Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 Auditorium Science Live Science BEES Classroom BEES Street Entrance th 19 Commons Library Page | 1 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 Agenda 8:30 – 9:00 Registration 19th Street Entrance Poster Set-up Commons Breakfast and Coffee Science Live 9:00 – 9:30 Welcome and Opening Remarks Auditorium Scott Cooper, President and CEO, Academy of Natural Sciences Roland Wall, Director, Patrick Center for Environmental Research, ANS 9:30-10:00 Keynote Presentation by Dr. Laura Craig Auditorium Promoting and Protecting the Use of Science in Freshwater Conservation 10:00 – 10:30 Morning Break, Breakfast and Coffee Science Live 10:30 - 12:00 Concurrent Session 1A: Tools and Modeling BEES Classroom 10:30-10:45 Modeling Effects of Changing Atmospheric Nitrogen Deposition and Forest Tree Species Composition on Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling in the Upper Delaware Basin - Colin Fuss 10:45-11:00 Development of Fine-Scale Temperature Models in the Delaware River: Application to Predictive Temperature Modeling, Decision Support Tools, And Ecosystem Services - Heather Galbraith 11:00-11:15 Studying Past Stream Restorations to Inform Future Action - Hayley Oakland 11:15-11:30 The Impact of Future Climate Variability on the Hydrology of the Delaware River Basin - Timothy Hawkins 11:30-11:45 Multi-scale Assessment of Potential Climate Change Impacts to Eastern U.S. Tree Species - Claire Jantz 11:45-12:00 Speaker Panel led by Scott Haag, Environmental Data Science Lead ANS Page | 2 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 10:30 – 12:00 Concurrent Session 1B: Freshwater Status and Trends I Library 10:30-10:45 Revisiting the Musconetcong River after Ten Years - Meiyin Wu 10:45-11:00 Point and Non-Point Sources of Endocrine Disrupting Compounds and the Potential Effects on Fish and Frogs in the New Jersey Pinelands - John Bunnell 11:00-11:15 Comparing Illumina MiSeq and PacBio SMRT Sequencing of Fecal Samples from Various Animal Sources Potentially Contributing to Microbial Contamination of the Delaware River Watershed - Tyler Bradley 11:15-11:30 The Impact of Agricultural Land Use on Streams in the Brandywine/ Christina, Middle Schuylkill And Schuylkill Highland Clusters - Jan Battle 11:30-11:45 Water Quality Trends in the Brandywine Christina Cluster Along the Arc Boundary of Delaware - Gerald Kauffman 11:45-12:00 Speaker Panel led by Stefanie Kroll, Watershed Ecology Section Lead ANS 12:00 – 1:30 Networking Lunch and Poster Session Commons 1:30 – 3:00 Concurrent Session 2A: Urban Systems and Effects BEES Class 1:30-1:45 Responsive Urban Environments: Looking at Philadelphia Through the Lens of Ecosystem Management - Eugenia Ellis 1:45-2:00 Evaluating Biological Responses to Modern Stormwater Control Measures: Preliminary Results and Project Update - Stanley Kemp 2:00-2:15 Precipitation Events, Source Water Conditions, and Risk of Gastrointestinal Illness in Philadelphia - Anneclaire J. De Roos 2:15-2:30 Reducing Household Nutrient Run-Off: Power of Testimonials, Adoption and Sustained Maintenance of Best Management Practices - Olesya Savchenko 2:30-2:45 Modeling Eutrophication Processes in the Delaware Estuary to Link Watershed Efforts to Control Nutrient Impacts - Namsoo Suk 2:45-3:00 Speaker Panel led by Richard Horwitz, Fisheries Section Lead ANS Page | 3 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 1:30 – 3:00 Concurrent Session 2B: Freshwater Status and Trends II Library 1:30-1:45 Assessing the Effectiveness of Riparian Buffers at Removing Nutrients and Sediment from Runoff - Elizabeth Rielly-Carroll 1:45-2:00 Quantifying Sediment Processes in the White Clay Creek Watershed: Preliminary Assessment - James Pizzuto 2:00-2:15 Monitoring Stream Geometry at the Headwaters and Downstream in Chrome Run - James Kugel 2:15-2:30 Adding Up Floodplain Benefits - Kristina Hopkins 2:30-2:45 Characterization of the Organic Matter Found in the Suspended Solids of the Musconetcong River, NJ, Using Pyrolysis – GC/MS - Kevin Olsen 2:45-3:00 Speaker Panel led by Marie Kurz, Biogeochemistry Section Lead ANS 3:00 – 3:30 Afternoon Break, Coffee and Snacks Science Live 3:30 – 5:00 Final Session: Social and Economic Perspectives Auditorium 3:30-3:45 The Brandywine Christina Healthy Water Fund - Jennifer Egan 3:45-4:00 Local Involvement and Social Elements in Bacterial Management along the Musconetcong River - Jessica Miller 4:00-4:15 Municipal Code and Ordinance Reviews to Evaluate Forest Protection in the Delaware River Basin - Julie Schneider and JeanMarie Hartman 4:15-4:30 Evaluation of the Technical, Economic, and Social Impacts Associated with Updating Major Wastewater Treatment Infrastructure to Address Aquatic Life Uses and Values for the Delaware Estuary - John Yagecic 4:30-4:45 Economic Value