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A Look Under The Ice

Watershed Stories

Keep up with the work of Ausable Freshwater Center (AFC) staff. These stories share information about our stewardship and monitoring work, natural stream restoration, and culvert replacement techniques by highlighting specific projects in the Ausable and Boquet River watersheds of northern New York. They also give you fun facts about the plants and wildlife that live in these watersheds, as well as tips for enjoying responsible, low-impact recreational opportunities.

Mar
23
2022
What Can A River Do For You, Your Community, And Your Planet?
What are ecosystem services? What role does a healthy, functioning river have in the delivery of these services?
Ecology
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Mar
16
2022
What Are Durable Surfaces?
Walking on muddy trails at higher elevations can erode trails and cause trail widening by those attempting to skirt around muddy patches. To address this concern, and the added issue of trampling fragile vegetation, the second principle of Leave No Trace is “travel and camp on durable surfaces.” But what does this mean? What are durable surfaces? And how do we know what to travel and camp on?
Recreation
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Feb
16
2022
Protecting Infrastructure in Keene - Phase Two
In summer 2021, AsRA managed phase two of a restoration effort on the East Branch Ausable River that began the previous year in response to an exposed water main in the Hamlet of Keene. The project, designed in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and funded primarily through the Lake Champlain Basin Program, utilized natural channel restoration methods to improve sediment transport and restore aquatic habitat.
Restoration
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Feb
10
2022
Winter Outdoor Activity Tips
Let’s say you’re sitting in your warm house or apartment, dreaming of a popular winter outdoor activity in the Adirondacks such as hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, or skating. Do you know how to plan a safe and enjoyable trip? Check out these winter outdoor activity tips to make sure!
Recreation
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Feb
03
2022
What's Attacking Our Hemlock Trees?
What’s white and fluffy on hemlock trees in the winter? Hopefully, your answer is snow, but in some places the answer is hemlock woolly adelgid. While snow is covering the top of the branches, these invasive insects could be covering the underside, feeding on and damaging the hemlock tree.
Invasives
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Dec
08
2021
Using Wood to Protect Streambanks
Erosion and deposition in rivers are natural processes, but excessive erosion can be a problem, as eroding banks migrate outward and threaten homes and roads. Where infrastructure cannot reasonably be moved, allowing a stream to meander and self-repair, toe wood benches are a cost-effective solution to stabilize eroding banks and improve fish habitat.
Restoration
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Dec
02
2021
Our Salty Work: Reducing Salt in Mirror Lake and Beyond
Science on the impacts of road salt on our waters is clear. Salt that is used as a deicing agent in winter maintenance moves into our waterways and threatens natural ecological processes.
Road Salt
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Nov
04
2021
Birds and Bats and Bivalves, Oh My!
A brief summary of our 2021 Guided River Tours....
Stewardship
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Oct
21
2021
A Day in the Life of a Field Scientist: Looking for Fish in a Cup of Water
We want to determine which species of trout inhabit the streams across the watershed, from the mouth to the headwaters. To answer these questions and effectively map the species distribution of brook trout and other salmonids, we can use environmental DNA. As an alternative to employing traditional fisheries surveys, we filter water from sites every kilometer from the mouth of the stream to the headwaters. We are looking for environmental DNA, which are small fragments of DNA from shed skin cells or waste generated by fish swimming around in the stream.
Brook Trout
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Oct
07
2021
How Much Oxygen Is in Our Lakes and Streams?
If you spend time following the work of the Ausable River Association, you know that dissolved oxygen (DO) is an important component of water quality. Dissolved oxygen is the measure of how much oxygen is dissolved in water, or the amount of oxygen that is available to aquatic organisms.
Limnology
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The Ausable River is a river on the edge.
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AsRA is working hard to protect the Ausable River.
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