CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2014 Field Season Report

Simmons, Trey

During the 2014 field season, the Central Alaska Network (CAKN) Stream Monitoring Program made 58 sampling visits to 37 unique stream sites across the network (Figure 1), with each site being sampled one to two times from early May through late September. High water prevented sampling during a number of additional site visits. Field work was scaled back in comparison to previous years to allow more focus on management and analysis of data collected in previous years. The data collected included instantaneous water chemistry, stream flow, water chemistry samples, macroinvertebrates, stable isotope samples, habitat data and environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. We successfully used eDNA to detect the presence of multiple fish species at several sites in the network. Continuous yearround temperature monitoring at 22 sites across the network is ongoing, and is now in its 7th year at some sites. A number of temperature dataloggers were replaced during 2014. Active layer depth and continuous soil temperature data were collected for the 6th year at 2 CALM plots in WRST. A timelapse camera installed in 2012 at Jack Creek in WRST to monitor flow, turbidity and the timing of freeze-up and break-up failed again over the winter, but new high-performance batteries should solve this problem going forward. Four site visits were made to the stream gage on the Nabesna River just outside of WRST to perform station maintenance and collect discharge and water chemistry data. This gage has been operated as a cooperative effort between CAKN, The US Fish and Wildlife Service and the NOAA River Forecast Center since 2012. 8 years of continuous discharge and temperature data have now been collected. Logistical problems led to the cancellation of most data collection in YUCH, although water chemistry and environmental DNA samples were collected from 2 sites. We collaborated with Matt Nolan at UAF to test the utility of high-resolution photogrammetry to detect channel change in rivers. A final version of the CAKN Stream Monitoring Program 2011 Annual Report will be available as a Natural Resources Technical Report by the end of the calendar year (Annual Reports for 2006-2010 are available at the CAKN website - http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/cakn/reportpubs.cfm). The Stream Monitoring Protocol, including a Protocol Narrative and 19 Standard Operating Procedures, is in peer review; a final version should be in publication as a Natural Resource Report within several months.