Keynote

Water Resource Planning in a Changing World
Richard Vogel, Tufts University Civil and Environmental Engineering

There is an ever increasing body of literature which documents the profound changes in climate, land-use and infrastructure which have occurred during the Anthropocene. There have been many attempts by hydrologists to detect changes in the hydrologic cycle; however, our ability to attribute those changes to particular patterns of climate, land-use, and infrastructure is still in its infancy. Until we are able to fully attribute those changes to their particular root causes, hydrologic modeling and prediction in a changing world will be limited. This talk will review the challenges associated with the detection, attribution and detection of hydrologic changes due to the interactions among climate, land use and infrastructure. Numerous ideas will be advanced for moving forward including: adaptive planning approaches; approaches for including trends in hydrologic frequency analyses; integration of anthropogenic factors into both deterministic and stochastic hydrologic models; and perhaps most importantly, a greater use of ‘systems’ models which enable us to solve numerous problems simultaneously, including all relevant human influences. All of these ideas will be brought together into a cohesive new field termed hydromorphology. The field of hydromorphology deals with scientific, social and engineering challenges related to how humans reshape fresh-water systems through modifications to the landscape, water infrastructure, and climate, and how our reshaped water systems influence life on the planet.


Richard VogelRichard Vogel, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Graduate Program in Water: Systems, Science and Society, Tufts University

Professor Vogel has been at Tufts since 1984. His primary expertise is in the areas of hydrology and water resource engineering with emphasis on hydrologic, hydraulic and statistical methods for analyzing water resource systems. His current research program focuses upon the areas of watershed modeling and management, water quality, regional hydrology, environmental statistics and the new field of hydromorphology. Hydromorphology deals with improving our understanding of how hydrologic systems have evolved due to anthropogenic influences including climate change, water infrastructure and urbanization. His consulting experiences have included: world water resources assessment, reservoir systems analysis, hydropower feasibility analyses, water supply investigations, floodplain delineations, stormwater management modeling, reservoir design, dam safety analyses and ice jam control. He is currently the contributing editor of the ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management. Vogel received his Ph.D. in Water Resource Systems from Cornell University, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from the University of Virginia in Environmental Science and Hydrology and Engineering Science and Systems, respectively.

Presentation Abstracts

Estimation of daily streamflow time series at ungaged basins using the map correlation method
Stacey Archfield and Sara Brandt Levin (Presenter), U.S. Geological Survey

Daily mean streamflow time series are critical to hydrologic assessments, including precipitation-runoff model calibration and the determination of ecological needs for aquatic habitat. Daily streamflow time series is readily available from gaged basins; however, streamflow information is commonly needed at sites for which no measured streamflow information exists. Methods to estimate daily streamflow time series for ungaged sites typically require the use of a reference streamgage, which transfers properties of the streamflow time series at the reference streamgage to the ungaged site. Therefore, the identification and selection of a reference streamgage is one of the central challenges associated with estimation of daily streamflow at ungaged sites. The reference streamgage is traditionally selected by choosing the nearest reference streamgage. A new method--termed the map-correlation method--was developed to select a reference streamgage for ungaged sites. The map correlation method assumes that the correlation between the time series of daily streamflows at the set of references streamgages in the region can be mapped using geostatistics, and that the correlation between the time series of streamflow characteristics at an ungauged basin can be interpolated from the map. This method is an improved selection criterion compared to using distance between the reference and ungauged basin alone.  For selected sites in the eastern United States, testing of the map-correlation method showed that this method substantially improves estimates of daily streamflow time series at ungaged sites compared to the traditional choice of the closest reference streamgage.

Sara Brandt Levin currently works as a Physical Scientist with the U. S. Geological survey MA-RI Water Science Center.  She has earned Masters Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University and in Environmental Management from Duke University.  She also holds a B.A. degree in Music Performance from University of North Carolina. She has worked as a researcher in the Duke Forest-Atmosphere Carbon Transfer and Storage (FACTS-I) facility in Chapel Hill, NC and also as a watershed modeler at the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis, MD.  Sara's recent research includes characterizing water availability in Massachusetts streams and reservoirs and the relationship between human watershed impacts on fish populations.

Findings of the Connecticut River Targeted Watershed Initiative
Christopher Curtis and Anne Capra, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission; Jerry Schoen, UMass Water Resources Research Center; Kimberly Noake MacPhee, Franklin Regional Council of Governments

This session will summarize the work and findings of the Tri-state Connecticut River Watershed Initiative, a $1.4 million EPA-funded project to improve the Connecticut River in Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The panel will focus on four of the eight individual projects undertaken under this grant, notably:

Project findings and outcomes will be summarized, and speakers will describe how lessons learned can be applied to other environmental and water quality problems around the watershed.

Christopher Curtis is Chief Planner and Section Manager for the Land Use and Environmental Section of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. He holds a master’s degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts. He has over 30 years of professional experience in regional planning and has received state and national recognition for his work with expertise in water quality, land use, zoning, growth management, river protection, and natural resources management. Chris is the primary author of numerous land use and environmental plans at the PVPC. He oversaw the development of the national award-winning Valley Vision II: The New Regional Land Use Plan for the Pioneer Valley. He developed the plans for the first National Wild and Scenic River in Massachusetts, the first National Scenic Byway in Massachusetts, and for the New England National Scenic Trail. He has helped secure over $20 million over a 15-year period for the clean-up of water pollution problems on the Connecticut River.

Anne Capra is a Principal Planner at the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission in Springfield, Massachusetts. Ms. Capra‘s work focuses on land use management and environmental protection with an emphasis on water quality restoration and protection. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Ithaca College and a Master’s degree in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design.

Michael P. McCrory is Senior Planner at the Upper Valley Sunapee Regional Planning Commission in New Hampshire. Over the past 14 years Mike has developed expertise in the interrelationship between community planning, land development, and impacts on water resources. Prior experience as a private consultant provided Mike with valuable insight regarding the interactions and relationships between developers and regulators. As Senior Planner at UVLSRPC, he is responsible for a broad range of planning initiatives that affect the region and its constituent towns. Mike focuses on assisting member communities with identifying and implementing appropriate and sustainable land use regulations. He obtained a B.S. in Civil Engineering with a Geography Minor from the University of Colorado in 1997.

Kimberly Noake MacPhee, P.G., is the Land Use and Natural Resources Program Manager for the Franklin Regional Council of Governments in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Ms. MacPhee is a registered Professional Geologist with over 20 years of environmental planning experience. She manages water quality and resource protection projects that include:  developing local wellhead protection plans and regional watershed assessment and protection plans; updating land use regulations for resource protection; and implementing stormwater and other nonpoint source pollution mitigation projects. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geology from Smith College and a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from Boston University.

Jerry Schoen runs the Massachusetts Stormwater Technology Evaluation  Project and the Water Watch Partnership for the University of  Massachusetts’ Water Resources Research Center. Mr. Schoen received  his MS in Resource Management and Administration from Antioch New 
England University in 1991 and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English  from the University of Massachusetts.

