Marine Biology Commons^™

Seasonal Appearance And Monitoring Of Invasive Species In The Great Bay Estuarine System, Larry G. Harris, Jennifer A. Dijkstra

PREP Reports & Publications

The University of New Hampshire Zoology Department reports on a study designed to synthesize existing data on invasive species in the estuary and the surrounding area, compare succession between two panel studies (1979 to 1982 and 2003 to 2006), seasonally monitor invasive species in the Great Bay Estuary, and identify predators of invasive species. Researchers identified species most likely to invade the Great Bay Estuary, analyzed succession between two long-term panel studies separated by approximately 25 years, collected presence/absence and abundance data of invasive species at four sites within the Great Bay Estuarine System and identified potential predators of invasive …

Predicting The Success Of Invasive Species In The Great Bay Estuarine Researve, Jennifer A. Dijkstra, Larry G. Harris

PREP Reports & Publications

The University of New Hampshire Zoology Department reports on a study designed to continue monitoring the distribution of invasive species in the Great Bay Estuary and to carry out laboratory experiments designed to test the effects of salinity on ascidian mortality and determine predators of ascidian species. Researchers collected presence/absence and abundance data of invasive species at four sites within the Great Bay Estuarine System. The report gives a brief description of the results of the monitoring program to compare results obtained from 2006 to 2007 and to assess the response of ascidians to varying salinity and predators. This report …

Buffer Projects In The Town Of Wakefield And City Of Somersworth, Julie Labranche

PREP Reports & Publications

Participants in the Wakefield Buffer Project include SRPC staff, members of the Acton Wakefield Watershed Alliance (AWWA), local board and commission members, and the Wakefield Town Planner, Kathy Menici. AWWA members included: Linda Schier, Carol Lafond, Marge Kimball and Adam Soukimas. Town Staff included Joe Fluet (Planning board Chair) and Nancy Spencer Smith (Conservation Commission). The goals of AWWA are to educate and inform shoreland property owners about the harmful effects of erosion and uncontrolled stormwater runoff on water quality of its lakes and ponds. AWWA focuses their on- the-ground efforts to repair, restore and preserve healthy functioning buffers and …

Hydrological Parameters For New Hampshire's Estuaries, Phil Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program which is a joint local/state/federal program established under Section 320 of the Clean Water Act with the goal of protecting and enhancing nationally significant estuaries. The NHEP’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for New Hampshire’s estuaries was completed in 2000 and implementation is ongoing. The Management Plan outlines key issues related to management of New Hampshire’s estuaries and proposes strategies that are expected to collectively preserve and protect the state’s estuarine resources. The coastal watershed for the NHEP drains into two major estuary …

2005 Coastal Municipal Stormwater Infrastructure Mapping Project, Jeffrey Marcoux

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) received funds in 2005 from the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) to provide assistance to coastal communities to develop storm sewer infrastructure maps. This final report describes the grant projects completed in Rye and Seabrook.

NHEP chose to fund stormwater infrastructure mapping projects for a number of reasons. Primarily, this grant was established in order to fulfill one of the water quality action plans identified in the NHEP Management Plan. In addition, the Coastal/Piscataqua watershed has been identified by DES as a priority watershed in need of restoration. Updated and comprehensive maps …

Wakefield Land Conservation Education & Outreach Project, Cindy Barstow, Cheri Schlenker

PREP Reports & Publications

The Town of Wakefield has experienced an unprecedented growth explosion in the past seven years. Pressures to use heretofore undeveloped land for the construction of residential housing has threatened the natural resources of this community. The projected growth rate has the potential to severely impact Wakefield’s natural resources. While the town has undertaken a comprehensive revision of zoning, site plan and subdivision regulations, it is important that voluntary land protection measures are advanced to secure permanent protection of valuable resources.

Review Of Durham’S Regulations Related To Stormwater Management Durham, New Hampshire, Stone Environmental, Inc.

