Abstract
This is the full volume of extended abstracts for the 10th Mohawk Watershed Symposium. The meeting continues to serve as a focal point for concerned and invested stakeholders. It helps to keep all involved informed about important issues that affect water quality, recreation opportunities, hazards and other developments in the basin. The flood hazard remains an important issue in the basin, especially for those river-lining communities along the Mohawk and tributaries. Identification of the hazards, monitoring, and solutions to chronically flooded areas are a top priority for many stakeholders. Monitoring physical parameters in the River by HRECOS, the USGS Ice Jam monitoring system, and others play an important role in understanding and modelling physical aspects of the river. Modelling is becoming important as we try to understand floods, flooding, and associated hazards. The Northeast and NY State had a major ice jam problem this winter. The lower Mohawk River was affected by an historic ice jam and ice jam flooding that occupied considerable time and resources for emergency management. A mid-winter jam formed in mid January, and subsequent thaw in late January release upstream ice and lengthened it to 17 miles. A thaw in late February resulted in high water, flooding, and release of the ice. Once again, the lower parts of the historic Stockade district were flooded, and the event triggered new calls for ways to address this chronic problem. This event solidified monitoring and assessment efforts by the local county emergency management (mainly Albany, Schenectady, and Montgomery), the USGS, NOAA/NWS, FEMA, and academia. Water quality remains a central issue in the Watershed. USGS and NYSDEC have been working to develop a Water quality Model for the Mohawk, which will be presented at the meeting. A critical component of understanding water quality is data from hundreds of measurements across the watershed. Researchers from SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, Union, Cornell, the Schoharie River Center, and Riverkeeper have had a busy year collecting and analyzing samples that address water quality issues in the main stem of the Mohawk, and in tributaries by making measurements. These critical measurements include quantifying the distribution, source, and fate of environmental contaminants including fecal bacterial, microplastics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and other compounds that affect water quality. We are seeing new and exciting new research on the identification and quantification of micropollutents, and these new analytical approaches will provide important information on subtle and unrecognized sources of environmental contamination in the basin. The Mohawk River is one of the largest sources of drinking water in the Capital District, and nearly 100,000 people in Colonie and Cohoes. Despite the importance of this critical source, we lack a source water protection program, and Riverkeeper will present ideas and approaches from tributaries in the Hudson that may serve as a model for the Mohawk. Increasingly we look to the river for inspiration, recreation, and this can have a direct impact on community focus and economic development, and we can predict that this river-centric view will increase as water quality improves. As such, we face some issues related to connecting communities to the river, while recognizing that water quality and flooding guide fundamental decisions. Conservation and ecosystem protection remains a central priority to effective watershed management. We are seeing new plans for identification of priority areas, and specific approaches to ecosystem management that directly affects water quality. On to the future. The next generation continues to be very active in the Mohawk and tributaries, and once again we are pleased that so many students can be part of the annual MWS symposium. The Schoharie River Center (SRC) continues to have a focus on water quality assessment, and initiated a new program for microplastic collection and identification. The Fort Plain environmental study team, an SRC partner, continues to focus on community-based science primarily focussed on water quality, and education of high school youth. We are getting a new Action Agenda in the watershed - our guiding blueprint for watershed management - and we need your help. In 2009, the first Mohawk River Basin Action Agenda was developed by the NYSDEC and partners with five main goals that focused on an ecosystem-based approach to watershed management. This guiding document has provided important targets for stakeholders over the last decade. The vision behind the 2018-22 Action Agenda will be presented at this meeting. It will focus on the goal of a swimmable, fishable, resilient Mohawk River watershed that will be addressed through three main objectives: a) improve water quality; b) improve fisheries and habitat; and c) plan for resiliency. There will be a public comment period for this new plan, so you as a stakeholder should take the time to make your voice heard. Ten years of success. Today we celebrate a decade of consecutive meetings that have brought stakeholders together in this Symposium. This year's meeting features 29 presentations to shape the discussion and continue the conversation about issues within the basin. We continue to see new ideas, many of them presented by students from a number of different educational institutions, this growth in student participation is both exciting, and a welcome sign of continued progress. By the end of the day, the Mohawk Watershed Symposium series will have been the forum for 310 talks, posters, and special presentations since inception in 2009
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