NAWQA National Leadership Team July 22, 2004

1. The Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research Initiative (CEMRI)A Pilot in the Delaware River Basin NAWQA National Leadership Team July 22, 2004

2. Charge given to the CENR environmental monitoring team, July 1996: “To develop a national framework for integration and coordination of environmental monitoring and related research through collaboration and building upon existing networks and programs.”

3. History of USGS Role in CEMRI 1996-98: 4 CENR committees for monitoring: • OSTP/CENR Environmental Monitoring Team Goal: A Framework for Integrating the Nation’s Environmental Monitoring and Research programs: Published Report on Framework concept– over 100 reviewers Regional Workshop – College Park, Md. National symposium– Smithsonian

4. History of USGS Role in CEMRI 1997-99: 3 Follow-up committees: • Multi-Agency Blueprint for Integrated Monitoring in the Mid-Atlantic: Multi-agency meetings, final report • Nitrogen Enrichment Case Study for Demonstrating the Value of Index Sites: Co-Chair of symposium and Editor/Author of 140-page scientific report to OSTP (26 contributing scientists) • Technical Design Team for the Mid-Atlantic Pilot: Chaired multiple meetings and wrote final plan.

5. Why the Delaware Basin? • Large watershed as an organizing framework • Single major river entering estuary • Several forest issues (acid rain, fragmentation, pests, carbon storage) • Wide range of forest types • Organized, concerned stakeholders (NPS, DRBC, NYCDEP) • Significant monitoring infrastructure in place Delaware Bay Mid-Atlantic from SeaWiFS Satellite

6. Richard Birdsey Paul Dunn John Hom Yude Pan Rachel Riemann Michael Hoppus Kevin McCullough Ken Stolte Dave Williams Mike Montgomery Rakesh Minocha Walter Shortle Peter Murdoch Jeff Fischer Karen Murray Dalia Varanka Zhi-Liang Zhu Jeff Eidenshink Greg Lawrence Jason Siemion Jennifer Jenkins (U. of Vermont) Richard Evans (National Park Service) Alan Ambler (NPS) The Delaware River BasinCollaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research Initiative (CEMRI) USDA Forest Service USDI Geological Survey Other Investigators

7. Multi-tier Monitoring DesignScale-appropriate monitoring linked through common indicators • Tier One – Remote Sensing and Mapping • Wall-to-wall coverage; stratification • Tier Two – Extensive Inventories and Surveys • Representative regional statistical sample • Tier Three – Condition Sample • Gradient studies: representative of specified condition classes • Tier Four –Intensive Areas • Relatively small number of specific sites representing important processes Increasing spatial resolution Increasing temporal resolution

8. Delaware Basin ISM Watersheds Built on NAWQA, District, and Park Service infrastructure and program

9. Overview of Delaware River Basin Pilot Monitoring Program • Multi-agency effort to develop an environmental monitoring framework • USGS, FS, NPS, NASA, State and local partners • Integrated application of monitoring technology at multiple scales • Goal: Capability to address multiple issues • Pilot designed to address specific issues: • Forest fragmentation (urbanization) • Calcium Depletion and Nitrogen Deposition • Linking Terrestrial and Aquatic Carbon Budgets • Effects and Controls of Non-native Invasive Pests • Linkage of terrestrial (FS) and aquatic (GS) models

10. Assessing Regional N-Saturation and Soil Calcium Depletion Through The Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research Initiative (CEMRI) NAWQA National Leadership Team July 22, 2004

11. Foundation Programs • USFS Techn. Devel. Group and Research Lab (Hyperspectral/Aerial Photo Interp.) Tier 1 • USFS Forest Inventory & Analysis Prog (FIA) Tier 2 • EPA-EMAP and USGS designed stream surveys Tier 2 • USGS/New York City Department Of Environmental Protection QW Monitoring Tier 3 • USGS- NAWQA Tier 3 • USGS District COOP/Basic Data Programs (Research and gaging) Tier 4 (also 2,3) • Forest Service Research Lab- Durham, NH Tier 4 • Pennsylvania State University(NTN Research) Tier 1 • USGS Hydrologic Benchmark Network Tier 4

12. Ca Depletion/N-Saturation Intensification Study: Tier 4 at the Neversink River Watershed in the Delaware River Basin • Nested USGS streamgages • Collaborative research areas • Intensified FHM grid throughout the watershed • Soil and forest research plots (birch and sugar maple) • Manipulation watershed

13. Delaware River Basin: Frost Valley, NY 2000 Tier 4 Research plot results: soil and foliar calcium decreased from valley to ridge Minocha, USFS

14. Delaware River Basin: Frost Valley, NY 2000 Tree stress increased from valley to ridge Minocha, USFS

15. Tier 4:Stream Ca Response to Clearcutting Large nitrogen and calcium release despite very low calcium pools in soil

16. Tier 4 –USGS Stream Gages in the Neversink River Intensive Area Biscuit Brook Gage Neversink River at Claryville HBN Gaging Station

