| |
Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(68) USE OF BIOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR NATURAL RESOURCE DAMAGE ASSESSMENTS OF THE GRAND CALUMET RIVER AND INDIANA HARBOR CANAL.
T.P. Simon1, S.A. Newhouse2, and R. Dufour2. 1U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bloomington, IN, 2Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indianapolis, IN
The Grand Calumet River and Indiana Harbor Canal is a Critical Area of Concern in the Great Lakes basin with all 14 designated uses impaired. Pre-1900 and current data were used to establish expectations for fish, macroinvertebrates, mussels, indicator species, and top predators.in free-flowing, lagoon, and harbor canal habitats. Because few macrobenthos currently exist in the river and historical information did not exist, we evaluated macroinvertebrate expectations from species distribution records within a 100 mile radius of the watershed. These were compared with occurrences in waters statewide, other portions of the Great Lakes, and "least-impacted" sites. Mussel expectations were determined from other Great Lakes information and sediment cores. Fish expectations were based on average index (IBI, IWB) scores for the remainder of the Lake Michigan watershed in Indiana and a statewide model. Key species lists were determined by using common species found in other portions of the subecoregion. Expected top predator condition was estimated from published equations. All these expectations were compared with data from the Indiana harbor area. Currently, none of the 21 sites monitored during 1998 were meeting designated uses for aquatic life expectations based on the subecoregion model.
Presented at 9:30 AM on Tuesday, May 30, 2000 in Determining Good Sites from Bad I
|
|
