Amanda Deal & Len Lichvar Somerset Conservation District

Transcription

1 Stonycreek River Watershed Reassessment Amanda Deal & Len Lichvar Somerset Conservation District August 2008

2

3 Watershed Characteristics ti 298,920 acres 538 perennial stream miles 519 mi natural stream/river 19 mi artificial path Elevation ranges 3132 ft to 896 ft

4 Stonycreek River Watershed Major Sub-watersheds Quemahoning Creek Shade Creek Bens Creek Paint Creek Rhoads Creek Beaverdam Creek Wells Creek Solomon Run Oven Run

5 Land Cover ~66% forested ~24% ag ~9% urban urban forest agriculture barren water

6 REassessment? USGS 1997 Effects of coal-mine discharges on the quality of fthe Stonycreek kriver and dits tib tributaries, t i Somerset and Cambria counties, Pennsylvania Located & sampled 270 mine discharges Stream water chemistry at 37 sites Stream sampled above and below 5 discharges different discharges and entrance of Pokeytown Run and Oven Run

7 REassessment? Led to nearly $10 million of project investment dollars Reversed Stonycreek River from net acidic to net alkaline Over 15 miles of recovered fisheries Proliferation of watershed groups & grassroots interest Wells Creek, Shade Creek, Paint Creek

8 Purpose of Reassessment Develop baseline data set Fill in data gaps Funding for watershed groups AML funding Quantify water quality changes Identify new projects Complete restoration efforts that began >15yrs ago

9 Objectives Survey water quality throughout h t watershed Especially upstream and downstream of treatment systems (main stem and tributaries) Assess macroinvertebrate assemblages Identify fish assemblages GIS mapping Master database Full report

10 Interagency Cooperation PA DEP Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation PA Fish & Boat Commission Habitat Management Unit Provided: Personnel Expertise Equipment Analysis assistance

11 Interagency Cooperation (cont.) PA Fish & Boat Commission (cont.) Filled a major gap in biological data that would have been lacking without collaboration. Data collected will serve both agencies SCD Reassessment and support for remediation projects PFBC Fisheries management decisions

12 Sampling Points 35 sites 17 main stem 18 tributaries

13 Physical habitat t EPA habitat assessment and physiochemical characterization from Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and Wadeable Rivers (2 nd ed.) epifaunal substrate, embeddedness, velocity/depth regime, sediment deposition, channel flow status, t channel alteration, frequency of riffles, bank stability, vegetative protection, riparian vegetative zone width

14 Physical Characterization ti Adapted from Rapid Bioassessment Protocols for Use in Streams and Wadeable Rivers (2nd ed.) Weather conditions Morphology types Habitat types LWD cobble, snags, vegetated Aquatic vegetation banks, sand, submerged macrophytes, other Turbidity Surrounding landuse Stream width NPS pollution Average thalweg depth Erosion Velocity Canopy cover

15 Water Chemistry Temperature Conductivity ph TDS DO Iron Sulfate Nitrate Phosphate Multi-Meter--HI Ion Specific Meter--HI Hach hot kit Hanna Sulfate Test Kit (modified Barium Sulfate Turbidimetric method) LaMotte hot kits

16 Macroinvertebrate t Sampling D-frame Kick Net Multihabitat Approach EPA Rapid Bioassessment Protocols Modification 5 kicks/jabs instead of 20 Kicks/jabs taken in proportion to the percentages of each habitat type Sample mixed into one homogeneous sample Stored in 70% isopropyl alcohol Entire sample sorted in lab Organisms identified to genus (when possible)

17 Macroinvertebrate Sampling

18 Macroinvertebrate t Data Analysis PA DEP IBI Modified Beck s EPT Species Richness Shannon Weiner Diversity Index Hilsenhoff Biotic Index % intolerant taxa

19 Fish Sampling PA FBC Protocols 200 m reach Single pass electrofishing Collect all fishes Field id for most fishes; questionable specimens preserved and identified in lab