Preserving coastal environments: Implications for climate-adaptation planning and policy Madhu Dutta-Koehler, MIT

Almost two billion urban dwellers face escalating risks from the environmental, economic and societal impacts of climate change. Of these climate impacts, those directly related to the water sector, such as floods, tropical storms and erratic rainfall patterns have engendered other cascading events such as water shortage, attenuated agricultural productivity, diminished fishing and aquaculture yields, and the rise of water-borne diseases. Despite the heightened likelihood of such adverse climate impacts, most large cities do not have an explicit climate planning agenda to adapt to these risks. Like many other coastal areas of the world, much of New England, from South Kingstown, Rhode Island to the Gulf of Maine, are already struggling with increasing threats to shorelines, property, public health, and livelihoods.
In analyzing coastal cities’ responses to climate change, through data collected from archival research on existing plans and policies as well as field interviews, the work focuses on two primary research questions. First, in the absence of a climate-adaptation plan, what are the key factors that contribute to the successful implementation of adaptive action? Second, what are the types of planning responses that most directly contribute to effective climate adaptation? To identify these key factors, I examine institutional/organizational behaviors and capacity, relevant policies, and societal and technological drivers that facilitate effective planning and implementation. The working hypothesis for this paper is that, in the absence of an explicit climate plan, environmental risks that have the most immediate and visible impacts (e.g., the decline of coastal wetlands, which in turn increases vulnerability to coastal flooding) receive greater attention, and that these planning actions in turn tangentially address climate adaptation.
This study draws comparatively upon research on adaptation-related efforts undertaken in the water sector in Kolkata, India and Dhaka, Bangladesh, rapidly urbanizing cities with similar planning capacities, growth rates, environmental challenges, and populations (over ten million each). This work specifically focuses on the mangrove and wetlands conservation efforts in these cities because wetlands and mangrove depletion and the resulting impacts, such as increased tropical storm activity and flooding, have led to planning measures directed toward the preservation of these areas.
On a broader level, the identification and systematic examination of the factors that influence climate adaptation planning in Kolkata and Dhaka are of particular interest, since these cases should offer insights and strategies that can be applied to coastal areas, such as New England, that face impending but nonetheless potentially deleterious consequences of climate change. The research identifies key factors for successful climate-change action and thus contributes to an understanding of how to implement nuanced and successful adaptation strategies in the absence of explicit, effective climate-adaptation plans.

Madhu C. Dutta-Koehler is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Urban Planning and Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also an adjunct professor at the Department of City Planning and Urban Affairs at Boston University. Before joining MIT, Madhu has worked professionally for over a decade as an architect and urban planner and was an assistant professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. Some of her most significant works include a city-wide riverfront development project in Varanasi, India, and “Solar Sails”, a renewable energy design for an international competition hosted by the US Department of Energy and the American Institute of Architects, where she won the second prize in 2002. Her current research interests are in areas of green technology, sustainable architecture and climate change adaptation. She was also recently awarded the Martin Fellowship for Sustainability at MIT in support and recognition of her doctoral research on climate adaptation planning for mega-cities of the global south.

Upper/Middle Charles nutrient TMDL – the science behind the TMDL
Kimberly Groff, Rick Dunn, and Elaine Hartman, MassDEP; Nigel Pickering and Kate Bowditch, CRWA; Richard Baker, Numeric Environmental Services, Inc.

The Upper/Middle Charles watershed is 70 miles long, covers 268 square miles in area, touches 33 communities, and ends at the Watertown Dam where it connects with the Lower Charles. Regular occurrences of severe algal blooms (including blue green algae) and aquatic plant growth during the summer months have been observed to reduce water clarity and contribute to low and/or variable dissolved oxygen conditions that do not fully support aquatic life. Water quality data indicate the Upper/Middle Charles River is undergoing cultural eutrophication, which is the process of producing excessive plant life because of pollutant inputs from human activities. Recently, the Lower Charles Nutrient TMDL was completed (US-EPA-2007) and its success in reducing algae in the Lower Charles is inextricably tied to reductions in phosphorus loads from the Upper/Middle Charles River.
This project establishes a nutrient Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for phosphorus and corresponding watershed plans for the Upper/Middle Charles River and assoicated communities. The target phosphorus load for the Upper/Middle Charles River was established based on a two-tiered approach. Load scenarios were first screened to ensure the annual phosphorus load at Watertown Dam outlet met the inlet load specified by the Lower Charles TMDL (15,109 kg/yr at the Watertown Dam). Second load scenarios were screened to ensure the phosphorus loads in the Upper/Middle Charles River achieved instream water quality linked to excess nutrients and algal biomass in the river system during extreme low and high flow conditions.
The results from the scenario evaluation identified that an overall annual reduction in total phosphorus of 50% is required to meet the desired targets. To achieve this annual reduction, this TMDL assigns WLAs requiring a 66% reduction in annual phosphorus load from wastewater discharges and a 51% reduction in annual phosphorus load from stormwater.

Kimberly Groff is the TMDL and Water Quality Standards Section Chief for Mass DEP’s Division of Watershed Management. She holds a Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a M.S. degree in Environmental Science from Drexel University. Prior to joining MassDEP, Kimberly was employed as an engineering consultant at AMEC Earth and Environmental and ENSR (now AECOM). She has nearly 30 years of experience in water quality assessment, monitoring, permitting, analysis and water quality modeling.

Innovative partnerships
Christopher Hatfield, US Army Corps of Engineers

In 2002, The Nature Conservancy and the US Army Corps of Engineers – the largest water manager and hydropower producer in the nation – launched a collaborative effort to find more sustainable ways to harvest good and services from rivers. The Sustainable River’s Partnership (SRP) currently encompasses 36 federal dams in eight river basins across 12 states.
Through the SRP, partners are assembling state-of-the-art research on rivers’ unique flow requirements and then creating dam operating plans that achieve environmental flows – scientific prescriptions for the timing and level of water flow that must occur downstream of dams in order to retrieve and sustain critical ecological functions for habitat and species.
In the case study presented here, we will discuss a partnership that goes beyond the Army Corps and the Conservancy to include a diverse project team that includes federal agencies (US Army Corps and US Geological Survey), an academic institution (University of Massachusetts) and a myriad of stakeholders including state agency partners across a four state area and more than 40 dam owners and operators. The case study will explore the benefits of this partnership approach and provide some recommendations for successful collaboration.

