Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation Plan - Western ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation Plansources is the major recommendation for protecting the Warmwater Community.Large Stream and River CommunityCommunity Indicators: Common carp, gizzard shad, emerald shiner, black crappie, and white crappie.In other community locations, particularly large rivers, the following fish are also associated with thecommunity: Channel catfish, sauger, freshwater drum, walleye, white bass, shorthead redhorse, spottedbass, silver redhorse, quillback carpsucker, flathead catfish, smallmouth buffalo, river redhorse, mooneye,muskellunge, longnose gar, brook silver-side, and northern pike.Species of Conservation Concern: mooneye (S2/G5), smallmouth buffalo (S2/G5), longnose garS2S3/G5), river redhorse (S3/G4), channel darter (S1S2/G4)Habitat: Although the Large Stream and River Community occurs in the largest streams and rivers(hence, its name), it may be somewhat inappropriately named for the smaller warm water communityhabitats, like the Connoquenessing Creek. In addition to Connoquenessing Creek, the community occursin Breakneck Creek. The diverse fish assemblage may also transition to the Warmwater Communitythroughout the watershed.The preferred habitats of fish in the Large River Community generally exist in varied riverine habitats,including shallow shorelines, deep channels and slow or non-flowing impoundments behind dams.Impounded sections of the streams in the watershed may create habitat for this community type.Community quality rating: MediumCommunity rarity: YesThreats: Breakneck Creek and its tributaries are impaired for most of their lengths because of siltationfrom impoundment and from impervious surfaces. Runoff from urban/suburban sources, roads, andstormwater degraded water quality and habitat. The water quality on Connoquenessing Creek was foundto have excess salinity/TDS/chlorides. Other sources of water quality degradation on ConnoquenessingCreek are from impervious surface runoff and acid mine drainage (DEP, 2006a).Conservation recommendations: Siltation and water quality issues within the watershed must beaddressed to conserve fish habitat. Municipalities should work to reduce current stormwater issues andminimize additional runoff. Game and non-game fish populations and communities will benefit frombetter water quality and in-stream habitats.Freshwater Mussel CommunitiesLarge, dead freshwater mussel shellfound in Connoquenessing Creek nearCamp Kon-O-KweeGeneral Threats and Conservation - Freshwatermussel populations are rapidly declining in North America.In the past 100 years, more than 10 percent of our continent’smussels have become extinct. For mussel species in theUnited States, nearly 25 percent have a status of federallyendangered or threatened, and 75 percent are listed asendangered, threatened, or special concern by individualstates (Nedeau et al., 2005).Appendix M. Aquatic Community Classification Page 4 of 8
Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation PlanMussel communities are generally indicative of habitat types that are rare in Pennsylvania andbecoming increasingly rarer. Mussel species are generally found in watersheds at least 75 km 2(approximately 21.87 square miles) in size that have medium or large streams. Mussel richness (numberof species) generally increases with increasing watershed size (Strayer & Jirka, 1997). The largest riversin Pennsylvania, like the Ohio, Allegheny, Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers, generally have the mostdiverse mussel communities. Large streams and rivers of good quality without major habitat alterationsare few.Water quality threats to mussels include toxic and organic compounds released from industrial andmunicipal point sources. In recent decades, regulations of gross point source discharges have sufficientlyimproved water quality and allowed mussels to recolonize some streams and rivers. Non-point sourcepollution contributed from large areas, like farms and cities, can also threaten water quality for mussels.Agricultural practices can vary greatly, as can their influences on mussel communities. In many instancesmussels are seemingly undisturbed by agricultural pollution, when compared to other aquatic organisms.However, excessive sedimentation and habitat alteration from agricultural practices can be detrimental tomussel communities. Runoff from urban and suburban developments appears to be more damaging tomussels, most likely due to combined effects of altered hydrology, warmer water temperatures and excesssediment and nutrient levels (Strayer & Jirka 1997).Dams negatively influence mussel communities via hydrologicalteration, disrupted connectivity, habitat modification, and changes inthermal properties of the water. Dams also restrict the movement of fishhosts that transport the larval, parasitic mussel glochidia; thisconsequently restricts the dispersal ability and reproductive success ofmussels. Alterations of the stream channel above and below the damwill potentially alter available habitat for mussel communities. Waterquality and temperature are also largely altered in a reservoir.Impoundment management and drawdown plans are vital formaintaining healthy mussel communities.The endangered northernriffleshell has declined due tohabitat loss and poor waterqualityInvasive mussel species like the zebra mussel and the Asian clam may be damaging to populations ofnative mollusks. Zebra mussels damage native mussels by attaching to individuals in large numbers,eventually killing them (Strayer & Jirka, 1997). Other non-native mussels may alter food resources andhabitat (Hakenkamp et al., 2001), and may also deteriorate endemic mussel populations.Mussel habitat requirements are not well known. Protecting habitats where mussels are currentlyoccurring is a first step to ensuring a long-term mussel resource. Protection from major channel alterationby bridges, dams and dredging is important for maintaining habitat. Preventing excessive amounts ofsediments, nutrients, and toxins in streams and rivers will maintain good water quality to support healthymussel communities. Adopting zoning, stormwater detention ordinances, and natural resource protectionordinances will help protect mussel resources. Reducing the effects of urbanization through control ofquantity and quality of stormwater will also help protect these habitats.Many experts believe that effective aquatic conservation will result only from the protection ofhabitats within ecological and evolutionary contexts, which they equate with biological organizationabove the level of individual species (e.g. Angermeier & Schlosser, 1995). Targeting biologicalcommunities is a proactive approach to biodiversity conservation, because it protects whole assemblagesof species before any single species declines into imperilment. In biological community protection, allspecies are protected: the common, the rare, and those not yet known (Higgins et al., 1998). Pennsylvaniais fortunate to harbor many inland freshwater mussel taxa that are globally rare. By conserving theprocesses that support these species, we are better able to conserve the species. It is important to protectAppendix M. Aquatic Community Classification Page 5 of 8
Page 4 and 5:
Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Con
Page 6 and 7:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14:
Page 18 and 19:
Page 20 and 21:
Page 22 and 23:
Page 24:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251:
Page 254 and 255:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
Page 273 and 274:
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277:
Page 280 and 281:
Page 282 and 283:
Page 284 and 285:
Page 286 and 287:
Page 288 and 289:
Page 290 and 291:
Page 293 and 294: Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Con
Page 299: Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Con
show all

Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation Plan - Western ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?