PROGRESS

Details of the ASC's activities and findings to date can be found in annual progress reports to EPA:

• ASC Progress Report: Year 1 (2001-2002)

• ASC Progress Report: Year 2 (2002-2003)- Summary

• ASC Progress Report: Year 3 (2003-2004)- Summary

• ASC Progress Report: Year 4 (2004-2005)- Summary

In addition, below are listed examples of research activities, by working group:

Watershed Working Group

• Development of a watershed classification system for the ASC region based on land cover and physiography.
• Selection of representative watersheds for intensive study.
• Development and implementation of sampling protocols for assessing stream/riparian habitat characteristics.
• Refinement of statistical models predicting nutrients and sediments from geographic variables.
• Testing of water quality data and geographic data as indicators of biotic integrity of streams and wetlands as measured by fish, macroinvertebrates, and birds.
• Compilation and analysis of existing data from federal, state, and other bio-monitoring programs (benthos, fish, habitat).
• Development of an HGM-based wetland classification system for the Mid-Atlantic region.
• Calibration of Bird Community Indices (BCIs) for the Piedmont and Coastal Plain.
• Study of the impact of beaver as a modifier of riparian areas.

Estuarine Working Group

• Selection of representative estuarine segments for intensive study based on land use and other characteristics.
• Development and implementation of sampling protocols for birds, vegetation, estuarine animals (benthos and fish), and estuarine water quality.
• Conduct of shoreline assessment surveys using existing protocols.
• Development of an estuarine segment fisheries habitat index.
• Compilation and analysis of fish stock, benthos, plankton, and water quality data sets.
• Development of a conceptual model of aquatic system condition based on cumulative condition from headwaters to estuarine segments is under development.
• Use of a three dimensional hydrodynamic model to determine relative importance of various sources to the composition of water column constituents in selected estuarine segments.
• Development and implementation of a protocol for assessing the condition of riparian corridors and wetlands in estuarine segments.

Human Dimensions Working Group

• Conduct of surveys and interviews to examine the use of environmental indicators and the informational needs and preferences of environmental managers working for state agencies.
• Identification of institutional decisionmakers in the Atlantic Slope region.
• Identification and summary of the legal and institutional authorities on land use regulation, coastal zones, environmental regulations, river basins, and metropolitan planning organizations in the Atlantic Slope region.
• Modeling to explore the value of indicators in environmental management.
• Simulation modeling of nitrogen pollution loads in the PA portion of the Susquehanna River Basin, to explore hypotheses about the value of economic and certain types of stressor-response information for water quality management.
• Development and implementation of a framework for integrated assessment of the status of watersheds, including definition of reference conditions.
• Evaluation of existing and proposed socioeconomic indicators for use in water quality and aquatic ecosystem management.

Overview