Mr. Hatfield has twenty-two years of project management experience with the Army Corps of Engineers. Prior to joining the Corps, he worked as a construction engineer for a local utility company. He also worked several years in the structural design field. Since 2000, Mr. Hatfield has served as the supervisor of the New England District’s Special Studies Section where he leads a team of project planners/managers in executing the New England District’s Civil Works Program. As a project manager, he has worked in several different areas of the Corps Civil Works Program including flood control, navigation, hydropower, and environmental restoration. As a project manager, he leads interdisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists in developing new projects; from initial reconnaissance, thru feasibility level investigations, to the end of the construction phase. These duties include coordination between project partners and the project team as well as the development of all work plans, schedules, budgets, and decision documents that may be necessary to implement a civil works project. He has been the manager of several congressionally authorized watershed level investigations in recent years. Mr. Hatfield is a licensed professional engineer with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Importance of Organism Movement in Stream Ecosystems
Scott Jackson, UMass Amherst

Animals move through rivers and streams for a variety of reasons. Some are regular daily movements to find food and avoid predators. Some animal movements are seasonal and therefore linked to the reproductive biology of the species. As organisms move through their various life stages, they need access to areas that meet a variety of habitat requirements that may change as the organisms grow and develop. Changes in habitat conditions—such as temperature, water depth, or flow velocity—may require organisms to move to areas with more favorable conditions. In dynamic environments like rivers and streams, the location and quality of habitats are ever-changing.
Survival of individual animals, facilitation of reproduction, and the maintenance of continuous populations (sufficient to prevent genetic differentiation) are important functions of movement at a population level. Extreme events such as short intense storms, floods, and drought may force entire populations to avoid unfavorable conditions by moving. Provided that no barriers prevent the movement of individual animals back into the areas, populations will reoccupy the habitat once conditions have improved. For many small species, especially invertebrates, dispersal of individuals provides a mechanism for colonizing habitat, allowing local populations to come and go as habitat is created or eliminated, while maintaining viable regional populations.
One possible response to climate change is that organisms will shift their distributions to better match their habitat requirements to changing environmental conditions. The potential for more severe storms and for severe storms to occur more frequently suggests that the movement of aquatic and riverine organism will be even more important in the future.
As long linear ecosystems, rivers and streams are particularly vulnerable to fragmentation. There is growing concern about the role of road crossings – and especially culverts – in altering habitats and disrupting river and stream continuity. To address this issue will require more appropriate standards for road-stream crossing structures, different approaches to engineering and construction, field surveys to identify significant barriers to aquatic organism passage, and tools and approaches for setting priorities for culvert upgrade or replacement.Abstract

Scott Jackson is Program Director for UMass Extension’s Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation program and is based in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He has been involved in efforts to develop standards for road-stream crossing structures, survey protocols for assessing crossing structures, and approaches for prioritizing structures for replacement. Scott drafted “Ecological Considerations for Crossing Design,” a chapter in the U.S. Forest Service publication Stream Simulation: An Ecological Approach to Providing Passage for Aquatic Organisms at Road-Stream Crossings.

Blue Roofs for CSO Mitigation
Joseph Jeray, Geosyntec Consultants

A blue roof is a roof system, which is specifically designed to detain stormwater over an extended period of time. Blue roofs represent a cost effective practice for detaining stormwater, which may be used to help reduce Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) especially in highly urban areas where land space is limited. By controlling the rate at which stormwater drains from rooftops, blue roofs can significantly reduce the demand on combined sewers during peak flow periods, thereby limiting the volume of untreated wet weather discharges and mitigating the associated water quality impacts. These systems may be installed in new construction or as retrofits to existing buildings and can significantly reduce the infrastructure costs related to CSO mitigation. At the site level, blue roofs provide substantial benefit by reducing the flow and volume demand for infiltration and water quality best management practices (BMPs).
This presentation will provide a brief overview of the existing methodologies, costs and regulatory drivers associated with the planning and implementation of blue roof systems. The presentation will focus on quantifying the stormwater volume and peak flow reduction benefits of blue roofs at the site and watershed scales. Results from stormwater modeling will be presented to demonstrate the change in the runoff hydrograph for a blue roof as compared to a typical roof surface for various return period storms. Modeling results will be used to estimate potential benefits in terms of cost savings for construction and maintenance of BMPs and increased effectiveness of site-level stormwater controls. These site-level results will then be scaled to assess the feasibility of blue roofs and other de-centralized controls for CSO mitigation.

Mr. Jeray, graduated as one of the top students in the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, he took courses in both the structural and environmental disciplines of Civil Engineering and developed an understanding of engineering principles in the areas of fluid mechanics and hydraulics as well as structural design and analysis of both concrete and steel structures. His coursework involved the use of computer analysis in various engineering applications, and  has developed a proficiency in using SAP2000, MATLAB, the C programming language and Microsoft Excel. Mr. Jeray also participated in undergraduate research involving the development of finite element models of storm surge on the lower Mississippi River in response to various hurricane scenarios. In addition to his educational background, Mr. Jeray has also gained significant experience in stormwater modeling, research and development, data management and statistical analysis while working as an Engineer at Geosyntec Consultants. During his time at Geosyntec, Mr. Jeray  worked on several projects involving the development of hydrologic/hydraulic models for urban and suburban watersheds using EPA SWMM 5.0 software. He has also performed statistical analysis to identify and analyze trends in monitoring data related to stormwater management and site remediation. He has served as a task lead for conducting statistical analysis to assess the performance of over 400 stormwater best management practices (BMPs) included in the International Stormwater BMP Database. Additionally, Mr. Jeray has contributed to the design of several major Green Infrastructure projects, including a pilot study on “blue roofs” for rooftop detention of stormwater and several projects involving advanced rainwater harvesting. Mr. Jeray has also served as the primary author for a chapter on “blue roof” design to be included in a guidance manual on stormwater BMPs in New York City.

Climate Change, fluvial processes, and stream morphology
Beth Lambert, Mass. Division of Ecological Restoration

Watershed hydrology, geology, and vegetation are the major drivers of fluvial processes and stream channel morphology. A stream’s width and depth as well as channel planform and habitat type are a direct result of the interaction of those three master variables. Climate change has the potential to impact both hydrology and vegetation and as a result, channel morphology and aquatic habitat. Current research documents a recent increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme hydrologic events, and this shift is projected to continue. Streams may already be adjusting shape and pattern to changes in the hydrologic regime.

This presentation will explore the possible impacts of climate change on stream morphology, including the following:

Beth Lambert is a River Restoration Scientist with the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. She manages the Division’s River Restoration Program, which is engaged in more than 30 projects across the Commonwealth. Beth has worked on watershed assessment and restoration projects in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and New England.

Sharon, Massachusetts - Water master planning: A new perspective
Blake Martin (Presenter), Weston & Sampson, Inc, Eric Hooper (Presenter), Town of Sharon, Melvin Higgins, Weston & Sampson, Inc.

Currently, much attention is placed on water system planning based on infrastructure maintenance and improvements. In 2008, Sharon, acting through its water department, set out to create a more science driven approach. Attempting to satisfy the criteria for water systems to deliver ample flow and quality for human health and safety (fire protection included), Sharon added sustainability criteria to its master planning. These criteria led to an expansion of the master plan to address water resource management issues more holistically from source to end user. The final master plan sought to identify resource protection and source augmentation needs, demand management and reduction strategies, and watershed opportunities for managed stormwater recharge and wastewater reuse. This last issue was addressed through a GIS-based, town-wide screening of viable recharge sites. The sites were evaluated by creating a series of overlay maps. Using GIS functions or tools, values were assigned with hydrogeologic, ecological and mass balance criteria. This case study describes the GIS-based analysis which will remain a useful working tool and a road map for Sharon’s future water resource management and efforts to achieve appropriate water balance while minimizing water quality effects within each sub-basin.

