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Applying the Natural Flow Regime Paradigm to Current and Feasible Restoration Actions in the Great Lakes Coastal Region of New York |
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Natural System and Location:
Tributaries and watersheds in the New York Great Lakes region.
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Hypothesis/Goal:
Restoration needs and opportunities can be determined by a tributary's deviation from its natural flow regime. Community capacity for restoration projects can be evaluated by:
- the presence or absence of active planning boards and NGO's with the potential to support restoration efforts.
- institutional commitment can be evaluated using socioeconomic data.
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Restoration Strategy:
Educational outreach programs, information dissemination, and development and distribution of tools will promote restoration/conservation efforts. GIS database can be used to target areas with both needs and potential for successful restoration efforts. Cornell University will identify tributaries in the Great Lakes region of New York with the greatest potential for successful flow restoration programs, conduct five case studies, and develop a GIS database of flow restoration opportunities in the eastern Great Lakes basin. New York tributaries will be mapped according to their need for restoration and the capacity of the communities to implement successful restoration projects. The team will determine restoration need based on a given tributary's deviation from its natural flow regime. Community capacity will be determined by local governmental and NGO support.
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Anticipated Outcomes/Environmental Affects:
Increase in the number of effective natural flow regime restoration projects at the community level and an overall improvement in natural flow regimes within the New York Great Lakes region.
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Progress to Date:
Completed work on digital drainage basin maps for each stream segment in the Great Lakes basin of New York. Maps used to develop coverages for habitat alteration (intact, modified, altered), riparian forest cover, gradient, point source pollution, and fragmentation. These coverages were combined to show habitat status (excellent, altered, highly degraded) for each stream segment in the study area. Simplified GIS model of stream flow (STRMALT) is currently under development. Once completed, STRMALT will be integrated with habitat status coverage maps to form a single model to target high-value flow restoration segments.
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| URL: www.dnr.cornell.edu/hydro2/grtlks.htm |
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