surveys, remotely sensed data, and inventories to produce a collaborative program for multi-scale, multi-network integrated environmental monitoring and research. Analyses of gaps in data needed for specific issues would drive decisions on network improvements or enhancements. Data contributions to the Framework from existing networks would help indicate critical research and monitoring programs to protect during budget reductions. Significant progress has been made since 1998 on refining the Framework strategy. Methods and models for projecting scientific information across spatial and temporal scales have been improved, and a few regional pilots of multi-scale data-integration concepts have been attempted. The links between science and decision-making are also slowly improving and being incorporated into science practice. Experiments with the Framework strategy since 1998 have revealed the foundational elements essential to its successful implementation, such as defining core measurements, establishing standards of data collection and management, integrating research and long-term monitoring, and describing baseline ecological conditions. They have also shown us the remaining challenges to establishing the Framework concept: protecting and enhancing critical long-term monitoring, filling gaps in measurement methods, improving science for decision support, and integrating the disparate integrated science efforts now underway. In the 15 years since the Bricker and Ruggiero (Ecol Appl 8(2):326–329, 1998) paper challenged us with a new paradigm for bringing sound and comprehensive science to environmental decisions, the scientific community can take pride in the progress that has been made, while also taking stock of the challenges ahead for completing the Framework vision.

Aquatic Geochemistry↗
USGS2013

Use of soil-streamwater relationships to assess regional patterns of acidic deposition effects in the northeastern USA

Declines of acidic deposition levels by as much as 50% since 1990 have led to partial recovery of surface waters in the northeastern USA but continued depletion of soil calcium through this same period suggests a disconnection between soil and surface water chemistry. To investigate the role of soil-surface water interactions in recovery from acidification, the first regional survey to directly relate soil chemistry to stream chemistry during high flow was implemented in a 4144-km 2 area of the Catskill region of New York, where acidic deposition levels are among the highest in the East. More than 40% of 95 streams sampled in the southern Catskill Mountains were determined to be acidified and had inorganic monomeric aluminum concentrations that exceeded a threshold that is toxic to aquatic biota. More than 80% likely exceeded this threshold during the highest flows, but less than 10% of more than 100 streams sampled were acidified in the northwestern portion of the region. Median Oa horizon soil base saturation ranged from 50% to 80% at 200 sites across the region, but median base saturation in the upper 10 cm of the B horizon was less than 20% across the region and was only 2% in the southern area. Aluminum is likely to be interfering with root uptake of calcium in the mineral horizon in approximately half the sampled watersheds. Stream chemistry was highly variable over the Catskill region and, therefore, did not always reflect the calcium depletion of the B horizon that our sampling suggested was nearly ubiquitous throughout the region. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

New York↗
USGS2011

The relation of harvesting intensity to changes in soil, soil water, and stream chemistry in a northern hardwood forest, Catskill Mountains, USA

Previous studies have shown that clearcutting of northern hardwood forests mobilizes base cations, inorganic monomeric aluminum (Al im ), and nitrate (NO 3 - - N) from soils to surface waters, but the effects of partial harvests on NO 3 - - N have been less frequently studied. In this study we describe the effects of a series of partial harvests of varying proportions of basal area removal (22%, 28% and 68%) on Al im , calcium (Ca 2+ ), and NO 3 - - N concentrations in soil extracts, soil water, and surface water in the Catskill Mountains of New York, USA. Increases in NO 3 - - N concentrations relative to pre-harvest values were observed within a few months after harvest in soils, soil water, and stream water for all three harvests. Increases in Al im and Ca 2+ concentrations were also evident in soil water and stream water over the same time period for all three harvests. The increases in Al im , Ca 2+ , and NO 3 - - N concentrations in the 68% harvest were statistically significant as measured by comparing the 18-month pre-harvest period with the 18-month post-harvest period, with fewer significant responses in the two harvests of lowest intensity. All three solutes returned to pre-harvest concentrations in soil water and stream water in the two lowest intensity harvests in 2–3 years compared to a full 3 years in the 68% harvest. When the results of this study were combined with those of a previous nearby clearcut and 40% harvest, the post-harvest increases in NO 3 - - N concentrations in stream water and soil water suggest a harvesting level above which the relation between concentration and harvest intensity changes; there was a greater change in concentration per unit change in harvest intensity when basal area removal was greater than 40%. These results indicate that the deleterious effects on aquatic ecosystems previously demonstrated for intensive harvests in northern hardwood forests of northeastern North America that receive high levels of atmospheric N deposition can be greatly diminished as harvesting intensity decreases below 40?8%. These results await confirmation through additional incremental forest harvest studies at other locations throughout the world that receive high levels of atmospheric N deposition.