Blake A. Martin has had a 26-year career that has focused on a wide array of hydrogeologic services. Mr. Martin brings a unique perspective having been involved in technical hydrogeology studies, municipal infrastructure design and planning, and long-term water resource management (monitoring, source protection programs and by-law development). His knowledge of groundwater modeling, source protection measures, town-based political government and practical infrastructure requirements is a unique blend of theoretical hydrogeology to practical, hands-on application.

Eric R. Hooper is the director of Public Works for the Town of Sharon, Massachusetts. Throughout his career, Mr. Hooper has worked on water resource planning projects throughout the Massachusetts. Mr. Hooper is a graduate of Princeton University.

Development of Massachusetts nutrient criteria for freshwaters
Mark Mattson, Mass. Dept of Environmental Protection

The USEPA is requiring states to develop numeric nutrient criteria to replace current narrative criteria. The USEPA recommends that the criteria include two nutrient concentrations (phosphorus and nitrogen) and two biological response criteria (typically algal biomass and measure of turbidity). Because both lakes as well as streams show a wide range in response to nutrients due to the influence of flow, depth and light and other factors, MassDEP is proposing developing numeric criteria for a variety of response variables. Development of nutrient concentrations as standards requires additional study of factors regulating dose/response relationships.

Mark Mattson is an environmental analyst with MassDEP in Worcester, Massachusetts. He obtained his PhD in Ecology at Cornell University in 1989 and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. He worked at the Water Resources Research Center at Umass Amherst on the Acid Rain Monitoring Project until accepting a position at MassDEP in 1998. His interests include biogeochemical cycling and lake management.

Establishing ecological targets for water management
Christian Marks, The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy and partners have identified altered hydrology as a primary threat to the Connecticut River watershed, and are working to restore the river to improve aquatic biodiversity. This goal requires an understanding of (1) sources, types, and degree of flow alteration in the Connecticut River and its tributaries, (2) how flow-dependent species and communities respond to these changes in flow, and (3) how the operations of dams in the basin work together to influence the current hydrologic regime and could be re-operated to provide ecological benefits while maintaining human uses, such as flood control, hydropower, and water supply.  We examined the spatial distribution of hydrologic alteration among the Connecticut River and its 44 major tributaries as a tool for watershed-scale conservation planning and to assist in development of strategies for mitigating threats to aquatic ecosystems in the basin. The most dramatic change in flows across all rivers was the reduction in the frequency of floods and the magnitude of high flows, although some changes to low flows were also observed. These patterns of hydrologic alteration have negative effects on flow-dependent biota, particularly floodplain forests. We are using quantitative information from a multi-year field study of floodplain forests to determine seasonal target river flows to restore these communities. Here, we will present the results from this study. Our partners will use these results to examine the feasibility and cost of implementing these environmental flow targets and to develop a set of flow targets that would satisfy system constraints, provide for human uses of dams, and provide ecological benefits.

Christian Marks is a Floodplain Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy's Connecticut River Program.  For the past three years, Dr. Marks has lead a research effort to quantify ecological thresholds for floodplain forests and incorporate them into a model that makes spatially explicit predictions about the past, present and future of Connecticut River habitats as a function of key drivers of environmental change like climate and dam operation. Dr. Marks obtained his Ph.D. at McGill University in 2005, where he studied the evolution of functional diversity in tree seedlings.

Response of cold water fish to climate change
Keith Nislow, USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station; Benjamin Letcher, USGS-CAFRC

Climate change, via effects on stream temperatures and flow rates, is likely to have a major impact on the distribution and abundance of species inhabiting cold headwater streams. However, without robust data on the relationship between population vital rates (survival, growth, and fecundity) and the environmental factors affected by climate change (flow and temperature) in the context of an integrated population model, it is difficult to make credible predictions of population extinction risk. We used season-specific individual-based data on population vital rates of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), a cold-water obligate species, along with continuous flow and temperature measurements to develop a population model, and used simulations to assess the effects of predicted changes in flow and temperature on population persistence. In spite of a highly conservative approach to climate change simulation (to prevent inappropriate extension beyond the range of parameterization data), we found that altered flow and temperature regimes predicted under climate change scenarios strongly reduced the probability of brook trout persistence over the next 100 years, with changes in temperature having stronger effects than changes in flow regime. Surprisingly, decreases in summer growth rates had the strongest effect on population persistence, while direct effects on survival rates had less of an influence. Overall our results clearly illustrate the risks faced by coldwater stream species in a changing climate, and do so in a way that integrates detailed and well-parameterized relationships between environmental factors and population vital rates.

Keith H. Nislow is a Research Fisheries Biologist and leader of the Wildlife and Fish Team of the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Adjunct Associate Professor, UMASS-Amherst Department of Ecological Conservation in Amherst, MA.

Benjamin H. Letcher is a Research Ecologist and Ecology Section Leader of the USGS Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center in Turners Falls, MA and Adjunct Associate Professor, UMASS-Amherst Department of Ecological Conservation in Amherst, MA.

Climate Change and Stream Crossing Structure Design
David Nyman, Comprehensive Environmental Inc.

Climate change presents challenges for designing bridges and culverts at New England Streams. Traditionally, engineers design these structures for selected flood events, considering hydraulic capacity and scour protection. State and federal regulations now require designers to also consider criteria for the passage of fish and other wildlife. Changing climate may alter stream hydrology and morphology, affecting the design of structures for flood capacity, stability, and habitat continuity.
Changes in precipitation intensity and frequency affect extreme storm flows and also the more frequent, smaller events that shape the region’s streams. Changes in hydrology and morphology, coupled with other stressors associated with climate change, affect existing habitat conditions for species that depend on riparian corridors. It becomes increasingly important that wildlife have the maximum opportunity to adapt to changes in habitat, including the ability to move along stream corridors to find conditions suitable for long-term survival.
Road crossings are frequently barriers to such movement. Recent developments in stream crossing design standards and regulatory requirements focus on providing bridges and culverts that minimize barriers to the movement of fish and other wildlife. Even without considering wildlife passage, design of these structures must account for changing hydrologic events and stream morphology.
The presentation will explore such issues as:

The presenter anticipates an an interactive discussion with conference participants about these issues, and how design of stream crossings can address the uncertainties of climate change, while providing structural and hydraulic integrity and habitat resiliency.

David Nyman, P.E. is a senior civil engineer with Comprehensive Environmental Inc. He has participated in multiple stream restoration design and culvert restoration design projects in the Northeastern U.S. He recently assisted MassDOT’s Highway Division with the development of Design of Bridges and Culverts for Wildlife Passage at Freshwater Streams, a guidance handbook for the design of stream crossing structures to provide for fish and other wildlife passage.