of Restoring the Delaware Estuary - Erik Silldorff 4:45-5:00 Speaker Panel led by Roland Wall, Director, Patrick Center for Environmental Research ANS 5:00 Closing Remarks Auditorium Roland Wall, Director, Patrick Center for Environmental Research ANS Page | 4 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 Poster Presentations Calibration and Validation of Soil Moisture Sensors Installed in Rain Gardens – Matina Shakya Evaluating the Flashiness of Small Streams - Lesmes Alejandro Mora Jerez Habitat Suitability for the American Shad (Alosa Sapidissima) Through the Determination of Aquatic Organism Passage and Water Quality in the Musconetcong River, NJ - Kevin Zerbe A Comparative Analysis of the Watershed Resources Registry Using GIS to Evaluate Restoration Practices in the White Clay Creek National Wild and Scenic River Watershed - Jillian Young The Impact of Ecological Restoration on Chironomidae Genera Abundance and Diversity in the Lower Delaware River Basin - Brendan Marencin New Measures of Aquatic Habitat for Assessing Restoration Resilience - Hayley Oakland Sediment and Nutrient Concentrations in Stormwater Runoff in Three Suburban Philadelphia Stream Catchments - Elizabeth M. Cushman Modeling the Effects of Delaware River on Land Evolution in Darby Creek, PA - Hossein Hosseiny Evaluating Point Source Nutrient Effects on Metabolic Activity in an Urban Stream - Marie Kurz, Sarah Ledford, Laura Toran Page | 5 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 Keynote Presentation Laura Craig, Ph.D. Director of Science & Economics, American Rivers Promoting and protecting the use of science in freshwater conservation Aldo Leopold wrote that “we use science to ensure that we have the knowledge and perspective to be the best we can be at protecting and restoring rivers.” Science provides the information needed to develop and support policy advocacy positions, allows us to make predictions about the outcomes of proposed efforts, and helps us pursue opportunities that are likely to have the greatest conservation benefits. In this talk, I will discuss the important relationship between science and conservation; highlight how this relationship provides opportunities to expand scientific understanding and improve conservation practice; address a few of the challenges faced by scientists and managers working to protect and restore rivers (including the need to protect the use of science in conservation policy); and provide practical suggestions for improving the application of science to policy and practice. Dr. Laura Craig is the Director of Science & Economics at American Rivers, a national conservation non-profit whose mission is to protect wild rivers, restore damaged rivers, and conserve clean water for people and nature. Laura works to ensure that American Rivers’ work is informed by the best available science; advance river conservation science by identifying and addressing research needs; and improve the application of existing science to conservation policy and practice. She has been honored as an Emerging Leader in a New Jersey Non-Profit by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and an Environmental Leadership Program Eastern Region Fellow. She serves on the Board of Advisors for the Tookany-Tacony Frankford Watershed Partnership, the Science and Technical Advisory Board of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, and the Scientific Review Committee of the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. Laura has a BS in Biology from Susquehanna University and a PhD in Aquatic Ecology from the University of Maryland-College Park. Page | 6 Delaware Watershed Research Conference 11.29.2018 Presentation Abstracts (Alphabetical by Presenter Last Name) J.M. Battle1,* J.K. Jackson1, M. Erhart1, S. Kroll2, M.J. Kurz2, and M. Bullard3 1Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale PA 2Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel, Phila. PA 3Green Valley Watershed Association, Pottstown PA The impact of agricultural land use on streams in the Brandywine/Christina, Middle Schuylkill and Schuylkill Highland clusters Agriculture is a common cause of stream degradation in the Delaware River Watershed, resulting from field, barnyard, and in stream activities. From 2013-2018, we sampled water chemistry and macroinvertebrates at 152 sites that represented a wide gradient of agricultural conditions in the Brandywine/Christina (BC), Middle Schuylkill (MS) and Schuylkill Highland (SH) clusters. The proportion of agriculture upstream of sampling sites ranged from 0% to 85%, with greater agricultural land cover at the BC sites (average 41% of the watershed was farmed) than MS (38%) and SH (22%) sites. Results indicated macroinvertebrate assemblages differed based on agricultural intensity: sites with high agricultural land