New York↗
USGS2011

The aquatic real-time monitoring network; in-situ optical sensors for monitoring the nation's water quality

Floods, hurricanes, and longer-term changes in climate and land use can have profound effects on water quality due to shifts in hydrologic flow paths, water residence time, precipitation patterns, connectivity between rivers and uplands, and many other factors. In order to understand and respond to changes in hydrology and water quality, resource managers and policy makers have a need for accurate and early indicators, as well as the ability to assess possible mechanisms and likely outcomes. In-situ optical sensors-those making continuous measurements of constituents by absorbance or fluorescence properties in the environment at timescales of minutes to years-have a long history in oceanography for developing highly resolved concentrations and fluxes, but are not commonly used in freshwater systems. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has developed the Aquatic Real-Time Monitoring Network, with high-resolution optical data collection for organic carbon, nutrients, and sediment in large coastal rivers, along with continuous measurements of discharge, water temperature, and dissolved inorganic carbon. The collecting of continuous water-quality data in the Nation?s waterways has revealed temporal trends and spatial patterns in constituents that traditional sampling approaches fail to capture, and will serve a critical role in monitoring, assessment and decision-making in a rapidly changing landscape.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2010

Water Quality of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River and Tributary Streams, New York and Pennsylvania

Water-quality samples were collected from the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (UPDE) and its tributaries during the period October 1, 2005, to September 30, 2007, to document existing water quality, determine relations between land use and water quality, and identify areas of water-quality concern. A tiered water-quality monitoring framework was used, with the tiers consisting of intensively sampled sites, gradient sites representing the range of land uses present in the basin, and regional stream-survey sites. Median nitrate and total phosphorous concentrations were 1.15 and 0.01 mg/L (milligrams per liter) for three sites on the mainstem Delaware River, 1.27 and 0.009 mg/L for the East Branch Delaware River, 2.04 and 0.01 mg/L for the West Branch Delaware River, and 0.68 and 0.006 mg/L for eight tributaries that represent the range of land uses resent in the basin, respectively. The percentage of agricultural land varied by basin from 0 to 30 percent and the percentage of suburbanization varied from 0 to 17 percent. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of agricultural land use in a basin and observed concentrations of acid neutralizing capacity, calcium, potassium, nitrate, and total dissolved nitrogen, whereas no correlation between the percentage of suburbanization and water quality was detected. Results of stream surveys showed that nitrate concentrations in 55 to 65 percent of the UPDE Basin exceeded the nitrate reference condition and a suggested water-quality guideline for ecological impairment in New York State (0.98 mg/L) during the spring. Many of the affected parts of the basin were more than 90 percent forested and showed signs of episodic acidification, indicating that the long-term effects of acid deposition play a role in the high nitrate levels. Nitrate concentrations in 75 percent of samples collected from agricultural sites exceeded the suggested nitrate water-quality guideline for ecological impairment. Concentrations of nitrate and total phosphorous in samples collected from agricultural sites also were twice and 25 percent higher than those in samples from reference sites, respectively.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2008

Effects of forest harvesting on ecosystem health in the headwaters of the New York City Water Supply, Catskill Mountains, New York