20 Fish Sampling Sites 18 sites 12 main stem 6 major tribs

21 Electrofishing Crew Left to right: Eric Null (SCD), Amanda Deal (SCD), Gary Smith (Management Area 4 Habitat Biologist, FBC), Bob Ventorini (Fisheries Biologist, FBC), John Trilli (FBC)

22 Initial Findings

23 Physical Habitat Scores Ranged (200 max) Avg 134 Highest scores in middle reaches Lowest scores in headwaters and near mouth

24 Stonycreek at Yonai Bridge Habitat Score 70

25 Clear Shade Creek Habitat Score 194

26 Field Water Chemistry Temperature Ranged o C (55-73 o F) Conductivity Ranged μS DO Ranged >10-5mg/L ph Ranged 9-3 TDS Ranged ppm Fe Ranged 0-6mg/L Nitratet Ranged 0-13ppm Phosphate Ranged 0-2ppm Sulfate Ranged >100-0mg/L

27 Water Chemistry Highlights ht Low phosphtes and nitrates throughout Nitrate spikes in headwaters South Fork Bens Creek C d ti it Conductivity 43μS 1.5mi 1322μS

28 Macroinvertebrate t Summary 2,034 organisms picked and identified 15 orders 57 families 91 genera

29 pp. Trichopter era Non on-insecta Spp Plecopter era Macro Distributions ib ti Number of Organismss Coleopter era Dipter era Ephemeropter era Megalopter era Odonat ata

30 Benthic IBI Scores

31 Paint Creek Below Paint Creek no macros were found.

32 Beaverdam Creek High IBI Score (76.2)

33 Fish Highlights ht 6,184 fish captured and identified 30 total species

34 Fish Highlights Greatest richness at Turkeyfoot Bridge in Kantner (19 species) Most fish collected at Bens Creek (929) Fewest fish (41) & lowest richness (6 spp) at Quemahoning Creek below Hoffman Run

35 Fish Highlights ht Caught more fish at 7 of 8 sites previously sampled Greater richness at 8 of 8 sites previously Greater richness at 8 of 8 sites previously sampled

36 Site #4 Krings Bridge

37 Site #4 Krings Bridge 15 Sept Creek Chub 1 Yellow Perch 2 spp; 5 total 12 July Banded Darter 143 Blacknose Dace 1 Blackside Darter 12 Bluntnose Minnow 15 Central Stoneroller 13 Creek Chub 2 Johnny Darter 14 Longnose Dace 1 Mimic Shiner 2 Mottled Sculpin 1 Northern Hogsucker 4 Rock Bass 124 White Sucker 1 Yellow Perch 1 Yellow Perch 14 spp; 334 total

38 Site #6 Carpenters Park

39 Site #6 Carpenters Park 15 Sept July Brown Trout 3 Central Stoneroller 7 Creek Chub 1 Northern Hog Sucker 1 Pumpkinseed 13 White Sucker 6 spp; 27 total 1Bl Blacknose Dace 2 Blackside Darter 1 Bluntnose Minnow 12 Creek Chub 13 Mimic shiner 1 Pumpkinseed 8 Rock Bass 3 Smallmouth Bass 34 White Sucker 1 Yellow Perch 10 spp; 76 total

40 Blacknose Dace Over 1,100 Blacknose Dace were collected in the survey, representing the most abundant fish species in the watershed.

41 Mottled Sculpin Second most abundant species collected in the survey (>900 collected)

42 Common small fishes. Left to right: Bluntnose Minnow, Johnny Darter, Fantail Darter.

43 Largemouth Bass Smallmouth Bass

44 Rock Bass Smallmouth Bass

45 Brown Trout Girl

46 Trout Over 1,000 trout were collected in the survey.

47 Fallfish Previously, Fallfish were not thought to occur in the Previously, Fallfish were not thought to occur in the Stonycreek River watershed, but in the current study 47 were collected.

48 Snapping Turtle

49 Penguin

50 Next steps Data processing, compilation, evaluation Full report Executive summary Identify specific locations where further remediation projects are needed Provide results to partners for support of additional projects

51 Restoring the resource

52 Acknowledgements Funding provided by Cooperating Agencies