An Ecological Assessment of The Youghiogheny River

AnEcologicalAssessmentofTheYoughioghenyRiverWatershedOfficeofWaterResourcesWESTVIRGINIADIVISIONOFENVIRONMENTALPROTECTIONAnEcologicalAssessmentoftheYoughioghenyRiverWatershedwithinWestVirginia-1996Reportnumber05020006-1996preparedbyWatershedAssessmentProgramOfficeofWaterResourcesWestVirginiaDivisionofEnvironmentalProtection1201GreenbrierStreet,Charleston,WV25311September1998AnEcologicalAssessmentofiiTheYoughioghenyRiverWatershediiiContentsListofFiguresandTables...............................................ivSummary...........................................................................vAcknowledgements........................................................viiWatershedsandtheirAssessment..................................1GeneralWatershedAssessmentStrategy......................6SpecialWatershedAssessmentStrategy.....................11TheYoughioghenyRiverWatershed.............................13AssessmentMethodsintheYoughioghenyRiverWatershed.....................................19Findings...........................................................................26BenthologicalSamplingandHabitatAssessments........26BacteriologicalandPhysico-chemicalSampling...........33ExplanationoftheFindings............................................37Implications.....................................................................50AdditionalResources.....................................................55References......................................................................56AppendixA-AssessmentMethods........................................58AppendixB-Statistics&DataTables....................................69AppendixC-Glossary.............................................................92PAGEAnEcologicalAssessmentofivListofFiguresandTablesFigure1-Ageneralizedwatershed................................3Figure2-MapofWestVirginiaÕswatersheds................5Figure3-Biological&HabitatSummary-(Riffle-SWCI)...............................................27Figure4-Biological&HabitatSummary-(Riffle-SWCII)..............................................28Figure5-Biological&HabitatSummary-MACS........29Figure6-Illustrationofembeddedness.......................41Table1-YoughioghenyRiversamplingsitesummary..................................................21Table2-Comparisonofbacteriacountsandturbidityratings..............................................33Table3-Physico-chemicalcharacteristicsofwaterbodies..................................................35Table4-LaurelRunresults..........................................36Table5-Communitymetricscoresforbenthicmacroinvertebrates........................................38Table6-Rapidphysicalhabitatassessment.............39Table7-Suggestedactionlist.....................................52TheYoughioghenyRiverWatershedvHistorically,littlehasbeendocumentedaboutstreamsintheYoughioghenyRiverwatershedwithinWestVirginia.FortunatelyitwasoneofthefivewatershedsselectedforassessmentduringthefirstyearofsamplingunderthenewlyorganizedWatershedAssessmentProgram(WAP)oftheWestVirginiaDivisionofEnvironmentalProtectionÕs(DEP)OfficeofWaterResources(OWR).InJuly1996,fieldteamsfromtheWAPobtaineddataontheYoughioghenyRiverwatershed.Ofthe27namedstreamslocatedwithinthewatershed,22weresampled.Oneunnamedstreamwasvisitedaswell.StonyRunwaspartiallyfilledinbyconstructionofI-68,therefore,itwasnotsampled.Benthic,bacterialandphysico-chemicalsampleswerecollected,primarilyfromnearthestreamsÕmouths.Instreamandnearstreamhabitatswereassessedatmostsamplesites.Nositeswereidentifiedashavingseverelyimpairedbiologicalconditionsorpoorhabitatconditionswhencomparedtoreferencestations.However,benthiccommunitymetricscoresfromseveralsitesindicatedpoorbiologicaldiversityandunbalancedcommunities.Thismayhavebeendue,inpart,tolessthanoptimalhabitatconditions.Manysiteshadmoderatetohighlevelsofsedimentation.Thehighlevelsofsedimentationmayhavebeenduetoacombinationoflowgradients(anaturalSummaryAnEcologicalAssessmentofviphenomenoninmuchofthiswatershed)andsoilerosionfromfarmsandresidentialareas.Sevensitesexhibitedfecalcoliformbacteriaconcentrationsgreaterthanthecriterionforapplicablestreamuses.LaurelRunÕspH,andconcentrationsofiron,aluminumandmanganeseviolatedapplicablecriteriaduetoacidminedrainage.Currently,thewaterqualitycriteriaforpublicandindustrialsupplyusesdonotapplytostreamsintheYoughioghenyWatershed.TheEnvironmentalQualityBoard(EQB)promulgatedtheseuseexclusions,butresearchbytheEQBstaffhasfoundnoreasonsforthem.Whetherthesewateruseexclusionsareappropriateforthiswatershedandotherquestionswereinneedofanswering.Thisassessmentansweredsomeofthesequestions.ThetoptwopriorityactionssuggestedbytheDEPare:¥RecommendtheEQBremovecurrentuseexclusionsfromYoughioghenywaters.¥Encouragefurtherassessmentsofthefivestreamswithbiologicalconditionscoresbelow50%oftheirrespectivereferencesitestodeterminethecausesandsourcesofimpairment.TheYoughioghenyRiverWatershedviiAcknowledgementsTheprimaryauthorofthisreportisDouglasWood.Withouttheassistanceofmanyotherindividua