The effects of forest clearcutting and selective harvesting on forest soils, soil and stream water chemistry, forest regrowth, and aquatic communities were studied in four small headwater catchments. This research was conducted to identify the sensitivity of forested ecosystems to forest disturbance in the northeastern United States. The study area was in the headwaters of the Neversink Reservoir watershed, part of the New York City water supply system, in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York. Two sub-catchments of the Shelter Creek watershed were selectively harvested, one in its northern half and one more heavily in its southern half in 1995?96, the Dry Creek watershed was clearcut in the winter of 1996?97, and the Clear Creek watershed was left undisturbed and monitored as a control site. Monitoring was conducted from 4 years before the harvests until 4 years after the harvests. Clearcutting caused a large release of nitrate (NO3-) from watershed soils and a concurrent release of inorganic monomeric aluminum (Alim), which is toxic to some aquatic biota. The increased soil NO3- concentrations measured after the harvest could be completely accounted for by the decrease in nitrogen (N) uptake by watershed trees, rather than an increase in N mineralization and nitrification. The large increase in stream water NO3- and Alim concentrations caused 100-percent mortality of caged brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) during the first year after the clearcut and adversely affected macroinvertebrate communities for 2 years after the harvest. Nutrient uptake and biomass accumulation increased in uncut mature trees after the two selective harvests. There was no increase in stream-water NO3- or Alim concentrations, and so there were no adverse affects on macroinvertebrate or trout communities. The amount of tree biomass that can be removed without causing a sharp increase in stream-water NO3- and Alim stream-water concentrations is unknown, but probably depends on the history of forest-disturbance and acid deposition and the level of soil acidification. Results of this study indicate that macroinvertebrate and brook trout communities were sensitive to clearcutting and that deer browsing may affect water quality by suppressing forest regeneration and nutrient uptake. Further studies of selective harvests could identify the harvesting threshold below which changes in water quality and soil chemistry are minimized, and nutrient retention is maximized, thus reducing the damage that logging can inflict on stream and aquatic communities.

New York↗
USGS2007

Potential effects of climate change on surface-water quality in North America

Data from long-term ecosystem monitoring and research stations in North America and results of simulations made with interpretive models indicate that changes in climate (precipitation and temperature) can have a significant effect on the quality of surface waters. Changes in water quality during storms, snowmelt, and periods of elevated air temperature or drought can cause conditions that exceed thresholds of ecosystem tolerance and, thus, lead to water-quality degradation. If warming and changes in available moisture occur, water-quality changes will likely first occur during episodes of climate-induced stress, and in ecosystems where the factors controlling water quality are sensitive to climate variability. Continued climate stress would increase the frequency with which ecosystem thresholds are exceeded and thus lead to chronic water-quality changes. Management strategies in a warmer climate will therefore be needed that are based on local ecological thresholds rather than annual median condition. Changes in land use alter biological, physical, and chemical processes in watersheds and thus significantly alter the quality of adjacent surface waters; these direct human-caused changes complicate the interpretation of water-quality changes resulting from changes in climate, and can be both mitigated and exacerbated by climate change. A rigorous strategy for integrated, long-term monitoring of the ecological and human factors that control water quality is necessary to differentiate between actual and perceived climate effects, and to track the effectiveness of our environmental policies.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2006

Streams in Catskill Mountains still susceptible to acid rain

Precipitation in North America has become less acidic over the past 2 decades because of reduced power plant emissions and compliance with the Clean Air Act Amendments [ Sirois , 19937rsqb;. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments were developed to reduce the acidity of sensitive surface waters, which are primarily in upland forested environments, where acidified waters and associated high aluminum concentrations are toxic to many species of aquatic flora and fauna [ Schindler et al. , 1989]. Our studies show that in spite of less acidic precipitation, the buffering capacity of streams in upland forests of the Catskill Mountains in southeastern New York has not increased in recent years. These data suggest that long-term leaching by acid rain has lowered exchangeable calcium ion concentrations in the soil in upland areas, where the underlying, slow-weathering bedrock provides an inadequate supply of cations to neutralize acidity.

New York↗
USGS2006

Detection of water quality trends at high, median, and low flow in a Catskill Mountain stream, New York, through a new statistical method

