Streams & Rivers (Flowing Waters) Inventory & Monitoring in the Central Alaska Network of National Parklands
Simmons LT. Streams & Rivers (Flowing Waters) Inventory & Monitoring in the Central Alaska Network of National Parklands. 2008. National Park Service
Compared to National Parks in the lower 49, water quality in the Central Alaska Network (CAKN) is generally very good. However, both past and present human actions have had negative impacts on stream and river ecosystems in these parks. The legacy of mineral extraction, in particular gold mining, has had the most obvious effects. Some historically mined streams, for example, exhibit substantial water quality impairment due to excess heavy metal concentrations, elevated sediment loads and habitat alteration. Other current and past activities, such as ATV use, logging, road construction, and infrastructure development can have deleterious effects on water quality as well. Water quality is not just about safe drinking water. The Clean Water Act outlines a much more comprehensive vision, one that encompasses physical and biological as well as chemical aspects of water quality. To evaluate how park streams are responding to human activities, we are developing analytical tools for assessing the biological integrity of stream ecosystems. These tools, which are used by water quality agencies all around the world, use the status or health of aquatic macroinvertebrate communities as indicators of the status or health of the stream ecosystem as a whole. These tools will allow park managers to accurately assess the effects of management actions on water quality in park streams, as well as to evaluate the progress of restoration projects. OBJJECTIVES -Determine long-term trends in annual and seasonal flow patterns in selected streams and rivers -Determine long-term trends in chemical and biological measures of water quality -Determine long-term trends in the composition and spatial distribution of aquatic communities, including macroinvertebrates and diatoms -Develop tools for park managers to assess biological water quality in selected streams and rivers -Monitor changes in the distribution of anadromous and resident fish species
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Simmons, L.
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CAKN , DENA , WRST , YUCH
- Keywords
- Aquatic Communities, Diatoms, flow patterns, freshwater fishes, Macroinvertebrates, Rivers, Streams, Water Quality
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Water Chemistry , Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Algae , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Freshwater Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Fishes
Program
Products
- Protocol Development and Biological and Physical Characterization of Streams in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve: Results of the 2006 Central Alaska Network flowing waters pilot study
- Central Alaska Network Flowing Waters Monitoring Program: 2007 Annual Report
- Central Alaska Network Flowing Waters Program: 2008 Annual Report
- Central Alaska Network flowing waters monitoring program: 2009 annual report
- Analyzing the Impacts of Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Trails on Watershed Processes in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska
- Streams and Rivers Biological Assessment of Water Quality Resource Brief
- Cooperative Monitoring of River Flow on the Nabesna River (CAKN Streams & Rivers Resource Brief)
- Central Alaska Network flowing waters monitoring program: 2010 annual report
- CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2012 Field Season Report
- Streams and Rivers Water Quality Resource Brief
- Rivers & Streams Climate Change Resource Brief
- Central Alaska Network flowing waters monitoring program: 2011 annual report
- CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2012 Annual Report
- CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2013 Annual Report
- CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2014 Annual Report
- CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2016 Annual Report
- Central Alaska Network Stream Monitoring Program 2018 Annual Report
- Monitoring stream ecosystems in the Central Alaska Network: Protocol narrative
- Using Environmental DNA to Monitor Aquatic Species: Fisheries Surveys in a Bottle
- Data quality standards for monitoring stream ecosystems in the Central Alaska Network
- Monitoring Stream Ecosystems in the Central Alaska Network: Standard Operating Procedures Version 1.0
- Environmental DNA: An emerging tool for understanding aquatic biodiversity
- Central Alaska Network Stream Monitoring Program 2019 Annual Report
- Elodea: Alaska's first invasive aquatic plant continues to march across the state
- Using aquatic invertebrates to measure the health of stream ecosystems: new bioassessment tools for Alaska's parklands
- Stream Quantification Tool and Debit Calculator for the Alaskan Interior – Scientific Support. Version 1.0
- Stream Quantification Tool and Debit Calculator for the Alaskan Interior – User Manual and Spreadsheets. Version 1.0
- Using redundant primer sets to detect multiple native Alaskan fish species
- eDNA metabarcoding analyses of diet in yellow-billed loons of northern Alaska
- How Healthy Is a Stream? Ask the Stream Bugs!
- The wild and wonderful world of stream bugs
- Confirmation and description of the larva of the aquatic dance fly, Proclinopyga Melander (Diptera: Empididae: Clinocerinae)
- DNA barcoding takes bioassessment further: new distribution records for aquatic macroinvertebrates from Alaskan national parks