Salmon River Watershed Inventory and Landscape Analysis New York Natural Heritage Program A Partnership between The Nature Conservancy and the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation 625 Broadway, 5th Floor Albany, NY 12233-4757 (518) 402-8935 Fax (518) 402-8925 www.nynhp.org Salmon River Watershed Inventory and Landscape Analysis Timothy G. Howard New York Natural Heritage Program 625 Broadway, 5th Floor Albany, NY 12233-4757 Prepared for the NYS Tug Hill Commission Dulles State Office Building 317 Washington Street Watertown, New York 13601-3782 June 2006 This project was supported by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation with funding from the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration Program (United States Fish and Wildlife Service). Cover Photo by Tim Howard (shallow emergent marsh and beaver meadow at Hall Island State Forest). All photos in document by Tim Howard unless otherwise noted. This document was printed on recycled paper with 30% post-consumer content i (this page intentionally left blank) ii Report Summary The purpose of this project is to evaluate the biological integrity and relative biological quality of subwatersheds within the entire Salmon River watershed. There are three components to this project. Using known locations for rare species statewide, we build computer models for rare species and natural communities that are likely to occur within the watershed. Second, we conduct field inventories for rare species and significant natural communities based on the predictions of the models and other factors. Third, we conduct an assessment of the subwatersheds within the entire basin using our computer models, our field inventory data, and other GIS data available to us. The goal of the GIS analysis is to identify and rank the highest quality sub-watersheds within the entire basin using a transparent system that can then be applied to other basins in the state. Inventory efforts during 2005 resulted in many new and updated locations for rare species and significant ecological communities. In all, we know of 61 different occurrences of rare species and significant natural communities within the entire basin. Eleven of these are locations for rare animals, twelve for rare plants, and 39 for significant natural communities. Clusters of rare species and significant natural communities occur near the mouth of the Salmon River, at Sloperville Fen, and within the Salmon River Gorge. We gain a broader perspective of the basin as a whole and of the relative differences among locations throughout the basin by comparing different metrics of viability and biodiversity among subwatersheds. This analysis singles out the Mad River subwatershed as the subwatershed with the most intact landscape and the least anthropogenic disturbances, barriers, and alterations (Appendix 4). Cold Brook, a narrow subwatershed adjacent to Mad River on the south side comes in a close second. Combining these two perspectives, the patterns of biodiversity and patterns of “landscape intactness” offers a useful dichotomy and permits two focal perspectives for conservation. First, the entire Salmon River Watershed crosses through very different ecosystems as it extends from the Lake Ontario shoreline to the top of the Tug Hill plateau. Any basin-wide conservation plan should have representation from all these broad ecosystems. The variation in species and natural communities is one surrogate representation of this and the divide between the Lake Ontario shoreline and the Tug Hill is clearly shown with the rare species hotspots at the mouth of the Salmon River and the very few rare species but great many significant natural communities up on the Tug Hill. The results from this inventory and assessment project can be applied to basin-wide conservation strategies by considering both the patterns in rare species distribution throughout the basin and the patterns in subwatershed integrity in the basin. iii (this page intentionally left blank) iv Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 1 Purpose and Goals.............................................................................................................................. 1 OVERVIEW........................................................................................................................................... 2 Definitions of Terms Used................................................................................................................. 2 The Salmon River Watershed ............................................................................................................ 3 METHODS............................................................................................................................................. 7 Heritage Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 7 The coarse filter/fine filter ............................................................................................................. 7 Element rarity and vulnerability .................................................................................................... 8 Element occurrence viability ....................................................................................................... 10 Heritage data collection priorities................................................................................................ 11 Element Distribution Modeling........................................................................................................ 11 Select species and refine known locations................................................................................... 12 Prepare environmental data ......................................................................................................... 13 Generate and attribute points ....................................................................................................... 15 Presence data ........................................................................................................................... 15 Absence data............................................................................................................................ 16 Run models .................................................................................................................................. 17 Maximum entropy ................................................................................................................... 17 Random forests........................................................................................................................ 18 Merge, display, and evaluate models for inventory..................................................................... 18 Models as a part of the landscape assessment ............................................................................. 19 Pre-Inventory Methods: Landowner Permissions............................................................................ 20 Inventory Methods for Ecological Communities and Rare Species................................................. 20 Rare Animal and Plant Inventories .................................................................................................. 20 Ecological Community Inventories.................................................................................................. 21 General field methodology .......................................................................................................... 21 Project-specific field methodology.............................................................................................. 22 Plot and observation point sampling............................................................................................ 22 Information Processing and Mapping .............................................................................................. 22 Watershed Integrity Analysis Methods............................................................................................ 23 Analysis units............................................................................................................................... 23 Watershed analysis model development...................................................................................... 26 Ecological parameters.................................................................................................................. 26 Ecological data layers.................................................................................................................. 28 Data interpretation ....................................................................................................................... 29 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION........................................................................................................... 29 Landowner Contact.......................................................................................................................... 29 Inventory Efforts - Field Inventory.................................................................................................. 29 Subwatersheds – Inventory, Known Occurrences, Assessment Metrics.......................................... 31 Lower Salmon River-Mainstem (LSRM) .................................................................................... 32 Element occurrences...............................................................................................................