A Comprehensive Aquatic Connectivity Restoration Plan for the St. Regis River Watershed
ADK Semester Final Presentation
Dec 14, 2021 – 11:00 am
Moore Conference Room
This Fall, 14 students in Clarkson’s Adirondack Semester have been studying aquatic connectivity and restoration in the Adirondacks. As humans have changed the landscape we have created barriers for aquatic life such as dams, roads, culverts, and train corridors. This fragmentation of our watersheds has significantly impacted ecosystems at multiple scales and restoration of aquatic connectivity at the watershed scale requires a multidisciplinary approach involving science, engineering, policy and sociology. The students focused on developing a comprehensive aquatic connectivity restoration plan at the watershed scale from the starting point of indigenous people’s perspective: Water is life. The St. Regis River once connected the Adirondacks to the Atlantic Ocean, but that connection has been severed by numerous dams and culverts, affecting fish passage, ecosystem health, and the traditional lifestyle of indigenous cultures. The students discuss the complexities of balancing aquatic connectivity restoration against the real need for aquatic ecosystem services like local electricity generation. They present strategies and engineering solutions for accommodating aquatic connectivity in the context of climate change and human’s demands on this quiet river that emerges from the northern Adirondacks.
