melissa reckner, kiski-conemaugh stream team, “state of the kiski-conemaugh river – changes in...
TRANSCRIPT
State of the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin
Preliminary Findings
Melissa Reckner, DirectorEric Null, Aquatic Biologist
The Original
Published in 1999 Spearheaded by KCRBA 120+ recommendations
The Update $60,000 DCNR
Community Conservation Partnerships Program grant Passed through the CCCRA
$15,000 FPW grant
Colcom Foundation DEP Growing Greener Laurel Foundation Norcross Foundation Robert Waters Charitable Trust of the CFA
Volunteers!
2016 National River Hero Award Winner!
John Linkes
Data galore!
In 2015,• 230 Water
Monitoring Sites• 47 fish surveys• 45
macroinvertebrate surveys
• 9 river fish surveys in partnership with Cal U
AMD primary focus
62 treatment systems SRI evaluating
Findings indicate that there are key systems keeping the watershed alive
Many systems are not consistent enough to support sustainable life
Biological Evaluation Systems evaluated by their ability to
support resident, sustainable biological populations
Chemistry must remain good 24/7 to sustain populations
Receiving waters will also be damaged by inconsistent chemistry
Preliminary Results Focus on 13 streams Total treatment costs were assembled from
PA DEP data Biological & chemical data were analyzed More treatment systems results will be in
the final plan
The Thirteen Streams Six streams have been successfully
reclamated Seven streams remain biologically dead $4.6 Million Spent on Successful Systems $4.75 Million Spent on Unsuccessful
Systems
Reasons For System Failure
Under Sized Wrong Location Discharges are too Large and Hot for
the technology that was used
Importance of Functioning Systems
Ralph W. Abele stated, "If the fish can't survive in the water, there are serious problems for man.”
Economic Problems It is our responsibility as stewards of
the watersheds to utilize all available technology and assessment methods to maximize the health of our streams
K-C Plan Update Objectives
Using Chemistry and Biology, design a template for Maximum Efficacy of new treatment system locations
Achieve more reclamated stream miles for available funds
Establish Keystone Systems to focus O&M money
Render solutions based on advancing technology
Hayne
s St.
Moxha
m Kri
ngs
Carpe
nters
Park
Hollsop
ple
Hoover
sville
Kantn
er
Befor
e Bea
verda
m
Befor
e Well
s
Glessne
r
Shanks
ville
Route
310
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
8
12
2
6
12
10
23
6
3
4 4
15 1514
10
15 16
19
11
15
14
17
14
Pre 20012007
Num
ber
of F
ish
Spec
ies
Colle
cted
2015
11
Stonycreek River
Little Conemaugh River
Johnstown Mineral Point Lilly0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2
1
7
3
7
9
Little Conemaugh River Fish Species Collected, 1999 & 2015
1999 2015
Num
ber o
f Fish
Spe
cies 8 Creek Chubs
& 18 White Sucker to 30 Dace & 1 White Sucker
22 Creek Chubs to 357 Individuals (dace, darter, suckers)
Blacklick CreekBlacklick Creek at Campbells Mill
8/24/2011 9/17/2015
Common Name PFBC CalU
Banded Darter 12 Bluegill 10 Bluntnose Minnow 18 Central Stoneroller 5 10 Fantail Darter 4 3 Greenside Darter 13 1 Largemouth Bass 2 Logperch 2 Northern Hogsucker 20 3 Rainbow Darter 24 9 Rock Bass 5 2 Rosyface Shiner 8 Smallmouth Bass 2 TOTAL INDIVIDUALS 101 52 TOTAL SPECIES 9 10
¨ DEP & PFBC have surveyed sites on the mainstem in 2008, 2011, 2015
¨ All sites exhibit pollution impacts on the fish community
¨ Sites showed low diversity and low individuals when compared to healthy warm water fisheries
Loyalhanna Creek
¨ Very healthy, large warm water stream¨ Astounding diversity
Loyalhanna Creek at Route 9821986 2009 2015
Number of Fish Species Recorded
1 23 23
Conemaugh River
White Blairsville Seward4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
8
14
6
13
16
9
Conemaugh River Fish Species Collected, 1997 & 2015
1997 2015
Num
ber o
f Spe
cies
Conemaugh River¨ The station in White had a complete fish community shift from tolerant
to intolerant species¨ Two rare species captured here: Big Eyed Chub and Streamline Chub¨ The station in Seward also had a community shift from tolerant to
mostly intolerant fish species¨ Blairsville had the least community change
Big Eyed Chub
Streamline Chub
Conemaugh River
White Blairsville Seward0
0.050.1
0.150.2
0.250.3
0.350.4
0.45
0.1
0.42
0.07
Jaccard Coefficient of Community Similarity at Conemaugh River sites
Jaccard Coefficient
The closer to 1, the less change has happenedThe closer to 0, the more change has happened
Kiskiminetas River
1980 1990 2000 20150
5
10
15
20
25
30
16 16
28
Kiskiminetas River Fish Species Collected Over Last 35 Years
Num
ber o
f Spe
cies
Other issues
Sedimentation Agricultural run-off Sewage Salts Shale Gas Development Industrial discharges Development Thermal pollution Habitat fragmentation