PREP Reports & Publications

This report provides a review of Durham’s Zoning Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations, Site Plan Review Regulations, Road Construction Regulations, and proposed Stormwater Ordinance regarding 1) compliance with state and federal stormwater regulations, and 2) how well these ordinances and regulations may be expected to perform in managing stormwater. The revisions suggested in these documents are intended to improve stormwater management in Durham for the benefit of the community and the protection of its water resources and wetlands. STONE

Impervious Surface Analysis For Durham Under Current And Build-Out Conditions In Support Of Stormwater Management, David Cedarholm, Stone Environmental, Inc.

PREP Reports & Publications

An analysis was performed to determine current and projected impervious surface areas in the Town of Durham, New Hampshire with the purpose of generating data to guide the adoption of stormwater management practices in the Town. Because impervious surfaces affect stormwater runoff peak flows and volumes significantly, it is critical to understand the Town’s impervious area characteristics (and the resulting stormwater management implications) under current conditions in order to develop appropriate stormwater management policies.

Review Of Northwood’S Stormwater Management Regulations Northwood, New Hampshire, Stone Environmental, Inc.

PREP Reports & Publications

This project was funded through a grant from the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) of the University of New Hampshire to assist the Town of Northwood in a review of their stormwater management regulations. The revisions suggested in Northwood’s Development Ordinance, Subdivision Regulations, and Site Plan Review Regulations are intended to improve stormwater management in Northwood for the benefit of the community and the protection of its water resources and wetlands. Review

Nhep 2007 Progress Report, New Hampshire Estuaries Project

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Estuary Program, which is a collaborative local/state/federal program established under the Clean Water Act with the goal of protecting and enhancing nationally significant estuaries. The NHEP receives most of its funding from the EPA and is administered by the University of New Hampshire. The mission of the NHEP is to protect, restore, and monitor the environmental quality of the state’s estuaries, including the Great Bay Estuary and the Hampton-Seabrook Estuary. The NHEP study area covers the entire coastal watershed of New Hampshire, including all …

Town Of Fremont Wetland Evaluation Report, West Environmental, Inc.

PREP Reports & Publications

West Environmental, Inc. (WEI) has prepared this report to document the evaluation of 55 wetlands within the Town of Fremont, New Hampshire. This is a follow-up study to the WEI study of Spruce Swamp in 2003. These wetlands were previously identified in the Fremont Wetland Mapping Report (April 2007), also prepared by WEI. The field work for this evaluation was conducted from February to September 2007 and included the verification of potential prime wetland boundaries.

Ambient Rivers Monitoring In The Great Bay Estuary Watershed 2006, Natalie Landry

PREP Reports & Publications

The Department of Environmental Services (DES) received funding from the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) to conduct monitoring activities in 2006. The activities described in this report were led by the DES Watershed Assistance Section and involved water monitoring at the head-of-tide in nine tidal tributaries. Other DES staff conducted laboratory analyses. These monitoring activities were completed with the overall purpose of improving the understanding of water quality trends. DES completed all tasks as planned. This report includes the sample collection information, field and laboratory data, and quality assurance information. Data summaries and interpretations will come at a later time …

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary 2005, Frederick T. Short

PREP Reports & Publications

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is an essential habitat for the Great Bay Estuary (GBE) because it provides food for wintering waterfowl and habitat for juvenile fish and shellfish. Eelgrass is the basis of an estuarine food chain that supports many of the recreationally, commercially and ecologically important species in the estuary. Additionally, eelgrass filters estuarine waters, removing both nutrients and suspended sediments from the water column. Eelgrass in the Great Bay Estuary is the largest monoculture in the State of New Hampshire and is considered a vital resource to the State’s marine environment. The present report describes and interprets the eelgrass …

Cooperative Project To Control Invasive Plants In The New Hampshire Seacoast Region, Rockingham County Conservation District

PREP Reports & Publications

The purpose of the Cooperative Project to Control Invasive Plants in the New Hampshire Seacoast Region is to coordinate with a variety of natural resource agencies and organizations and initiate an innovative collaborative effort to combat invasive species in the seacoast. Those partners include the University of New Hampshire, New Hampshire Estuaries Project, the New Hampshire Coastal Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Rockingham County Conservation District, New Hampshire Audubon, the Town of Rye, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership. These groups all have a common interest in protecting existing habitat and restoring …

