The Salmon River
Watershed:
An Overview and Status
Report
Assembled by the Watershed Ecology
Class at SUNY College of
Environmental Science & Forestry,
Syracuse, NY
June 2002
Edited by K.E. Limburg, course instructor
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Table of Contents:
Foreword….…………………………………………
3
Executive Summary…………………………………
4
1. Physical Setting …………………………………
8
2. Biotic Resources …………………………………
15
3. Human Influences I: Land Use and Tourism….….
31
4. Human Influences II: Water Issues ………………
43
5. Discussion and Integration ……………………….
55
References …………………………………………...
68
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Foreword
Nestled on the western slopes of the Tug Hill Plateau, the Salmon River
watershed could be regarded by residents of more populous areas as an upstate New York
backwater. Its importance to the State of New York as a fishery resource has been
recognized for many years, but its other natural amenities have perhaps been underappreciated. Now it may be poised for further growth, and that growth should be
balanced against the values of the natural environment there.
This report summarizes the efforts of 29 students in a one-semester course titled
“Watershed Ecology,” at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in
Syracuse, NY, to assemble a picture of the watershed in the spring of 2002. For this
project, they were charged with assembling a wide range of data and were told to seek it
from as many sources as possible. They grouped themselves into five task forces:
Physico-Chemical, Biotic Resources, Geographic Information, Societal Issues, and
Integration. Their background papers have been edited and integrated into the chapters of
this report.
The task force authors are as follows, in alphabetical order:
Physico-Chemical: Mary Hegarty, Kirstin Kramek, Sarah Meyer, Hiromi Nakamura,
Greg Robinson, and Eric Watkins.
Biotic Resources: Rich Chiavelli, Erin McLaughlin, Seth Pennington, Les Resseguie,
Lara Slifka, Christian Wissler, and Scott Yacavone.
Geographic Information: Jeremy Blake, Rachel Bonczyk, Jerry DeSantis, Jesse
McLean, John Munsell, and Paul Murphy.
Societal Issues: Marie-Anne Backx, Ryan Chatfield, Jennifer Chesbro, M. Charles
Meyer, and Mary Ziemba.
Integration: Ryan Maher, Jeff Organ, Sukhyun Park, Sean Ryberg, and Brooke
Sommerfeldt.
In addition, John L. Hallock, a Master’s student at ESF, contributed as a co-author
and served as an important resource person to the project.
A class project cannot completely capture all of the issues, but it can nevertheless
provide a snapshot that provides something of a “state-of-the-watershed” report. We
offer this to interested parties, and hope that it will provide some new perspectives.
A special thanks goes to the teaching assistant, Sara Scanga, for her enthusiastic
involvement with all the task forces. We also thank Leslie Wedge, Fran Verdoliva, and
Daniel Bishop of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for
background advice and reports, and the many other people sought out by task force
members. Additionally, Messrs Hallock and Wedge provided helpful comments on
several of the chapters.
Karin E. Limburg, course instructor and report editor
June, 2002
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Executive Summary:
Overview
The Salmon River Watershed Project was a collaborative watershed assessment
completed by students of the State University of New York, College of Environmental
Science and Forestry (2002). The main goals of the project were to examine the status of
the Salmon River watershed and to raise emerging and potential issues that might warrant
further research. Sustainable watershed management requires an understanding of
hydrologic, geochemical, and ecological processes within the context of a humandominated ecosystem. In this regard, we collected information from a variety of sources
including knowledgeable informants, reports from a number of different sources, and
electronic databases. We analyzed the information by categories: GIS, biota,
physiochemical, and social sectors. Our report summarizes our findings, and may trigger
further questions and research directions.
Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
GIS data were compiled from the Oswego County Planning Department and
national and state- and federal-level databases. The Oswego Planning Department had
previously identified some gaps in available knowledge. These gaps included the
environmental significance of the watershed above the upper reservoir and the “eskers
area” between the lower reservoir and the Village of Pulaski. There is also interest in
determining the possible impacts of various zoning schemes on the community budget
and tax base. In addition, there is a lack of information regarding soil nutrient uptake
relating to development lot size, and impacts of septic discharge on fish populations.