Interactive planning models that translate conflicts into real solutions
Richard Palmer, University of Massachusetts Amherst Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dams, and the waters they store, serve many purposes throughout the U.S. Conflicts over the use of such facilities are well documented in the news. Recent, highly reported battles include conflicts over: hydropower and endangered species in the Pacific Northwest; U.S. and Mexico’s clashes over irrigation water in the both the Colorado and Rio Grande; drinking water, irrigation water and environmental flows in the California; and water wars in the southeast between the states of Georgia, Florida and Alabama. In many of these conflicts computer models have been used to illustrate the potential range of options in managing water resources.
This paper presents the results of a joint effort between the Nature Conservancy, the USGS, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the University of Massachusetts Amherst to create a decision support system to minimize the conflicts that arise in the Connecticut River, identify opportunities to improve the flows in the river system to meet environmental and habitat concerns, maintain existing functions of the river, that include water supply, flood control, and hydropower production, and to engage stakeholders throughout the process. The decision support system combines both a simulation model and an optimization model to identify operational opportunities, test the feasibility of new operating procedures and to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change on the system. There is a significant need for an integrated, decision support system because the Connecticut River flows through four states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire), contains over 70 major dams (and over 1,000 documented dams), and operational changes may impact many users.
This paper begins with a characterization of the Connecticut River and its major facilities. It then describes both the optimization and simulation models created to evaluate the system. The paper presents existing trade-offs between management policies that emphasize specific uses. It concludes with a discussion of the likely impacts of climate change on the system and ways in which the planning models can be used to minimize conflicts within the basin.

Richard Palmer is the Department Head and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. From 1979 to 2008, he was a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. His primary areas of interest are in the application of structured planning approaches to water resources. This includes impacts of climate change on water resources, drought planning, real-time water resource management, and the application of decision support to civil engineering management problems. He helped develop the field of “shared vision modeling” in water resources planning and pioneered the use of “virtual drought exercises.”  Dr. Palmer received his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 1979, his Master's of Science in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University in 1973.

Using scenario exercises to better understand decision maker behavior in the face of climate change
Todd Schenk, MIT

Climate change presents a range of possible futures, which is something decision makers are going to have to deal with. Scenario exercises are run in an attempt to better understand how they might respond. The hypothesis implicit within the way many scenario exercises are structured is that each set of decision makers has a fixed set of interests and historical positions that inform how they will frame and respond to clime change. This paper will use observational data collected while watching an exercise play out, reflections provided by participants during the debrief and a follow-up survey to test this hypothesis.
The scenario exercise studied is being conducted under the guise of the 2010 edition of the World Resources Institute’s World Resources Report, which will focus on how decision makers respond to climate change. Because adaptation planning is nascent, there are very few examples to draw lessons from. The potential impacts of climate change are starting to be explored and understood in a variety of contexts, including water resource management, but so far these new insights are rarely translating into concrete project or even policy-level changes that can be evaluated and learned from. Faced with a dearth of real-world examples to inform the Report, WRI contracted the Consensus Building Institute to prepare and implement a set of scenario exercises with decision makers.
The exercise that will be used for this paper is focusing on hydroelectricity planning and the management of the Volta watershed in Ghana. Ghana is highly dependent upon hydroelectricity and already experienced acute water shortages twice within the last decade. Some assert that changes in the hydrologic cycle are climate change-related and will only get worse. The scenario exercise gets decision makers thinking about how they might respond if new data were to emerge suggesting that climate change may have significant impacts on the river. The new data introduced is still not conclusive, but presents a set of potential hydrologic flow scenarios, with probabilities. The assumption is that participants from the energy sector will want to avoid dealing with climate change, while water and environment sector stakeholders will want to address it. The question is whether these typecasts are indeed accurate.

Todd Schenk is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Policy and Planning group of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the University of Guelph and a Master’s in City Planning degree from MIT. Todd’s work is focused on governance for sustainability in general and climate change adaptation planning more specifically. Todd has worked with the Consensus Building Institute for the past three years on a range of projects in both the climate change and watershed management arenas, and has a range of experience working on projects throughout the world, from South Africa to New England. Todd has published in the areas of collaborative adaptive management and governance for sustainability.

Adapting to land use and climate change identifying risk and costs for culvert infrastructure
Michael Simpson, Antioch University New England, Latham Stack, Syntectic International, LLC, Thomas Crosslin, Climate Techniques LLC, Robert Roseen, Stormwater Center, University of New Hampshire, Derek Sowers, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, Colin Lawson, Antioch University New England

Numerous studies have detected intensification of precipitation events consistent with climate change projections, as reported in the Fourth Assessment of the International Panel on Climate Change (UN-IPCC). This increase in frequency of larger storms must be considered in the context of a concurrent increase in the percentage of imperviousness on the watershed due to development trends. Communities may have a window of opportunity to prepare water resources infrastructures from projected increased run-off and develop policies to mitigate impacts. However, information sufficiently reliable and specific to support local-scale adaptation programs is sparse, this presentation will contribute to the broader understanding of how to maintain resilience on the landscape and prepare for projected change.
Results will be presented from NOAA and US EPA funded research in the upper Ashuelot River, the Oyster River and the upper Sugar River basins of NH. This research utilized geographic information system watershed modeling techniques to examine the hydrologic impact of climate change and land use scenarios on existing culvert infrastructure. Culverts in the watershed were assessed and mapped with a standardized protocol. Field and spatial data is then utilized to create a nested GIS model that calculates current and projected runoff volumes for the 24-hour, 25-year precipitation event. Based on current zoning ordinance regulations, two build-out analyses were developed for the study watersheds. Build-out scenarios were combined with estimated, mid-21st century storm magnitudes based upon downscaled global greenhouse gas emission scenarios. The output of these analyses demonstrates which culverts were at risk for each modeled scenario.
Utilizing the model results, the project team has developed recommendations for culvert improvements based on risk, cost, and infrastructure lifespan considerations. This study demonstrates the implementation of a quantified, local-scale, and actionable protocol for maintaining historical risk levels for communities facing significant impacts from climate change and population growth.

Michael Simpson has graduate degrees from both Dartmouth College and Antioch New England Graduate School and has been actively working and teaching in the watershed management and wetlands research fields for over twenty-five years. Currently, he serves as the Chair of the Environmental Studies Dept., at Antioch New England University, in Keene NH, where he teaches graduate level courses in wetlands ecology, watershed management, environmental site assessment and economic analysis of water resource policy decisions. He is a certified wetlands scientist within the State of New Hampshire. He has conducted numerous wetlands evaluations, employing a variety of assessment methodologies, as well as restoring wetland habitats and designing wetlands for treatment of NPS run-off and point-source wastewater. His primary research focuses upon impact to riparian corridors and estuaries, from changes in land-use combined with increases in storm intensity and frequency due to projected climate change. He also has conducted numerous economic cost/avoided cost analyses related to decisions regarding resource utilization and conservation.He is currently working under three (3) NOAA funded grants that identifies potential risk from projected climate and land-use change and necessarily includes development of effective strategies to both communicate science and risk to stakeholders and to facilitate local adaptation decisions.