17. Intensive Stream Monitoring: Decline in calcium + magnesium concentrations (in microequivalents per liter) in streamwater of the Neversink River, 1952-2002

18. Annual estimated concentrations at high, medium and low flow based on C-Q relations • ANC increases to flat • SO4 decreases to flat, increasing at high Q • Ca-Mg decreases to flat, increases at all Q • Nitrate crashes in ’91 • CaMg and NO3 convergence

19. Research Site Results • Low calcium in soils and foliage is correlated with indicators of tree stress and dieback. • Forest harvesting can release large amounts of Ca from even Ca-poor soils • Long-term trends indicate a decline in stream Ca concentrations since the 1970s • Stream acidification is correlated with low Ca concentrations in forest soils

20. Regional gradient study of stream and foliar Calcium concentration R2 = 0.42 R2 = 0.33 Tier 3: Regional gradient studies Is regional foliar or soil chemistry correlated with stream chemistry? NY Watersheds NH Watersheds Hallet, USFS

21. Are regional foliar or soil chemistry correlated with stream chemistry? Yes Bs Horizon Lawrence, USGS

22. Ca Depletion Intensification Study (Tier 2) at the Neversink River Watershed in the Delaware River Basin • FHM Intensified Grid • Clustered in Biscuit and Winisook • Co-located 1st order stream • 3-yr remeasure • Soil and Foliar chemistry • Sub- and whole-basin average cond.

23. Tier 2 – USFS FIA and FHM Plots measured with a 5-year panel system to characterize forests of the Delaware River Basin. Added 3 soil samples at 3 depths to each forested plot, + stream survey.

24. NYC water supply Tier 2: Nitrogen Deposition to the Delaware River Basin Fixed stations used to draw regional maps of N deposition (topo. model). Highest deposition in the eastern Catskills and western Poconos. (Lynch, 2002, written com.) (Note Del valley green)

25. Tier 2: Soil Ca Map • Soil calcium is lowest in areas with highest nitrogen deposition • Patterns emerging: reflect bedrock, glacial history, and deposition patterns <0.1

26. Stream Calcium Calcium concentrations in stream water from 1st-order streams during two high-flow surveys, Delaware River Basin

27. Stream pH Tier 2 stream survey: Stream acidification is greatest in the same sub-region where low soil calcium has been mapped.

28. The NASA Airborne Visible-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS ) • Flown on a NASA ER-2 aircraft at an altitude of 20km • Measures 224 contiguous spectral bands from 400-2400nm • Spectral Resolution = 10nm • Spatial Resolution = 20m Tier 4: AVIRIS Airborne Visible/InfraRedImaging Spectrometer The resulting 224 band layer image is known as an “image cube”. When the data from each band is plotted on a graph, it yields a spectrum. Hallet, USFS

29. Low High 10 km Calibration Plots Predicted Foliar Ca for the WMNF Legend Calcium Level Hallet, USFS

30. Data integration through modeling Pan and others, in process

31. Leveled N-dep model matches current soil Ca and stream pH map for Del basin.

32. Integrated Regional Assessment of Disturbance Effects on Vegetation, Soil, and Water in Forested Landscapes Forest Soil FIA, FHM, NPS, Research, Remote sensing FIA/FHM- USGS Soil surveys, Research Air Climate Research, NADP Water NAWQA, WRD District QW Survey, Research

33. Summary • Leveraging existing programs works, but takes effort. • Modeling of regional critical loads in a way that incorporates important process understanding and mitigating controls is possible through a careful, multi-scale design. • Integrated studies provide “cover” for small programs from the budget-cutting process

35. PnET Model • Model concepts • Process-based, mechanistic models. • Simulate carbon, nitrogen and water cycles, pools and fluxes based on mass-balance. (also calcium) • We can more successfully predict the variables in terrestrial ecosystems if we model the basic processes controlling them. • Methodology differs from classic statistical based empirical relationships. • Feedbacks and constraints on fluxes and pools affect the ecosystem as a whole. Yude Pan, USFS

36. AVIRIS Imagery of the Catskill Mountain Region Neversink River Basin Hallet, USFS

37. Scientific issues  How does the increased atmospheric N deposition interact with other stressors to affect forest carbon sequestration in the Delaware River Basin? • What is the potential capacity of the forests retaining the atmospheric N deposition and how much of nitrate is lost annually from forests to surface water in the Delaware River Basin? • How will N-leaching affect Ca- availability in soils?

38. History of USGS Role in CEMRI 2001-04: • Summer 2001: Re-focused CEMRI away from testing multi-agency, long-term integration strategies to producing discrete scientific products for publication. • Fall 2003: NAWQA funding ends, USFS and USGS/NPS field work continues. • Spring-Summer 2004: Presentations to 1st-Fed. Watersheds Conf., FIA, FHM, NWQMC, USGS-NLT • Fall 2004: Papers completed or in process. Project shutting down.

39. Ca+Mg Trends by SLRA Neversink River 1965-2002