Cover slide placeholder National Estuarine Research Reserve System Have a question? Use the “Questions” function to pose questions throughout the webinar. Cover slide placeholder 5 Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve HRNERR Mission • Federal Program with NOAA • Partnership with NYS DEC • Designated in 1982 • 5,000 protected acres at 4 sites Dams and Sediment on the Hudson (DaSH) a NERRS Science Collaborative project 6 Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve Stockport Flats Tivoli Bays Stockport Flats Tivoli Bays Iona Norrie Point Environmental Island Center HRNERR Headquarters Piermont Marsh Iona Island Piermont Marsh 7 A Network of 29 Research Reserves MISSION: To promote stewardship of the Nation’s estuaries through science and education using a system of protected areas 8 Tidal Wetlands and Rising Waters • Vegetation in the intertidal zone • Tides deposit sediment (vertical growth) • Pathways for inland marsh migration (horizontal growth) • Barriers to horizontal growth and insufficient vertical growth lead to loss of wetlands with sea level rise 9 Dams and sediment supply Hudson River NERR Research Priority To improve the scientific understanding of the impacts that dam removals have on sediment transport and downstream tidal wetlands, including how this might change under future climate conditions. 10 Facilitator Research Reserve Coastal Issues in the NERRS Researcher End Users End Product Final Report 11 The DaSH Team Engineering consultants NYS Department of Environmental Conservation The Chazen Companies Hudson River NERR Fuss and O’Neill Engineering Hudson River Estuary Program Division of Water Wetland managers and environmental non-profits Dam Safety Office Scenic Hudson Hudson River Foundation Other Government Agencies NOAA Office of Response and Restoration Academic Institutions US Geological Survey University of Massachusetts Amherst NYC Department of Environmental Protection Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies 12 Poll: What is your interest in DaSH? South Lattintown Creek Dam, Photo Credit Andrew Meyer Poll Questions: How are you connected to today’s webinar? Which topic is most of interest to you for today’s webinar? Dams and Sediment in the Hudson Brian Yellen UMass Amherst, Dept of Geosciences Open water ~1900 ? Caroline Ladlow (MS UMass) Waverly Lau (HRF Polgar) NERRS Science Collaborative Webinar – September 24, 2020 14 Dams and Sediment in the Hudson (DaSH) – Our Team What effects will dam removal have on sediment dynamics in the Hudson Estuary? Modeling studies End user coordination Advisory Committee David Ralston, Associate Scientist Sarah Fernald, Research Coordinator Elias Dueker Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Jennifer Cavanaugh Phil Moreschi Scott Cuppett Fran Dunwell Field studies Collaborative engagement Dan Miller Brian Yellen, Research Professor Ona Ferguson, Senior Mediator Jim Lodge University of Massachusetts Consensus Building Institute, Inc. Betsy Blair Carl Alderson Lisa Rosman Jon Woodruff, Associate Professor Megan Lung University of Massachusetts Maria Tupper-Goebel Alon Dominitz Jennifer Ross Karen Woodfield Nava Tabak Stuart Findlay Barbara Beall Russell Urban-Mead Andy Peck 15 DaSH - Who are the stakeholders? FisheriesFisheries DamDam Owners Owners DamDam Regulators Regulators Tidal wetlands Practitioners Environmental Regulators 16 Project Background Stockport Watershed Dams Stockport MA Tivoli Hudson River Lower Hudson watershed CT 1702 dams marsh dam NJ dams Iona 40 km 50 km 15 km • Registered dams in Lower Hudson • Three tidal marshes, catchments 17 • ~half watershed drains to estuary • Varying geology, land use, relief Background sediment loading 18 Sediment yields are 60 / 100 T km-2 yr-1 Stony Clove Mohawk Esopus Upper Hudson 19 Annual Sediment Load = 1.2 MT Can we use dams to refine these curves? What we wanted… What we found… Summit Lake - Philmont, NY Depth (m) 3 < .25 0.25-0.5 0.5-0.75 2 0.75-1 1-1.25 1.25-1.5 1 1.5-1.75 1.75-2.0 2.0-2.25 2.25-2.5 100 m GPR DAM 20 1 core location Most dams don’t trap sediment (only 4 of 97 do) Stockport Creek Watershed n = 4 n = 70 n = 23 21 https://www.hrnerr.org/hrnerr-research/dams-and-sediment-in-the-hudson Scaling up the estimate Physiographic Provinces Impoundment sediment by Province 2 T / km ∴ Scaled estimate = 4.9 Mt in ~100 years ~ 4 years equiv sediment load 22 Importance of regional studies: East vs West coast ~4 yrs equiv. 