Preliminary results from the 2018 Niagara River National Coastal Condition Assessment pilot survey
Citation:
Pawlowski, M., M. Wick, D. Bolgrien, M. Pearson, T. Angradi, A. Cotter, AND M. Nord. Preliminary results from the 2018 Niagara River National Coastal Condition Assessment pilot survey. Great Lakes Research Conference, Brockport, NY, June 10 - 14, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This presentation presents preliminary results and lessons learned from the first ever probability survey of ecological conditions on the Niagara River. As an Area of Concern (AOC), ecological information from this survey will inform various interest groups and local resource managers on conditions in the system as a whole, rather than in routinely sampled target areas.
Description:
The first system-wide probabilistic survey of ecological conditions the Niagara River was completed during summer of 2018 as part of a pilot study to incorporate Great Lakes connecting channels (GLCC) into the National Costal Condition Assessment (NCCA). The Niagara River is part of the Niagara-Buffalo Area of Concern and previous studies have focused on specific areas thought to be particularly degraded. Past surveys of the other GLCC (Huron-Erie corridor in 2014-2015 and St. Marys River in 2015-2016) suggest that sampling designs that use random vs. hand-picked sampling locations can generate very different results for ecological conditions. Using lessons learned in past surveys, we incorporated 60 random probability sites in order to assure statistical power in condition estimates and 15 hand-picked sites at locations routinely sampled by the other interest groups to demonstrate that the survey can capture the full range of conditions in the system and to compliment work being done by other stakeholders. Here we provide an overview of the sampling design and present preliminary results on for ecological conditions in the Niagara River in 2018. We also share insights that may inform future surveys of this and other systems.