Impact of housing development on the dry lake ecosystem of Clark Reservation State Park, New York

The Dry Lake ecosystem at Clark Reservation State Park has been affected by siltation and excess water runoff from the nearby Doubletree housing development since its construction in 1989. The study addresses the impacts of urban runoff and its impacts on water quality, sedimentation and woody vegetation of the Dry Lake basin. Water quality samples were taken at points along the watershed during low flow and during a single storm relative to an undeveloped control area and tested for concentrations of various elements using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. Sedimentation was assessed by coring the Dry Lake basin and analyzing by loss-on-ignition for total carbonate and organic matter. Samples were taken from one of the cores to test for Lead-210 and Cesium-137 as a means of determining age of the sediment, then the results applied to all cores to determine rate of sediment accumulation. Lower stems of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) and bitternut hickory (Carya cordiformis (Wangenh) K. Koch) from the flooded and non-flooded zones around Dry Lake were cored, mounted, and the annual ring widths measured through 2001 with the WinDENDRO image analysis system. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...