Pleasant Point Sewer Extension, City Of Portsmouth

PREP Reports & Publications

The City of Portsmouth (City) is located in Rockingham County at the mouth of the Piscataqua River in the seacoast area of New Hampshire. The City of Portsmouth’s sewerage system consists of approximately 115 miles of sewers (excluding the Pease International Tradeport), 19 pumping stations, and a 4.8 million gallon per day (mgd) primary wastewater treatment facility (WWTF) located on Peirce Island. The City has an inter-municipal agreement with the Town of New Castle, an island to the northeast of Portsmouth, to treat their wastewater at the City’s Peirce Island WWTF. Additionally, the City has entered into a long-term Municipal …

Newmarket Open Space Conservation Plan, Ellen Snyder

PREP Reports & Publications

Open spaces – forests, fields, wetlands, floodplains, salt marshes, rivers and streams – are integral to our community. These lands and waters that thread through our neighborhoods are a scenic reminder of our history, when people made their living by working the land. Yet we still depend on these open spaces for our health and our wellbeing. These places provide many “services” such as clean air, flood control, filtering pollutants and purifying drinking water, natural pest control, plant pollination, cooler summer temperatures, and areas for relaxing, exercising and recreating. Collectively these can be thought of as a “natural services network” …

Nhep Year 12 Work Plan, Jennifer Hunter

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Estuary Program which is a joint local/state/federal program established under the Clean Water Act with the goal of protecting and enhancing nationally significant estuaries. The NHEP’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (Management Plan)for New Hampshire’s estuaries was completed in 2000 and updated in 2005. The Management Plan outlines key issues related to management of New Hampshire’s estuaries and proposes strategies (Action Plans) to protect, enhance, and monitor the state’s estuarine resources. Local stakeholders established the NHEP’s priorities, which include water quality improvements, shellfish resource enhancements, …

The Impacts Of Impervious Surfaces On Water Resources, Nhep, New Hampshire Estuaries Project

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

Impacts Of Wastewater Treatment Facilities On Receiving Water Quality, Stephen H. Jones

PREP Reports & Publications

The Squamscott River has had extended episodes of low dissolved oxygen (DO) that have been recorded at a site near its mouth over the past few years. These episodes were recorded as a result of temporally intensive monitoring by a datasonde, whereas data for the rest of the river has been spotty. Thus, the spatial extent of low DO episodes is not known. This study was designed to better characterize the spatial extent of DO conditions along the full length of the river, as well as to determine nutrient and other water quality parameters along the transect to help understand …

2006 Great Bay Organic Nitrogen (Pon & Don) And Light Extinction (Par) Monitoring Program, Jonathan Pennock

PREP Reports & Publications

Nitrogen is most often considered to be the limiting nutrient for plant growth in marine waters. As a result, knowledge of nitrogen loading and ambient water-column concentrations are considered to be critical to understanding the response of aquatic ecosystems to nutrient over-enrichment—a process known as eutrophication when it results in the excess production of organic matter.

Plant production in many estuarine systems may also be limited by light availability as a result of high levels of turbidity in the water resulting from sediments, dissolved organic matter, and phytoplankton in the water column. Light limitation resulting from human-induced increases in turbidity …

2006 Great Bay Water Quality (Datasonde) Monitoring Program, Jonathan Pennock

PREP Reports & Publications

In situ water quality assessment has become an important source of data for monitoring, research and management activities in estuaries nationwide. As part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, the Great Bay System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP) produces in situ water quality data for four sites in and around Great Bay. This project extends the SWMP program to include year-round in situ data for a station at the University of New Hampshire Coastal Marine Lab pier at the mouth of the Piscataqua River and summmer data for a station in the Salmon Falls (SF) River. This suite of stations provides …