From the information gathered, a series of GIS maps and three tables were
generated with information relevant to the study. We delineated the entire watershed and
17 different sub-basins therein. Land use within the watershed was quantified both
spatially (Figure 3-1) and numerically (Table 3-1). Other special maps, e.g., wetland
areas, are included in relevant sections of this report.
Physical Setting
The Salmon River arises in Lewis County on the Tug Hill Plateau, and drains
westward through the Erie-Ontario Lowlands into Lake Ontario. The watershed is
underlain by shales, sandstones, siltstones, and glacial deposits. Salmon River Falls is
the major geological feature in the River itself, and limited the original runs of Atlantic
salmon. The soils derived from this parent material have a range of water retention
characteristics, making some of them well-suited to agriculture while others are
permanent wetlands. Elemental analysis of the River and some of its tributary streams
indicates that the soils are relatively depauperate in base cations. Although pH values are
often circumneutral, acidic episodes have been recorded. Thus, monitoring of pH and
base cation changes over time is probably warranted.
Biota
The Salmon River watershed fosters a variety of biological resources that have
been subject to historical human disturbance and management. The relative distribution
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and abundance of particular species is largely a function of endogenous factors in concert
with development patterns and evolving management strategies. As the structure of fish
communities, aquatic and terrestrial vegetation, amphibians and reptiles, wildlife, and
benthic macroinvertebrates have changed over time, they have also responded to vertical
and horizontal gradients, from headwater streams to the Lake Ontario outlet.
With the popularity of sport fishing, migratory salmonids have gained special
prominence to the economy of the watershed. Historical fluctuations in survivorship have
given way to the current management of fall chinook, coho, and Atlantic salmon, in
addition to three seasonal runs of steelhead trout. Species abundance, distribution, and
diversity along the three reaches have all been affected by the construction of dams and
the continuous stocking of hatchery produced fish.
Forestlands are the dominant land cover for the watershed, although they face the
threats of development, logging, and disease. The mixed forests of the Upper Reservoir
area are composed of beech, maple, pine, and spruce. These headwater forests succeed
into poor fen and vernal pool species along the Lower Reservoir. The channel braids into
the lower watershed, where alluvial soils support species of maple, beech, ash, alder, and
birch. As several tributaries enter the lower watershed, vegetation shifts to hardwood and
shrub swamps. The river then reaches the mouth of Lake Ontario, where emergent marsh
species dominate.
According to the listing of Wildlife Management Units, white-tailed deer and
beaver comprise the only significant wildlife populations. The overpopulation of both
species has been subject to management, and deer in particular has suffered from
inefficient reduction strategies. Amphibians and reptiles are relatively understudied here;
our analysis is therefore limited to a species list with several identified as deserving
special concern.
Until recently, interest in benthic macroinvertebrate species has primarily been a
consequence of fisheries studies. Now, macroinvertebrate species are used as indicators
of water quality within the river. The two river impoundments appear to have the
strongest effect on aquatic invertebrates. Below the reservoir, macroinvertebrate
communities show a lower species richness and higher measures of productivity.
The structure of the biotic community directs the flows of energy through trophic
levels. Therefore, the productivity of the salmonid fisheries is dependent upon
maintaining the integrity of critical ecological processes. As the Salmon River is
manipulated for human needs, the functional role of each ecological component is
affected. Hatchery production has assumed a fundamental role in revitalizing a tourist
economy. Fish that use both the river and Lake Ontario deserve special attention in
management. A sustainable fishery will ultimately depend on the ability of both
ecosystems to facilitate the flow of energy through the food webs that produce and
support targeted species.
Water Issues
Water Use: Groundwater is the major source of water for residents living on, or
in some places, adjacent to the Tug Hill Aquifer. After 1960, people began to realize that
some parts of the aquifer could yield large quantities of water, so that a paper company
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(Schoeller Technical Papers Inc.) and a fish hatchery (the Altmar Fish Hatchery) have
developed well fields that yield as much as 1.5 and 2.3 million gallons per day
respectively. The Altmar Fish Hatchery also receives water from the lower Salmon River
Reservoir in addition to the aquifer.
