Multi-Scale Evaluation of Watershed Health in the Delaware River Basin and CEMRI
Stolte K, Murdoch P, Jenkins J, Richard B, Evans R. Multi-Scale Evaluation of Watershed Health in the Delaware River Basin and CEMRI. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. Triangle Park, NC
The Delaware River Basin is in the coastal Mid- Atlantic region of the United States, covers 12,700 square miles of primarily forested land, and is home to 7.2 million people. Major watershed issues in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) are urbanization and forest fragmentation, varied abiotic and biotic stressors, diminished condition of forest soils and plants, invasive exotic species, and relationships between forest terrestrial and aquatic processes. In 1998 the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the National Park Service (NPS) formed a Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research Initiative (CEMRI). Initial efforts involved combining monitoring and research efforts of participating Federal programs to evaluate health and sustainability of forest and fresh water aquatic systems in the DRB. In 1999-2002, CEMRI focused on urbanization and forest fragmentation, carbon stocks and fluxes, nitrogen saturation and calcium depletion, vulnerability to exotic insects, and improving knowledge of associations between terrestrial and aquatic processes. Models were developed or modified to associate process-level information (from two long-term watershed monitoring sites representing three physiographic provinces) with landscape-scale information (from satellite, aerial, and ground monitoring systems). Eventual goals are development of models of responses of forest and aquatic processes to perturbations, estimation of future forest condition, and identification of threats to forest health and sustainability. This paper discusses development of CEMRI, utilization of the Intensive Site Monitoring component of the Forest Health Monitoring program, terrestrial and aquatic issues to be addressed by this collaborative effort, and proposed methods to evaluate issues across multiple spatial scales.