Assessment of water-quality data from Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge, North Dakota--2008 through 2012

Abstract

For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Although this information product, for the most part, is in the public domain, it also may contain copyrighted materials as noted in the text. Permission to reproduce copyrighted items must be secured from the copyright owner. AcknowledgmentsThe following U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel were instrumental in initiating this project and performing field work: Neal Brown, Natoma Buskness, Cheryl Jacobs, Wayne King, Gregory Knutsen, Murray Laubhan, and Paul Van Ningen. We thank the North Dakota Department of Health for providing Long Lake Creek data from a complementary study. We also thank Cami Dixon for comments on a previous version of this report.We thank the following U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center personnel for performing field work and data collection: Clinton Helms, Andrew Lillijord, Peter Mockus, Jacob Niemeier, Sarah Paycer, Mike Pederson, Matthew Retka, Mark Schaffner, Tim Spivey, Lee Tafelmeyer, Amy Timm, and Colin Wilson. We thank the staff from the U.S. Geological Survey North Dakota Water Science Center for collecting streamflow measurements. We also thank Robert Lundgren for comments on a previous version of this report. Specific conductance is given in microsiemens per centimeter at 25 degrees Celsius (µS/cm at 25° C). Concentrations AbstractLong Lake National Wildlife Refuge, located in southcentral North Dakota, is an important habitat for numerous migratory birds and waterfowl, including several threatened or endangered species. The refuge is distinguished by Long Lake, which is approximately 65 square kilometers and consists of four primary water management units. Water levels in the Long Lake units are maintained by low-level dikes and water-control structures, which after construction during the 1930s increased the water-storage capacity of Long Lake and reduced the frequency and volume of flushing flows downstream. The altered water regime, along with the negative precipitation:evaporation ratio of the region, may be contributing to the accumulation of water-borne chemical constituents such as salts, trace metals, and other constituents, which at certain threshold concentrations may impair aquatic plant, invertebrate, and bird communities of the refuge. The refuge's comprehensive conservation planning process identified the need for water-quality monitoring to assess current (2013) conditions, establish comparative baselines, evaluate changes over time (trends), and support adaptive management of the wetland units. In 2008, ...

Effects of land use on greenhouse gas fluxes and soil properties of wetland catchments in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America

“…The waterbalance of PPR wetlands is dominated by precipitation and associated runoff; thus, surface-water characteristics of individual wetlands are highly variable temporally (Euliss et al, 2004(Euliss et al, , 2014. For example, reported sulfate concentrations for PPR wetlands and shallow lakes range from b1 to 87,500 mg L −1 depending of factors such as groundwater interaction and seasonal water levels (e.g., Swanson et al, 1988;Tangen et al, 2013;Euliss et al, 2014;Post van der Burg and Tangen, 2015). For this study, a wetland catchment is defined as the wetland basin and its direct contributing area (Gleason et al, , 2009Finocchiaro et al, 2014), and data are presented at the subcatchment level consisting of the wetland and upland zones.…”

Aquatic Vegetation and Invertebrate Communities of Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge

“…Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs; e.g., King et al 1993;Gleason et al 2003a;Heimann and Richards 2003;Elliott et al 2006;Fitzpatrick et al 2007;Schottler and Engstrom 2011). A common problem for many NWRs, especially those in semiarid regions, is the negative effect on aquatic systems of reduced water quality associated with the long-term evaporative concentration of salts and other water-quality constituents (e.g., Schroeder et al 1988;Nelson and Reiten 2007;Tangen et al 2013aTangen et al , b, 2014. A more wide-spread issue for NWRs nationally, however, is the loss or alteration of aquatic systems caused by sedimentation.…”