Nhep Buffer Outreach 2005 - 2006, Jodi Castallo

PREP Reports & Publications

The purpose of the buffer outreach project is to provide education, assistance, and tools to the coastal watershed towns so that they will understand the importance of buffers for water quality and quantity, the need to enhance their own town’s buffer protections, and how to move forward with enacting new buffer protection measures. These activities helped implement several Action Plans from the Management Plan. NHEP staff developed a buffer presentation, a marketing brochure for the presentation, and a webpage devoted to buffer information. One presentation was given at a public hearing in New Durham. NHEP funded several buffer related projects …

Conservation Audit And Stewardship Plan, Christopher Kane

PREP Reports & Publications

The Town of North Hampton, NH contains significant portions of two river drainages - the Little River which flows directly into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Winnicut River which flows northward into the Great Bay estuary. Situated as it is in the watersheds of these two rivers, land use in the Town has a significant effect on the quality of the water bodies into which these rivers flow. Preservation of open space, especially in areas in the vicinity of these rivers and their associated wetlands has been identified as a priority by the Town of North Hampton, and by regional …

Testing Of Great Bay Oysters For Two Protazoan Pathogens, John I. Nelson

PREP Reports & Publications

Two protozoan pathogens, Haplosporidium nelsoni (MSX) and Perkinsus marinus (Dermo) are known to be present in Great Bay oysters. With funds provided by the New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP), the Marine Fisheries Division of New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, (NHF&G) continues to assess the presence and intensity of both disease conditions in oysters from the major beds, some open for harvest, within the Great Bay estuarine system. Histological examination of Great Bay oysters has also revealed other endoparasites.

Conservation Easement Monitoring-Brentwood, Jodi Castallo

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

Town Of New Durham Zoning & Land Use Odinance, New Durham Planning Board

PREP Reports & Publications

The surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes and ponds) and wetlands of New Durham supply drinking water, wildlife habitat, and recreation opportunities for the community. In order to preserve these critically important resources New Durham shall require conservation and land management practices which minimize environmental degradation and alteration of scenic and rural character.

Nh Department Of Helath And Human Services Public Health Laboratories Shellfish Program Activites January 2006 – December 2006, Peter C. Wikoff

PREP Reports & Publications

The Department of Health and Human Services-New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories (DHHS-NHPHL) has continued to carry out various actions providing laboratory analyses for the routine water quality monitoring, “Red Tide” monitoring, and additional testing after rainfall, excess sewage treatment plant, and emergency events.

Final Report Overview - Kingston, Stone Environmental

PREP Reports & Publications

The objective of the Kingston project was to revise the town’s wetlands conservation district regulations and create new stormwater regulations. In October 2006 Stone Environmental and New Hampshire Soil Consulting (NHSC) submitted draft language to the Kingston Planning Board. The proposed stormwater regulations were consistent with state and federal stormwater requirements. The main areas covered in the proposed regulations were a prohibition against illicit discharges and illegal dumping to Kingston’s storm drainage system, erosion prevention and sediment control at construction sites, and post-construction (permanent) stormwater control. The proposed stormwater regulations were intended to replace an existing article in Kingston’s code …

Nhep Overview, Jennifer Hunter

PREP Reports & Publications

The NHEP is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) National Estuary Program, which is a collaborative local/state/federal program established under the Clean Water Act with the goal of promoting the protection and enhancement of nationally significant estuarine resources. The NHEP receives its funding from the EPA and is administered by the University of New Hampshire. The mission of the NHEP is to protect, enhance, and monitor the environmental quality of the state’s estuaries.

Nh Department Of Environmental Services Shellfish Program Activities, January 2006 – December 2006, Chris Nash, Matt Wood

PREP Reports & Publications

This report summarizes the activities of the NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) Shellfish Program for the period of January 2006 to December 2006, emphasizing those tasks for which NHDES received direct funding from the NH Estuaries Project. The NHDES Shellfish Program conducts a number of activities to minimize the health risks associated with consuming shellfish, and to continue to comply with National Shellfish Sanitation Program guidelines. These include water sampling on a prescheduled/randomized basis, as well as a pollution source identification and evaluation program. These sampling programs are supplemented by other activities aimed at improving the management of conditionally-approved …