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Peter K. Weiskel U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the

Recent research underlying Massachusetts water policy development: Water Indicators and Fish & Habitat Studies. Peter K. Weiskel U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection

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Peter K. Weiskel U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the

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  1. Recent research underlying Massachusettswater policy development:Water Indicators and Fish & Habitat Studies Peter K. Weiskel U.S. Geological Surveyin cooperation with the Massachusetts Dept. of Conservation and Recreation Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection Massachusetts Dept. of Fish & Game. Massachusetts Rivers AllianceSeptember 29, 2010

  2. USGS projects being used for development of a new flow policy in MA 1. Archfield, and others, 2010, The Massachusetts Sustainable-Yield Estimator – a decision-support tool to assess water availability at ungaged stream locations in Massachusetts: USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5227, 41 p. 2. Weiskel and others, 2010, Indicators of streamflow alteration, habitat fragmentation, impervious cover, and water quality for Massachusetts stream basins: USGSScientific Investigations Report 2009–5272, 79 p 3. Armstrong and others, Preliminary Assessment of Factors Influencing Riverine Fish Communities in Massachusetts, USGSOpen-File Report 2010–1139. (I’ll focus on #2 and #3 in this talk)

  3. Objectives of Studies • Develop, quantify, and map statewide indicators of streamflow alteration, impervious cover, and habitat fragmentation for MA, associated with: • Reported withdrawals and discharges (2000-2004) • Impervious cover • Impoundments/dams • Effects of private domestic wells and septic systems • Assess relations among natural basin characteristics, human driver variables and fish community composition for 1,395 subbasins statewide.

  4. Percent flow alteration, median August(no surface-reservoir withdrawals) Draft

  5. Potential flow alteration, median August (no res. withdrawals)

  6. Long-term relative net demand (annual, with reservoir withdrawals)

  7. Water-use regimes of Massachusetts(long-term average, including reservoir withdrawals) 1,395 subbasins

  8. Percent Impervious Cover • Affects stream-flow regimes and water quality, which in turn affect fish community composition and health. Basin IC is a useful surrogate for urban land use. • Recent studies have shown relations between IC and fish communities in selected basins of Eastern MA. (USGS-DCR-DEP-DFG Fish & Habitat Study). • Detailed MassGIS datalayers (down to 1 m resolution) are now available for statewide mapping of TIC.

  9. Percent Impervious Cover(Cumulative)

  10. Indicators: Major Findings Majority (66%) of MA subbasins have <10% alteration of streamflow in August (not including SW reservoir effects); 12% of subbasins have >40% alteration of August flow, mostly in outer Metro Boston. Septic systems likely enhance summer low streamflows leading to modest streamflow surcharging in unsewered basins with imported public water supplies.

  11. Major Findings (cont.) Dam density is greatest in Worcester County and parts of SE Mass. Statewide average is 1 dam/6.7 stream miles, over the 11,740 stream miles of the State. 33% of Mass. subbasins have impervious cover < 4%; 18% of subbasins have IC >16%; in the remaining half of subbasins, 4% < IC < 16%.

  12. Technical Review September, 2010 Streamflow and Habitat Factors Influencing Riverine Fish Communities in Massachusetts Flow Alteration Impervious Cover

  13. Project objective: Determine the response of stream fish communities in Massachusetts to flow alteration and other measures of anthropogenic stress, such as impervious cover, relative to the effects of environmental characteristics.

  14. Opportunity: new data and new tools made this project possible FISH DATA AND HABITAT-USE METRICS STREAMFLOW AND WATER USE DATA MDFW Fish Database Target Fish Community Sustainable Yield Estimator (SYE) FLOW ALTERATION GIS COVERAGESAND TOOLS MA Water Indicators MassGIS, NLCD Streamstats New ArcHydro Tools

  15. Major Issue: Fish respond to multiple factors Fish are good indicators: Factors that shape fish community structure have been well documented and include natural basin characteristics and anthropogenic factors Fish are difficult indicators:– how do you discern the effects of each driver variable? Drainage area Connectivity Slope Habitat Ground-water withdrawals Impervious cover Withdrawals Wastewater Water quality Toxins Impoundment Habitat loss Hydropower

  16. Major Issue: Correlation is not causation Many factors that shape fish community structure are correlated Natural basin characteristics Elevation, slope Sand gravel Anthropogenic characteristics Impervious cover Dams

  17. The study used 756 fish sampling sites

  18. Fish were classified by use of HABITAT- USE CLASSIFICATIONS (HUCs) • Fluvial Specialists (FS) - require flowing water for all portions of their life cycle Blacknose dace brook trout fallfish • Fluvial Dependents (FD) -need flowing water for some portion of their life cycle white sucker common shiner • Macrohabitat Generalists (MG)- Don’t require flowing water largemouth bass pickerel pumpkinseed Brook trout Fallfish White sucker White sucker Largemouth bass

  19. Flow alteration for the 756 fish-sampling sites

  20. Impervious cover for the 756 fish-sampling sites

  21. Two analytical tools were applied Quantile Regression Generalized linear modeling

  22. Quantile regression – flow depleted sites

  23. Quantile regression – flow surcharged sites

  24. Quantile regression – impervious cover

  25. GLM equations Three GLM equations were developed 1. Fluvial fish species richness 2. Fluvial fish relative abundance 3. Brook trout relative abundance

  26. GLM – 3 equations were developed 1. Fluvial fish richness

  27. GLM – Fluvial fish richness contin…

  28. GLM – Fluvial fish relative abundance

  29. GLM – Fluvial fish relative abundance, contin…

  30. GLM – Fluvial fish relative abundance contin…

  31. GLM – Fluvial fish relative abundance contin…

  32. GLM – Fluvial fish relative abundance contin…

  33. GLM – Brook trout relative abundance

  34. GLM – Brook trout relative abundance, contin…

  35. GLM – Brook trout relative abundance

  36. GLM – Flow alteration vs Impervious cover The GLMs indicated that • A unit increase in August flow alteration for net depleted or net surchargedstreams is associated with a 0.4% decrease in fluvial fish • Relative abundance of fluvial fish was expected to be about 55 percent lower in net-depleted streams than in net-surcharged streamsdensity. • A unit increase in percent impervious surface is associated with a 5.5% decrease in fluvial density and a 2.5 % decrease in fluvial fish richness The brook trout relative-abundance equation indicated that an increase in impervious cover decreases the probability of brook trout presence in a stream. Brook trout relative abundance does not initially decline as quickly (in response to increased impervious cover) in basins with a high percent area of sand and gravel as it does in basins with a low percent area of sand and gravel,indicating the importance of maintaining groundwater discharge to support cold-water fish communities in streams in developing areas.

  37. Products Weiskel and others, 2010, Indicators of streamflow alteration, habitat fragmentation, impervious cover, and water quality for Massachusetts stream basins: USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2009–5272. On-line at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2009/5272/ Armstrong, D.S., Richards, T.A., and Brandt, S.L., 2010, Preliminary assessment of factors influencing riverine fish communities in Massachusetts: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2010–1139, 43 p. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1139/

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