Infiltration landscapes along urban streets - a comparative review of aesthetic values and utility objectives
Frank Sleegers, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Infiltration swales and infiltration basins along urban streets have been implemented in the last decade to reduce the impact of runoff from urban streets on urban watersheds. The focus of this study is a comprehensive comparison and evaluation of exemplary linear infiltration landscapes along urban streets as green infrastructure in North America and Germany. The comparison includes an analysis and assessment of aesthetic values and utility objectives with the premise that these built landscapes are neither made for strictly pleasure nor purely technical responses. Urban landscapes are experiences as well as environments, sustaining civilization and culture as much as the bio-physical environment. Four case studies, Hanover - Kronsberg (GER),  Seattle -  Highpoint (WA), Hamburg - Bergedorf (GER), and Portland (OR), 12th street, are presented and compared. They share that they are linear infiltration landscapes along urban streets but also represent different approaches and scales.
The case study specifically investigates and compares five visual aesthetic criteria: unity, diversity, spaciousness, legibility, and naturalness. Four utility objectives for stormwater management design such as conveyance, retention, filtration, and infiltration are investigated to differentiate utility functions.
Aesthetic criteria and utility objectives have been published widely in peer reviewed articles and landmark literature and are the primary source for this investigation. On-site investigation and assessment come along with an interpretation of site plans and sections.
The findings define and evaluate aesthetic qualities for infiltration landscapes along urban streets to shift the current discourse from a mere technical approach to a more encompassing and balanced interdisciplinary one including aesthetics and utility objectives alike.

Frank Sleegers, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Massachusetts, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, M.L.A., University of Massachusetts, 1995 Dipl.–ING, Hanover, Germany, 1996. Frank Sleegers teaches design studios in landscape architecture and urban design at the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, UMass Amherst. Phytoremediation and water infrastructure as a sensual experience and an alternative strategy for urban renewal has become a major focus of his research. His recent research investigates water infiltration landscapes in relationship to both aesthetic values and utility objectives with the premise that these built landscapes are neither made for strictly pleasure nor purely technical responses. Prior to joining LARP in 2006, Frank Sleegers was a lecturer for landscape architecture design at the Department for Urban Planning - HafenCity University Hamburg, Germany from 2002 to 2005.

Improving water-quality in urban watersheds using a high-efficiency street-cleaning program
Jason Sorenson, U.S. Geological Survey

A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for phosphorus has been established by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for the Lower Charles River basin. Municipalities within the basin have been assigned the task of reducing total phosphorus loads. One way to reduce potential sources of phosphorus, such as organic detritus, is to use street cleaning as a means to remove these sources before they become entrained in runoff. However, the effectiveness of street cleaning to reduce urban non-point source phosphorus loads is not well understood. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. EPA, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the city of Cambridge, MA, is conducting a study to determine the reduction of phosphorus loading to the Lower Charles River that can be attributed to the city’s street-cleaning program. Street dirt samples have been collected to determine accumulation rates, wash-off of street dirt due to precipitation, trace-element concentrations, and a productivity function (or removal efficiency) of a high-efficiency regenerative-air street cleaner in areas representing two land-use categories (multifamily residential and commercial) in the city of Cambridge, MA. To better quantify the potential water-quality benefits of high-efficiency street cleaning, these data are input into the Source Loading and Management Model for Windows (WinSLAMM) to simulate the effectiveness of a high-efficiency street cleaning program at reducing phosphorus loads to the Lower Charles River. These results will provide regionally-specific information on accumulation and wash-off rates for street dirt. Development of a calibrated WinSLAMM model in the northeastern region of the United States will provide the basis for development of load reduction credits for high-efficiency street cleaning programs or other best management practices (BMPs), and may have transferability to other municipalities considering similar methods to reduce loading from urban runoff to waterways.

Jason Sorenson has been a Hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey MA-RI Water Science Center since 2000. He received his B.S. in Environmental Science/Geology from UMass Lowell and obtained his M.S. in Geophysics at Boston College in 2003. His current research includes the characterization of urban runoff and the use of geophysical techniques to facilitate groundwater studies.

Role-play simulations as a tool for increasing public understanding of climate change risk
Lawrence Susskind and Tyler Corson-Rikert, MIT

A team of researchers at MIT has developed a set of role-play simulations to help public officials and community stakeholders learn more about ways of taking climate change risks into account in current decisions about urban development, infrastructure planning and natural resource management. The three simulations focus on the prospect of increased river flooding, heat island effects, and difficult water allocation decisions, all of which might be aggravated by climate change. Participants are asked to play assigned roles, given confidential instructions as well as technical briefing materials, and allotted one hour to reach agreement on specific actions that might or might not be taken. The simulations are currently being run in conjunction with regular municipal committee meetings and as part of special public events in the coastal city of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The MIT team is working to evaluate the simulations’ impact on public awareness and their usefulness in building community-wide agreement on appropriate adaptation measures. Structured surveys of participants (before and after) along with in-depth interviews of key local officials are part of the assessment. Our review of role-play simulations as a public learning tool will be distributed, along with the three simulations, free-of-charge (on-line) to communities and organizations seeking to address the complex scientific and political questions inherent in managing the risks associated with climate change.

Lawrence Susskind is Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at MIT and Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative. He is also Vice Chair for Instruction at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and Founder of the not-for-profit Consensus Building Institute. His publications include The Consensus Building Handbook (Sage, 1999) and Breaking Robert’s Rules (Oxford, 2006).

Integration of local planners' and scientists' knowledge of consequences, vulnerabilities, and adaptation strategies to climate change related hazards
Seth Tuler and Thomas Webler(Presenter), Social and Environmental Research Institute,  Kirstin Dow, University of South Carolina, Jessica Whitehead, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, Charleston, SC

Climate changes and the need for adaptation planning are becoming increasingly evident in coastal areas. Coastal managers and communities desire a better understanding of the relevance of large scale global processes for local decisions and circumstances. There is also a need for a greater knowledge of the climate sensitivity and interactions among multiple local systems; for example, from financial planning to wastewater treatment. A better understanding of how climate interacts with local systems can provide insight into the local consequences of climate change, how impacts are related to differences in vulnerability, how municipal actions can exacerbate impacts, and how management decisions interact in productive and unproductive ways.
We will present our experiences and lessons learned with a facilitated process, by which communities plan for managing coastal hazards associated with climate change. This process is responsive to recent reports on adaptation planning suggesting that planners would clearly benefit from tools and processes that help organize and integrate, at the local level, information and management actions and engage decision-makers, local residents, and other stakeholders. We have developed and tested a “Vulnerability and Consequence Adaptation Planning Scenario”(VCAPS) process with two coastal communities in South Carolina. VCAPS combines a facilitated series of meetings mediated by an interactive computer-based diagramming program to help local planners collaboratively develop scenarios about how single and multiple stressors act to affect processes within a social-environmental system and produce consequences of community significance. It highlights vulnerabilities and management interventions that can be taken. Participants in our case study reported that the process facilitated individual learning and group deliberation and group learning, inspired decision-makers to plan for climate change, and improved understanding of factors that affect vulnerability and the ability to adapt in their community.