The effects of changes in acid deposition rates resulting from the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 should first appear in stream waters during rainstorms and snowmelt, when the surface of the watershed is most hydrologically connected to the stream. Early detection of improved stream water quality is possible if trends at high flow could be separately determined. Trends in concentrations of sulfate (SO 4 2− ), nitrate (NO 3 − ), calcium plus magnesium (Ca 2+ +Mg 2+ ), and acid‐neutralizing capacity (ANC) in Biscuit Brook, Catskill Mountains, New York, were assessed through segmented regression analysis (SRA). The method uses annual concentration‐to‐discharge relations to predict concentrations for specific discharges, then compares those annual values to determine trends at specific discharge levels. Median‐flow trends using SRA were comparable to those predicted by the seasonal Kendall tau test and a multiple regression residual analysis. All of these methods show that stream water SO 4 2− concentrations have decreased significantly since 1983; Ca 2+ +Mg 2+ concentrations have decreased at a steady but slower rate than SO 4 2− ; and ANC shows no trend. The new SRA method, however, reveals trends that differ at specified flow levels. ANC has increased, and NO 3 − concentrations have decreased at high flows, but neither has changed as significantly at low flows. The general downward trend in SO 4 2− flattened at median flow and reversed at high flow between 1997 and 2002. The reversal of the high‐flow SO 4 2− trend is consistent with increases in SO 4 2− concentrations in both precipitation and soil solutions at Biscuit Brook. Separate calculation of high‐flow trends provides resource managers with an early detection system for assessing changes in water quality resulting from changes in acidic deposition.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS2005

Effects of a clearcut on the net rates of nitrification and N mineralization in a northern hardwood forest, Catskill Mountains, New York, USA

The Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York receive among the highest rates of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition in eastern North America, and ecosystems in the region may be sensitive to human disturbances that affect the N cycle. We studied the effects of a clearcut in a northern hardwood forest within a 24-ha Catskill watershed on the net rates of N mineralization and nitrification in soil plots during 6 years (1994-1999) that encompassed 3-year pre- and post-harvesting periods. Despite stream NO3- concentrations that increased by more than 1400 ??mol l-1 within 5 months after the clearcut, and three measures of NO3- availability in soil that increased 6- to 8-fold during the 1st year after harvest, the net rates of N mineralization and nitrification as measured by in situ incubation in the soil remained unchanged. The net N-mineralization rate in O-horizon soil was 1- 2 mg N kg-1 day-1 and the net nitrification rate was about 1 mg N kg-1 day-1, and rates in B-horizon soil were only one-fifth to one-tenth those of the O-horizon. These rates were obtained in single 625 m2 plots in the clearcut watershed and reference area, and were confirmed by rate measurements at 6 plots in 1999 that showed little difference in N-mineralization and nitrification rates between the treatment and reference areas. Soil temperature increased 1 ?? 0.8??C in a clearcut study plot relative to a reference plot during the post-harvest period, and soil moisture in the clearcut plot was indistinguishable from that in the reference plot. These results are contrary to the initial hypothesis that the clearcut would cause net rates of these N-cycling processes to increase sharply. The in situ incubation method used in this study isolated the samples from ambient roots and thereby prevented plant N uptake; therefore, the increases in stream NO3- concentrations and export following harvest largely reflect diminished uptake. Changes in temperature and moisture after the clearcut were insufficient to measurably affect the net rates of N mineralization and nitrification in the absence of plant uptake. Soil acidification resulting from the harvest may have acted in part to inhibit the rates of these processes. ?? Springer 2005.

Biogeochemistry↗
USGS2005

Stream acidification and mortality of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in response to timber harvest in Catskill Mountain watersheds, New York, USA

Effects of clear-cut and timber-stand improvement (TSI) harvests on water chemistry and mortality of caged brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were evaluated in a study of three Catskill Mountain streams, 1994-2000. Harvests removed 73% of tree basal area (BA) from a clearcut subbasin, 5% BA from a TSI subbasin, and 14% BA at a site below the confluence of both streams. A fourth nonharvested site served as a control. Water quality and trout mortality were affected only in the clearcut stream. Acidity and concentrations of nitrate and inorganic monomeric aluminum (Alim) increased sharply during high flows after the first growing season (fall 1997). Acid-Alim episodes were severe during this period and decreased steadily in magnitude and duration thereafter. All trout at this site died within 7 days during spring 1998 and 85% died during spring 1999. Only background mortality was observed in other years at this site and at the other three sites during all tests. The absence of mortality in TSI watersheds indicates that limited harvests should not harm brook trout populations in acid-sensitive streams. Effects of tree harvests on fish communities are of concern, however, because many stream-dwelling species are more sensitive to acidified waters than brook trout. ?? 2005 NRC.

Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences↗