Session 1: Water Resource Assessments
* Presenters are indicated in bold font.
All Day Session – Fort Western Room (North Wing, 1st floor)
Moderators: Tom Danielson, Maine Department of Environmental Protection; Jeanne DiFranco, Maine Department of Environmental Protection
Maine is fortunate to have many high-quality streams, rivers, wetlands, and lakes. These water resources provide many ecological functions and are rich with biodiversity, supporting more than 40 species of fish, 1,500 kinds of aquatic macroinvertebrates, and 2,100 varieties of algae statewide. Wetlands alone comprise roughly a quarter of the state’s total area. In addition, streams, rivers, and wetlands are the lifeblood of Maine’s lakes and estuaries. Some water resources have been degraded, however, by pollution, habitat alteration, and other ecological stressors. This session will focus on efforts to assess the condition of our water resources.
Morning Session (8:30AM – 10:30AM)
8:30AM – 8:55AM
Assessing Dissolved Organic Carbon Trends in Maine Lakes
Amanda Gavin (student)1, Sarah Nelson1,2, Ivan Fernandez2,3, Jasmine Saros3,4, Amanda Klemmer1,3, Kristen Strock5, William McDowell6
1 University of Maine, Ecology and Environmental Sciences
2 University of Maine, School of Forest Resources
3 University of Maine, Climate Change Institute
4 University of Maine, School of Biology and Ecology
5 Dickinson College, Environmental Science Department
6 University of New Hampshire, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is a suite of carbon-containing molecules that occur naturally in lakes from both in-lake processes or transportation of organic material from the watershed. Terrestrially-derived DOC concentrations have increased in lakes across North America and Europe over recent decades. These trends have been attributed to recovery from acidification and an increasingly warmer and wetter climate. Increases in DOC concentrations are often referred to as “brownification”, describing the yellow-brown color that dissolved humic matter imparts to the darker staining of DOC-rich waters. The US Environmental Protection Agency created a Long-Term Monitoring program to study the effects of a congressionally mandated decrease in sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and subsequent reductions in sulfate (SO42-) deposition on lakes. Data from this monitoring program were used to analyze the fall DOC trends in two distinct lake populations in Maine, 29 high elevation and 16 low elevation lakes, over the last 30 years. All 29 high elevation lakes exhibited positive trends in DOC, and 19 of 29 lakes (65%) had significant increases in DOC throughout the study period. DOC trends were more variable in lower elevation than high elevation lakes, where trends in 16 lakes were increasing in seven (44%), decreased in two (12%), and unchanged in seven (44%). The darkening of water caused by increasing DOC concentrations has implications for water clarity, water temperature, lake stratification dynamics, carbon cycling, and nutrient and light availability for aquatic organisms, as well as interpreting and assessing trends in acidity across Maine lakes.
9:00AM – 9:25AM
Biological Assessments of Maine’s Streams and Rivers
Tom Danielson and Leon Tsomides
Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME
We are fortunate in Maine that most of our streams and rivers are healthy and have good water quality. To keep our streams and rivers healthy, Maine has water quality standards with four water quality classes, including AA, A, B, and C. The water quality standards include environmental goals and permittable uses for each class. The water quality standards also define criteria, which are used to determine if the goals are being attained. There are criteria for habitat, dissolved oxygen, bacteria, and aquatic life. The classes have different expectations for aquatic life communities. DEP biologists collect samples of algae and macroinvertebrates from streams to find out if they attain their water quality goals. Macroinvertebrates are animals without backbones that can be seen without magnification. Common macroinvertebrates in Maine streams include mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, dragonflies, crayfish, and snails. After collecting samples, DEP biologists use statistical models to compute the probability of a stream attaining aquatic life criteria of Classes AA, A, B, and C. There are separate models for algae and macroinvertebrates. The models are based on community metrics, such as the number of different kinds of mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies. If a stream does not attain its goal, then DEP tries to figure out why. DEP biologists are developing diagnostic metrics to help determine the potential causes of impairment. When complete, the diagnostic metrics could help DEP and its partners more effectively target resources for restoring streams and rivers.
