Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

EPA MD00075; MDH 027-137-248University of Minnesota Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institut

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

University of Minnesota, Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report NRRI/TR-2009/20This is an annotated bibliography of literature relating to the effects of water level fluctuations on ecosystems and biota of the Laurentian Great Lakes. This report was created in support of investigations into the potential ecosystem effects of altering the water level regulation of Lake Superior at the St. Marys River lock and dam system. Because such a change would most affect lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron, we tried to concentrate on these lakes. However, we have included quite a bit of literature from lakes Erie and Ontario, where there has been more investigation of water level fluctuations (or lack thereof) and water level regulation. We have also included pertinent literature from around the world on effects of water level fluctuations in large lake and reservoir systems, primarily because of the paucity of pertinent literature for the upper Great Lakes

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Final Report to: Itasca County Soil & Water Conservation District; January 2005 (revised

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Surface Water Assessment-North Shore; SWANS-NRRI; Quality Assurance Project Plan, (Version 2: 7/20/08); Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Dulut

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Final Report to: National Park Service Apostle Island National Lakeshore (APIS) and Great Lakes Network (GLKN) Inventory and Monitoring ProgramNRRI and Apostle Island National Lakeshore staff sampled five open water sites in Lake Superior and 3 island lagoon sites three times during summer and fall 2004. The NPS Co^re ^uite parameters (temperature, specific conductivity, dissolved oxygen, pH; NPS 2002) and water clarity were measured at all sites each sampling trip. Water and sediment samples were collected for additional chemical and biological analyses, along with zooplankton and benthic invertebrate sampling. The Core Suite of water quality parameters has been established by the NPS as part of a basic set of water quality measurements to be made for all monitored NPS aquatic resources along with lake level in lakes and some measure of flow in running waters (NPS 2002). NRRI also recommended to GLKN that a measure of water quality such as secchi depth for lakes, and transparency tube clarity for streams and lakes and wetlands too shallow for secchi depth measurement should always be considered as an additional Core Suite parameter (Axler et al. 2005a). A second set of water quality measurements is called the Advanced ^uite which includes parameters such as chlorophyll-a, nutrients (forms of nitrogen and phosphorus), major anions and cations, micronutrients, etc.Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota-Duluth 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 5581

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

This collaboration between the Superior National Forest unit of the US Forest Service (USFS SNF) and the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) began in late 2015 and has continued since. Initial discussions, with additional input from MPCA staff, led to four main goals, all intended to increase SNF’s long-term ability to determine the present condition of their lakes and if statistically significant trends exist: (1) Assess the current water quality – in particular, the acid neutralizing capacity (ANC) – of three SNF study lakes in northeastern Minnesota by analyzing a suite of major ions and nutrients in samples collected by FS staff; (2) Compile available historical SNF lake water quality data, assure the quality of these data, and then combine them into a searchable database; (3) Conduct exploratory statistical analyses to identify long-term trends in any of the datasets; and (4) Compare SNF lake summary statistics to those for lakes within the broader Upper Midwest ecoregion determined by the US EPA National Lakes Assessment (NLA) and by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) for the Laurentian mixed forest (# 212) province

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Final Report to: National Park Service, Great Lakes Network (GLKN) Inventory and Monitoring Program; Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota DuluthThe objective of this analysis was to assess a large body of water quality data collected across Parks of the Great Lakes Network over more than two decades, make recommendations on sampling and data issues, and to the degree possible, identify trends in water quality that could be derived from these data.Center for Water & the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN 55811; Funding was provided by the USDI National Park Service via Cooperative Agreement number is H60000C02000, Modification No J2105030033 to the U. of Minnesota Cooperative Ecosystem Research Unit (Park-assigned Study ID. #: APIS-00023 to RPA)

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

One of the fundamental responsibilities of water management is the establishment of continuing programs to insure the reliability and validity of data. Effective research in water pollution and management depends on a valid laboratory data base, which in tum may contribute to sound evaluations of both the progress of the research itself and the viability of available water pollution and management alternatives.Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Dulut

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

University of Minnesota, Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institut

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Minnesota’s Lake Superior Coastal Program; Project No. 306-09-10; Contract No. B17949An estimated 720 perennial and 127 intermittent streams flow into L. Superior, including 309 trout streams and their tributaries (>2100 miles) along the North Shore and St. Louis River Estuary alone. Bedrock escarpments create a high density of stream corridors in forested watersheds with steep gradients, thin erodible soils, typically low productivity, and “flashy” hydrology. These high-quality trout streams are sensitive to urbanization and rural development by factors raising water temperature and increasing water and sediment runoff, e.g. openings in riparian cover/canopy, impervious surfaces, road crossings, construction runoff, and the warming and increased frequency of severe storms predicted by climate change models (Wuebbles & Hayhoe 2003). Tributary streams are increasingly threatened by development as urbanization and rural development place increased pressure on the Lake Superior region’s coastal communities. Between 1992 and 2001, a 33% increase in low-intensity development occurred within the basin with an alarming transition from agricultural lands to urban/suburban sprawl (Wolter et al. 2007). In the early 1990s, over 50 new lodging establishments were constructed along the Superior North Shore, and from 1990-1996 Cook County, MN experienced a 24% population increase (MPCA 2000). Stream fish, amphibians, and the invertebrates that sustain them are being adversely impacted by increased temperature, excessive peak flows, turbidity and suspended solids, road salts, organic matter, and nutrients from increased development (Anderson et al. 2003). This conclusion is supported by the fact that 11 of 27 major Minnesota North Shore trout streams have been listed as Impaired (2010) since the 1990s and remain on the State 303(d) list - primarily for turbidity, temperature, and fish tissue-Hg. The integrity of these watersheds is also critical to the condition of the coastal and offshore waters of Lake Superior. The streams discharge directly into the nutrient and sediment sensitive coastal zone of ultra-oligotrophic L. Superior, or indirectly into the lake via the St. Louis River Estuary, itself an IJC designated Area of Concern and a zero discharge (of persistent organic pollutants (IJC 1999; MPCA 2000), in part because of its levels of phosphorus and suspended sediment. This is particularly important because the lake’s nearshore zone is the source of much of its biological productivity and recreational use, but is nutrient deficient and therefore, very sensitive to excess inputs of nutrients, suspended solids, turbidity and organic matter (e.g. Sterner et al. 2004; Rose and Axler 1998). Therefore, despite the fact that Lake Superior and its tributaries are among the most pristine waters in Minnesota and in the entire Great Lakes Basin, some of these resources are already stressed by increased urbanization and tourism. This creates the unusual challenge of how to inform the public, businesses, and local units of government (LGUs) that these resources need protection when few problems are obvious to the untrained eye. This project has built on the foundation established by the award-winning project www.LakeSuperiorStreams.org (LSS) that was created in 2002 via an EPA grant to a Partnership of the City of Duluth Stormwater Utility, the University of Minnesota –Duluth (Natural Resources Research Institute, Minnesota Sea Grant, and Department of Education), the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (Duluth Office), the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District, the Great Lakes Aquarium, and the Lake Superior Zoo (Axler et al. 2006, 2003; Lonsdale et al. 2006). The original partnership has remained substantially intact since 2002. The ultimate goal continues to be to improve environmental decision-making by: (1) Enhancing public understanding of the connections between weather, hydrology, land use and the condition of water resources in urban and rural watersheds, and (2) Providing easy access to tools for accomplishing the protection of un-impaired resource and cost-effective restoration of degraded sites