Seth Tuler is a Research Fellow at the Social and Environmental Research Institute and Adjunct Associate Professor in the International and Global Studies Division, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. His research interests have been concerned with public participation, risk communication, long term stewardship of contaminated sites, and developing tools to characterize human impacts and vulnerabilities to risk events. He seeks to apply insights emerging from research to practical applications in a wide range of policy arenas, including public health, clean-up of contaminated sites, marine oil spill response, climate change adaptation planning, and marine fisheries management. During the winter of 2008/09 he conducted research as a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand on the communication of public health risks from petrochemical facilities. Seth received a B.A. in Mathematics (1984) from the University of Chicago, an M.S. in Technology and Policy (1987) from the interdisciplinary Technology and Policy Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the Environmental Science and Policy Program, Clark University, Worcester, MA in 1996.

Low impact development and climate change in urban areas: Options and examples for adaptation
Kathy Urffer, Antioch New England, and Kevin Worden, Engineering Ventures

Currently, approximately 80% of the population of the United States lives in an urban setting (US Census Bureau). Most of our cities were built adjacent to natural aquatic resources, such as rivers, lakes and the ocean, in order to have access to water for agriculture, household needs, and navigation. These natural settlement patterns resulted in the placement of most of our now aging infrastructure in ecologically valuable areas, which has severely impacted water quality and increased flood hazards. Stormwater management developed in response to this reality, and has attempted to remedy the problem by treating water as a waste stream that needs to be quickly removed from our properties. With projections that precipitation will increase in the northeast due to climate change, our stormwater management requirements are apt to become even more difficult to meet. Low Impact Development (LID) may provide an opportunity to manage stormwater costs through retrofitting existing urban infrastructure. This panel will provide examples of the efficacy of using LID techniques in urban environments, as well as discuss the potential ramifications due to expected increases in precipitation from climate change on project planning and design. Examples will be from the New England states.

Kathy Urffer has just completed a Masters of Science in Resource Management and Conservation from Antioch New England University. Her Masters Project work is centered on a stormwater analysis of an urban redevelopment project's use of low impact development techniques. Prior to her arrival in Vermont in the fall of 2004, Kathy worked as Operations Director for Hackensack Riverkeeper, an environmental advocacy organization in Northern New Jersey whose mission is to protect, preserve and restore the Hackensack River and New Jersey Meadowlands. Kathy has previously served as the President of the Board of the West River Watershed Alliance and has volunteered as a conservation easement monitor with the Vermont Nature Conservancy and with the Vermont State Fish and Wildlife Department on their salmon stocking program. During the summers of 2005 and 2006 she worked at the Bellows Falls hydro-electric plant during Atlantic Salmon spawning season monitoring the fish ladder.
She serves as a Town Representative in Brattleboro, VT where she lives with her partner and her son.

Kevin Worden, P.E., LEED AP, Vice President at Engineering Ventures, is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Civil Engineering and Humanities. He was named the 2001 Vermont Young Engineer of the Year and he takes a holistic and innovative approach to projects, grounded in the fundamentals of engineering. His interest in Civil Engineering and stormwater management began at an early age in his friend’s backyard dirt pile, complete with hose. Kevin considers stormwater as a resource and prefers the term rainwater. He has integrated LID type strategies in his site design for over ten years including, development clustering, rainwater reuse, vegetated treatment and pervious hardscapes.

Building consensus on time: Climate change as a potential barrier to collaborative river basin planning?
Mattijs van Maasakkers, Deborah Lightman,and Amanda Martin, MIT

Many institutions that govern the management of a river basin are designed to operate under a relatively stable climate. The legal, political and technical frameworks within which management operates have to be changed if climate change is to be taken into account in an organized fashion. This paper will analyze how different time horizons for the planning and management of a river basin can complicate efforts to build consensus on a course of action, given the differences in time-scales at which agencies, advocates and experts operate. As the awareness of the impacts of climate change increases among these groups, certain current and proposed management activities and plans can become more or less appealing depending on the time-scale at which their effects are forecast. When decision-making processes normally focus on the costs and benefits of interventions in the short to mid-term, including changes in the climate in this evaluation requires an additional negotiation about the time-scale(s) at which these take place. So when trying to plan for a rapidly changing water basin, the larger time frame within which climate change impacts can be expected can serve as a barrier to certain kinds of interventions. By studying the management and planning in the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana, the authors seek to understand how climate change at different time-scales is, or is not, incorporated into current decision-making framework, and develop a set of recommendations for the improvement of decision-making in light of climate change impacts.

Mattijs van Maasakkers is a doctoral candidate in the Environmental Policy and Planning group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Originally from the Netherlands, he received his MA in Political Science from the University of Amsterdam in 2006, and a Master’s in City Planning from MIT in 2009. While at MIT, his research has focused on the intersection of science and policy in river basin planning, both in the United States and the European Union. His dissertation research looks at the use of ecosystem services in river basin planning as a method to bring together a variety of costs and benefits in river basin planning and management.

The ecology of toxic cyanobacteria and their potential impact on lakes and human health
James Haney, University of New Hampshire Biological Sciences

Cyanobacteria, formerly named blue-green algae, are present in virtually all water bodies. Morphometric features of the lake basin (e.g. depth and size) and human activities (e.g. nutrients) strongly affect their abundance. Extremely patchy seasonal and spatial distributions of toxic cyanobacteria pose challenges for long-term monitoring programs for recreation lakes and drinking water sources. Many species of cyanobacteria produce toxins that can pose a serious health threat. This presentation will discuss the occurrence and adaptations of cyanobacteria in lakes, the factors that promote their abundance and their production of nerve and liver toxins. It will also explore the pathways by which wildlife and humans may be exposed to cyanobacteria toxins.

Dr. Jim Haney is a Professor and Faculty Fellow in the Sustainability Academy at the University of New Hampshire. He teaches courses in Limnology, Lake Management, Stream Ecology, Zooplankton Ecology, General Ecology and Aquatic Invasive Species. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. He is co-founder of the NH Lakes Lay Monitoring Program as well as the Citizen-based Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program. He is also a member of the Lakes Management Advisory Committee at the NH Department of Environmental Services and a member of the Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Lakes Association.

The use of real-time monitoring to help track cyanobacteria blooms and water quality conditions at two locations in the Boston area
Tom Faber, USEPA New England

Recent concerns over cyanobacteria blooms have led to the need for additional water quality monitoring. Cyanobacteria blooms in the Mystic and Charles River watersheds have led to the closing of beaches, posted warnings, and cancelled swimming races. In this presentation we will share the first year experiences and results of a project involving using sondes and real-time monitoring buoys to collect and transmit water quality data from locations in the Mystic and Charles River watersheds. This project used sensors to measure pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, conductivity, turbidity, phycocyanin and chlorophyll.

