T.F. Green Airport Improvement Program - FEIS Chapters - PVD

T.F. Green Airport Improvement ProgramEnvironmental Impact Statement and Final Section 4(f) EvaluationThe largest deepwater habitat in the Project Area is Spring Green Pond (8.9 acres) north of Airport Road and westof Warwick Avenue. The RIDEM DFW notes that this pond supports a small number of waterfowl includingmallard (Anas platyrhynchos), American black duck (A. rubripes), Canada goose (Branta canadensis), and mute swan(Cygnus olor) during ice-free periods. 234Buckeye Brook is notable for the unaided river herring 235 spawning run that occurs in the spring into WarwickPond further upstream into Spring Green Pond. Spring Green Pond is an artificial impoundment that is shownon maps dating back more than 120 years. 236Buckeye Brook was placed on the Rhode Island 303(d) list of impaired waters for biodiversity impairmentsbased on preliminary data collected during the Statewide Wadeable Streams Biomonitoring and HabitatAssessment. 237 The RIDEM has begun studies to better characterize the impairment and develop TMDLrestrictions on pollutants that may be discharged into the Buckeye Brook and its tributaries. The habitatassessment for streams in the watershed identified the poorest scoring segments to be Warner Brook, which isnot sourced on the Airport, along with Tributaries A11 and A14 within the Project Area. The highest scoringstream segment of Buckeye Brook was located just downstream of the Study Area near Old Warwick Avenue.This segment actually scored higher than the unimpaired stream used as a reference, indicating impairments inthe upper watershed appear to be attenuated in downstream segments.Assessments of macro-invertebrate diversity found four sampling stations along the brook and its tributaries tobe moderately impaired and three sampling stations (Tributary A in Wetland A13, Buckeye Brook near RufusRoad, and Warner Brook) to be severely impaired. The EPA conducted chronic toxicity tests on fatheadminnow (Pimephales promelas) and a common freshwater invertebrate (Ceriodaphnia dubia) using water samplescollected from the similar points in the watershed. These tests measure the survivorship and growth of thesespecies in water samples collected from the sampled stream segments to identify statistically significantvariations. These tests found no statistically significant effects on survivorship for either species among thesamples taken in the watershed, including samples from Tributaries A11 and A14. These tests did showapparent significant reductions in reproduction rates of Ceriodaphnia for water samples collected fromTributaries A11 and A14.The following important components of local or regional biodiversity have been identified in the Project Area:• Aquatic habitats in Buckeye Brook, Spring Green Brook, and Spring Green Pond. Buckeye Brook and SpringGreen Brook are used by river herring during spawning runs to Warwick Pond and Spring Green Pond, andby American eel for habitat and spawning runs to the coast. River herring and American eel are identified234 Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Department of Fish and Wildlife correspondence, August 17, 2001.235 River Herring is a collective term used to describe both anadromous alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) and blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). Locallythese fish are known as buckeyes, hence the name Buckeye Brook. The migration is unaided as no artificial fish ladders or other devices are necessaryfor the fish to complete their passage to spawning sites in Warwick Pond and Spring Green Pond.236 This earthen dam now is now concealed as the roadway fill section of Warwick Avenue where it crosses east of the pond. Along with the dam to create thepond, an outlet channel was excavated which drains west to a small stream in the headwaters Buckeye Brook north of Airport Road. The existingconfiguration of pond and outlet stream appears on the U.S. Geological Survey, June 1892 Edition of the Rhode Island Narragansett Bay TopographicMap Sheet, fieldwork completed in1888.237 ESS Group. 2009; Buckeye Brook Biodiversity Impairment Data Report, 2008. 27 pp + tables, photos, and figures. and USEPA October 15, 2008; ToxicityTest Results; Buckeye Brook Study Summer 2008.Chapter 4 – Affected Environment 4-65 July 2011\\mawatr\ev\09228.00\reports\FEIS_Final_July_2011\PVD_CH04_Affected_Env_JUL_2011.doc