There are two hydroelectric power facilities and dam structures located on the
Salmon River: the Bennetts Bridge operation and the Lighthouse Hill facility. The
Salmon River Reservoir is the major regulating water body in the drainage basin and is
located downstream from the confluence of the following tributaries: North Branch, Mad
River, Mill Stream, Fall Brook, and East Branch. The regulation of the Salmon River by
impoundments affects flow regime and biological and anthropogenic functions.
Hydropower generation has been, and will continue to be, an important function of the
reservoirs in the Salmon River. The interruption in lotic patterns, presence of lentic areas,
and hydropower releases have effects on physical, chemical, and biological components
of the river. These effects may have a significant influence on water quality, primary
productivity, and the distribution and abundance of macroinvertebrate and fish
populations in the river. With the multi-party settlement agreement on minimum flows,
the river seldom goes dry as in previous decades. On the other hand, both water
temperatures and nutrient levels increase below the reservoirs.
Changes in human usage and management of the river in the future must consider
these effects to determine the extent with which they influence various aspects of
importance to the Salmon River watershed ecosystem.
Water Quality: As point sources of pollution, both Schoeller Technical Papers
Inc. and the Altmar Fish Hatchery have obtained permits for direct discharges into the
Salmon River. The other facilities that have permits to discharge are the Brennan Beach
Campgrounds and, until recently, the Village of Pulaski’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Non-point sources of nutrient and sediment in the watershed include lands with certain
agricultural and silvicultural practices, land disposal sites, and construction areas. The
Salmon River Watershed is about 90% forested (deciduous, evergreen mixed, and
forested wetland) and 6.5% agricultural (cropland and pasture). The most common
agricultural practices within the Salmon River Watershed are cattle farming and corn
production. Evidence from water chemistry analyses suggests that the subcatchments
with a predominance of agriculture are significant non-point sources of nitrogen and
phosphorus, and that the reservoir and the Salmon River Fish Hatchery are significant
contributors of phosphorus.
Other Anthropogenic Influences
The Salmon River watershed is largely undeveloped with relatively little land
devoted to farming or any large industries. Overall, the effects of agricultural
applications of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides are likely to be concentrated to
localized regions. The predominance of second growth forest cover is likely one of the
most important factors as to why this watershed has been able to support an
internationally recognized trophy sport fishery. Overfishing and invasive or problematic
species such as the sea lamprey and zebra mussel have posed management challenges, as
has flow regulation to meet the needs of multiple resource users.
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The main focus of the fishing industry is on the 15-mile stretch, which makes up
two-thirds of the river from the first dam, to the river’s delta at Lake Ontario, which is
state land and open to the public. The compounded effects of nutrient reductions in Lake
Ontario and the increase of sea lamprey first, and later zebra mussels, led to declines in
Salmon River fish stocks. A major program to create a self-sustaining salmonid fishery
began in 1968. The Salmon River Fish Hatchery, which opened in 1981, plays a critical
role in this program. In 1997/98, the hatchery had operating expenses of $169,000. The
resulting tourism industry brings in annual revenues of more than $166 million, almost
1,000 times the operating costs.
Recent land sales by Niagara Mohawk, of its 7,000+ acres, consist of property
with access to the Salmon River and/or reservoir. Potential development of the land into
trailer homes and other tourist attractions is opposed by many parties, including the
NYSDEC, which would prefer to see the land used as a protective buffer for the river.
Increased commercial logging, agricultural development, and development of the
land for housing, light industry, and recreation are possible in the future. These sorts of
changes could degrade the watershed and leave it unable to recover for many years to
come. Decisions made now and in the near future will inevitably affect, to greater or
lesser extent, the integrity of the watershed and the quality of its ecosystems, and life for
people who will inherit the land that we use, be it with wisdom or no.
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