Tom Faber works at the EPA New England Regional Laboratory in North Chelmsford, Massachusetts as a Water Quality Environmental Engineer. He conducts and coordinates ambient water quality monitoring studies. He has been involved in water quality monitoring in the Mystic and Charles Rivers for over a decade. He also provides technical support and assistance to some of the New England states and local watershed associations. He is involved in sampling and coordinating EPA’s National River and Stream Assessment and the EPA’s first National Wetland Condition Assessment. In addition, he works with the states of Massachusetts and Vermont by providing monitoring support and assistance. He has worked for the EPA for almost 20 years. He graduated in Engineering from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell in 1991.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health statewide surveillance of health concerns and toxic algae blooms project
Suzanne Condon, Michael Celona, and Vanessa Yandell (Presenter), Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health

In 2008, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH/BEH) was one of ten states nationally to be awarded a cooperative agreement from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to enhance surveillance and identify risk factors related to harmful algae blooms (HABs). As a result of this cooperative agreement, MDPH/BEH has implemented the Statewide Surveillance of Health Concerns and Toxic Algae Blooms Project. The overall goal of the cooperative agreement is to evaluate potential health impacts from HABs by analyzing health and environmental data.
 The presence of harmful algae blooms in freshwater is an emerging public health issue. Algae blooms in freshwater bodies form when cyanobacteria (also known as blue-green algae), which are photosynthetic bacteria that grow in water, multiply quickly and form scums or mats on the surface of the water. Cyanobacteria are a normal component of most ecosystems and are not problematic until they undergo explosive growth and form blooms. Blooms can cause odor and taste issues in the water and illness in humans and animals, as well as fish kills. Some types of cyanobacteria are capable of producing potent neurological and/or liver toxins. Exposure to cyanobacteria and related toxins can occur through the recreational use of a water body. Exposures can include dermal contact, ingestion, and inhalation. MDPH’s health-based guidance is aimed at reducing exposure opportunities to harmful algae blooms in freshwater recreational bodies, thereby reducing the potential for adverse health effects.
 This presentation will describe the ongoing environmental and public health surveillance of HABs in Massachusetts. The results to date of this CDC-funded project will be discussed in terms of occurrence and location of blooms and detectable levels of algal toxins and reported health effects in humans and animals.

Vanessa Yandell is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a B.S. in Biology. She is currently working toward an M.S. in Environmental Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Ms. Yandell joined MDPH in 2006 as an Environmental Health Inspector for the Bathing Beaches Project and in 2008 became the Project Coordinator for the Statewide Surveillance of Health Concerns and Toxic Algae Blooms Project. She has held a Registered Sanitarian license since 2007.

The Upper Pawcatuck River in RI – A unique approach to fish passage
Dick Quinn, U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was recently awarded a grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to provide fish passage at three existing barriers in the upper Pawcatuck River watershed in RI. The project is overseen by the Wood – Pawcatuck River Watershed Association and involves a wide variety of project partners. A variety of fish passage techniques are being employed to provide fish passage at the three dam sites: Dam removal with grade control structures at Lower Shannock Falls; a 3-foot-wide Denil fishway at Horseshoe Falls; and a proposed rock ramp fishway at Kenyon Industries Dam. There are two other dams downstream of Lower Shannock, Potter Hill and Bradford. Both have functional Denil fishways. The Lower Shannock Dam, the third barrier on the River, was successfully removed in August, 2010 and appears to be functioning as planned. The Denil proposal is currently in the permitting stage. The rock ramp fishway concept at Kenyon Industries Dam, the uppermost dam on the main river, is undergoing final design. Construction at Horseshoe Falls is expected to begin in July 2011, with Kenyon to follow shortly thereafter. Once the final two barriers have fish passage provisions, anadromous species of fish, such as the American shad and alewife will then have full access to Worden Pond, a 1000-acre natural impoundment in Wakefield, RI. Mr. Quinn will briefly describe each project and the passage technique employed.

Dick Quinn is a consulting engineer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). He holds both an M.S. Degree in Environmental Engineering and Water Resources and a B.S degree in Civil Engineering from Northeastern University, and is a licensed professional engineer in the State of Maine. Mr. Quinn has over 39 years of experience working in the field of water resources for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the USFWS. From 1985 through 2009, he served as a senior hydraulic engineer for the USFWS where his designs were used to build over 200 fishways throughout the country. Since retiring in 2009, Mr. Quinn has worked as a consultant for the Northeast Region of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. As a consultant, he has lead the USFWS training program, developed fish passage workshops, guest lectured at the University of Massachusetts, and continued to provide technical assistance on the design, construction, and operation of fish passage facilities for the USFWS and its many partners.

Barriers to movement of migratory fish: Lessons from the American shad
Theodore Castro-Santos, Alex Haro,and Amy Koske (Presenter); USGS-BRD

Dams create barriers to movements of anadromous and other migratory fishes. These species are important culturally, economically, and ecologically, and development of solutions to remove barrier effects is a priority for natural resource managers. The fishway complex at Turners Falls has proven to be a migratory bottleneck for adult American shad, during both their upstream and downstream migrations. Efforts to improve these fishways have provided important lessons for the restoration and conservation of American shad and other species. Among these lessons is the fact that delays incurred in association with dams can have long-term deleterious effects for individual animals, but also for populations, and even entire ecosystems. Once shad have entered the system, they may be delayed for several weeks in both directions, and behavioral avoidance of fishway entrances is one of the primary factors contributing to these delays. Even though fish may eventually pass the barrier, the likelihood of surviving the return journey to the ocean is greatly reduced. This leads to constrained age structure and reduced spawning stock, and can even affect nutrient dynamics within the river. This points to the importance of expedited passage, rather than simply counting numbers or proportions of fish passing, as the appropriate measure of fishway effectiveness.

Amy Kathryn Koske is a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the School of Marine Sciences. Her M.S. thesis research relates diet to mercury (Hg) contamination of top pelagic predators in the Northwest Atlantic. She earned her B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation in 2007. Since 2006, she has worked seasonally for the Richard Cronin National Salmon Station in Sunderland, MA, Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center in Turners Falls, MA. During this time she has gained experience promoting and evaluating passage of multiple diadromous species involving Atlantic salmon restoration in the Connecticut River watershed and using radio telemetry to monitor shad passage through the Turners Falls power canal and gatehouse fishway.

Two factors that deserve more attention if we are to be successful in anadromous fish restoration programs
Tim Brush, Normandeau Associates, Inc.

Anadromous fish restoration programs, particularly for alosines, have been underway in many rivers, some for 100 years or more. There has been little success in achieving the stated numerical goals of restoration. While access to suitable habitat is an important component of restoring anadromous populations, a primary focus on that aspect and not enough attention given to other factors has contributed to a lack of success. Fishway design and function have come a long way over the past century, but a program that does not place substantially more emphasis on those limiting factors other than access to potential spawning habitat will not achieve optimistic goals. The restoration goals and how they are developed may also contribute to lack of success. A transfer of unvalidated assumptions from one river system to another in setting numerical goals does not seem prudent given that the goals have not been met for many, if any programs. A combination of insufficient consideration of other important limiting factors and a reliance on untested approaches that result in overly optimistic goals are major impediments to success.

Tim Brush has worked on diadromous fish restoration issues throughout the country since 1983 and in the Connecticut River Basin since 1991. He is a Vice President of Normandeau Associates and is located in Westmoreland, NH. He earned an M.S. in Wildlife Management from Frostburg State University and B.S. in Biology from Waynesburg College.