9:30AM – 9:55AM
Biological Assessments of Maine Wetlands
Jeanne DiFranco, Beth Connors, Tom Danielson, Leon Tsomides
Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME
Maine’s landscape is enhanced by abundant wetland resources that benefit people, wildlife and water quality in many ways. DEP Biological Monitoring Program biologists assess the health of wetlands associated with rivers, streams, lakes and ponds by sampling aquatic macroinvertebrates and algae. We currently focus on shallow wetlands having emergent, floating and/or submerged plant communities. Wetland monitoring is coordinated with river and stream monitoring statewide using a 5-year rotating basin approach. Once samples are processed and identified, we use statistical models to help determine if aquatic communities meet biological criteria for their legislatively-assigned water quality class under Maine water quality standards. In addition to macroinvertebrates and algae, we collect water samples for chemical analyses and document plants, habitat characteristics, land use, and environmental stressors in the wetland and surrounding watershed. If a wetland does not meet appropriate criteria, this additional information helps us diagnose what may be causing the problem and make recommendations to improve water quality and biological integrity. Monitoring and assessment results are used to inform a variety of resource management activities and regulatory programs. We tested biological monitoring protocols to evaluate the success of wetland compensatory mitigation projects (i.e. projects required to compensate for permitted wetland alterations under Maine’s Natural Resources Protection Act). We are also beginning to develop standardized protocols to monitor wetland plant communities, which will improve our ability to assess different wetland types, including forested wetlands.
10:00AM – 10:25AM
Cancelled due to illness.
Afternoon Session (1:30PM – 4:00PM)
1:30PM – 1:55PM
Integrating collaborative biological monitoring in the Acadia National Park Water Resources Program
Bill Gawley1, Shannon Wiggin1, Leon Tsomides2
1 Acadia National Park, Bar Harbor, ME
2 Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME
In times of dwindling budgets and human resources, the joint utilization of a credible long term program can mutually benefit collaborators in cost sharing, data, and analytical products. Biologists from Acadia National Park (ANP) and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) have been working together since 1997 to provide biological information about park stream systems using the benthic macroinvertebrate community. Park personnel conduct all field operations and sample collection utilizing MDEP monitoring protocols, and MDEP staff coordinates sample sorting, taxonomy and data analysis. Annual results for each stream are summarized in MDEP’s Aquatic Life Classification Attainment Reports, which evaluate the biological community to determine the health of the waterbody and attainment status.
Twenty years of monitoring has contributed 243 species to the ANP reference collection as of 2017, and assessments of potential biological and water quality impacts from a variety of stressors in selected park streams. This was the only stream-based component of the ANP water monitoring program until physical and chemical water monitoring began in 2006. With these complementary datasets, park staff are now investigating how changes in water quality, quantity, and weather/climate may be affecting the biotic community. This partnership helps MDEP to continue to refine their decision model to better reflect the range of conditions that are found in smaller more ephemeral streams around the state, and allows comparison of the relatively pristine streams at ANP with other state waters. Opportunities exist to expand this collaboration with other segments of the MDEP Biomonitoring Program.
2:00PM – 2:25PM
Biological Assessment Model for Wetland Algae
Tom Danielson, Jeanne DiFranco, Beth Connors, Leon Tsomide
Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Augusta, ME
The purpose of the project was to build a model based on wetland algae to predict the attainment of biological criteria of water quality classes (Classes A, B, and C). Jeanne DiFranco and Beth Connors led the project and sampled 203 emergent wetlands associated with lakes, ponds, and low gradient streams. Algae were collected from underwater plant stems from several locations within a wetland and combined into a composite sample. The algae were identified to the lowest practical level, which was typically species for diatoms and species or genus for “soft algae” (e.g., cyanobacteria, red algae, green algae). We computed a variety of metrics and interpreted a Biological Condition Gradient for epiphytic algae to assign samples to Class A, Class B, Class C, or non-attainment. We used 163 samples to build a linear discriminant model to replicate classes assigned by biologists to the samples. We reserved 40 samples to validate models. The selected model had six variables and correctly classified 95% of samples in the training set and 85% of samples in validation set. Biologists can apply the model to new samples to determine if wetlands attain biological criteria.
2:30PM – 3:00PM – Afternoon Break
3:00PM – 3:25PM
Geomorphic assessment methods for rivers and streams
John J. Field
Field Geology Services, Farmington, ME
Several geomorphic assessment methods are available for assessing the condition of rivers and streams, including the Rosgen approach, the Vermont Geomorphic Assessment protocols, and Maine’s Rapid Geomorphic Assessment method. While each approach has its benefits and drawbacks, no single method is suited for all geomorphic settings, watershed sizes, and land use conditions encountered in Maine. Ideally, each assessment should be tailor-made for the particular project but certain assessment techniques are ultimately incorporated into all assessments such as the analysis of historical topographic maps and aerial photographs, the mapping of channel and bank features, and topographic surveying. Together, the information gleaned from these techniques can be used to identify the underlying causes of channel instabilities and develop sustainable restoration strategies whether in urban or rural environments, on large or small streams, or mountainous or coastal environments.
3:30PM – 4:00PM
Panel Discussion – Ecological connections of different waterbody types (e.g., lakes, rivers, wetlands) and implications to assessments
Participants: Amanda Gavin, Bill Gawley, Tom Danielson, Jeanne DiFranco