1700 dams 4.9 23 Modeling sediment release to the estuary Grain Size Impoundments Marshes 24 Modeling sediment release to the estuary Assume 3x sediment relative to discharge log sediment log Discharge day, 2014 Summary of Dam Findings ● Annual sediment delivery to estuary = 1.2 Mt ● Sediment trapped in impoundments = 5 Mt ● Effects of dam removal are local and short lived What about the marshes? Tivoli North anthropogenic marshes Stockport Vanderburgh Tiv. South Cove and Marsh 20020 m 0 m 200 m Iona Island Marsh 200 m Esopus Delta 200 m 20020 m 27 0 m What about the marshes? Tivoli North Bay - Cattail Tidal Marsh Seaward HUDSON Landward MAINSTEM 28 What about the marshes? Tivoli North Bay - Cattail Tidal Marsh 29 Tivoli Marsh developmental history Catskill, 1934 Google Earth, 2017 TVN2 TVN3 TVN1 grain size grain size grain size 1954 Cs-137 1850 Zinc 1850 1850 Zinc Zinc Accum 1 cm/yr 3x SLR 30 Stockport Marsh developmental history 31 Stockport Marsh developmental history Stockport Accumulating 10+ mm/yr! organic rich mineral 32 Stockport Marsh developmental history An inadvertent experiment in marsh seeding …success! Dredge Dredge spoils spoils 7 4 1 1930/3 500 m 500 m 1978 1960 2 33 Stockport Marsh developmental history Zinc 7 4 1 Zinc Zinc 200 m 34 Iona Island Marsh Iona Island Marsh 200 m Iona Island 7 2 1 5 4 35 Iona Island Marsh INA2, > 50% organic 36 Net result of channel modifications More than half of Hudson marshes are anthropogenic Trap ~ 7% of annual sediment load 37 Anthropogenic Marsh characteristics Anthropogenic Marshes 38 Contrasting new and old marshes (and coves) N4 2.5 SPM Stockp ort TVN Eso Tiv. pus ESP TivN N4 2.0 . STVS Vanderb urghVBM N4 1.5 Io INAna N4 1.0 0 New York City 39 W74. W7 W73. 25 4.0 75 Regional sediment comparison Jamaica Bay Marsh Pedersen et al., 2005 Peteet et al., 2018 Hudson Old marsh Bopp et al., 1993 Hudson human-made Jamaica Bay 40 What’s next for marsh studies? 1. Quantify modern sediment trapping across seasons, tidal cycles. 2. Identify locations where marsh is likely to develop 3. Examine potential impacts to marshes of a surge barrier 41 Hurr. Irene turbidity lasted 2 years after 2011 Q Q ) r,avg r,max ) -1 -1 s 600 a) discharge 6000 s 3 3 400 4000 (m max 200 2000 r Q Avg Q (m Avg 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 1500 b) sediment input 1000 Mohawk Upper Hudson (kt) s Q 500 0 Schodack Island 30 c) turbidity in estuary Tivoli North Bay 20 ntu Norrie Point 10 Piermont 0 1.5 d) turbidity ratio 1 0.5 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 42 Ralston et al., 2020 Conclusions (paper summaries) 1. Watershed sediment supply 2 . Rapid Tidal Marsh Development in 3. Turbidity and potential impacts of dam Anthropogenic Backwaters hysteresis in an removals for an estuary estuary and tidal river following an extreme discharge event Turbidity lingered for ~2 yr after Irene Small role of dams 50% marshes are 43 human-made Citations Bopp, R.F., Simpson, H.J., Chillrud, S.N., Robinson, D.W., 1993. Sediment-derived chronologies of persistent contaminants in Jamaica Bay, New York. Estuaries 16, 608–616. Pederson, D.C., Peteet, D.M., Kurdyla, D., Guilderson, T., 2005. Medieval Warming, Little Ice Age, and European impact on the environment during the last millennium in the lower Hudson Valley, New York, USA. Quaternary Research 63, 238–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yqres.2005.01.001 Peteet, D.M., Nichols, J., Kenna, T., Chang, C., Browne, J., Reza, M., Kovari, S., Liberman, L., Stern-Protz, S., 2018. Sediment starvation destroys New York City marshes’ resistance to sea level rise. PNAS 115, 10281–10286. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1715392115 Ralston, D.K., Yellen, B., Woodruff, J.D. and Fernald, S., 2020. Turbidity hysteresis in an estuary and tidal river following an extreme discharge event. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(15), doi.org/10.1029/2020GL088005. Preprint Manuscripts Ralston, D., Yellen, B., Woodruff, J., 2020. Watershed sediment supply and potential impacts of dam removals for an estuary (preprint). Earth and Space Science Open Archive. https://doi.org/10.1002/essoar.10502519.1 Yellen, B., Woodruff, J., Ralston, D., Ladlow, C., Fernald, S., Lau, W., 2020. Rapid Tidal Marsh Development in Anthropogenic Backwaters (preprint). EarthArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/ga5pm 44 Q&A Use the “Questions” function in the GoToWebinar console Sarah Fernald Brian Yellen David Ralston Research Coordinator Research Assistant Professor Associate Scientist Hudson River NERR, NY UMass Amherst Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Q&A Q: Some of your site photos (e.g. Iona) seem to show a lot of invasive Q: Are the big dams used for hydropower or used to store water, and how does Phragmites vegetation. How have identified vegetation species affected marsh the different usage of the dams influence the sediment retention? sediment dynamics? Does Phragmites (or other vegetation changes) explain ● A: The two biggest impoundments (Ashokan and Rondout) are for water the increase in organic content shown in sediment cores? supply. Some of the biggest individual sediment stores that can potentially ● A: There is a massive Phragmites infestation at Iona, and there are ongoing be mobilized are in run of river dams on large rivers, such as the Esopus, mitigation efforts underway.