Past Conferences

Man viewing research posters at the CERM Conference

CERM 2018

The 2018 Catskill Environmental Research & Monitoring (CERM) conference was held Wednesday, October 24, 2018 through Friday, October 26, 2018. CERM 2018 featured an expanded three-day format to include field trips and a workshop, 57 platform and poster presentations, and was attended by over 160 people!

Conference App

The conference app is software that can be downloaded to your mobile device. The app contains speaker and sponsoring organization contact information, speaker handouts, the conference agenda, crowd pics, and social feed exchanges. Visit the app website to download the app. App registration is free.

Platform Presentations

Opening Remarks

Gary Lovett, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Catskill Science Collaborative

Keynote Address

Chad Dawson, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Monitoring Impacts and Managing Recreational Use on Preserve Lands

Session 1 – Recreation Impacts

Jeff Rider, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, Trends in Use of Public Lands in the Catskills: Management Implications

Bill Rudge, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation & Andy Mossey, Catskill Center, Managing Public Use at the Blue Hole: Protecting Natural Resources at a Popular Swimming Hole

John Franklin, Analysis of Human Interactions on the Lichen Diversity of Slide Mountain

Aaron Krinsky, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Accepting Change: An Application of the Limits of Acceptable Use in Kaaterskill Falls

Session 2 – Development Impacts

Kathleen Weathers, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Salting our Freshwater Lakes

Michale Glennon, Paul Smith’s College, Make Room for Wildlife: Effects of Exurban Development on Wildlife and Lessons from the Adirondacks

Arthur Lerner-Lam, Columbia University, Fit-Bit of the Forest

Session 3 – Soil/Plant Relationships

Sam Adams, Olive Natural Heritage Society, Floristics meets Soil Science: Consilience and Collaboration in Studying Responses to Environmental Change in the Catskill High Peaks Sub-Ecoregion

Olga Vargas, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Catskill Soil Taxonomy: Do the Soils of the Catskills High Peak Region Qualify as Spodosols?

Alison Keimowitz, Vassar College & Steve Parisio, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Chemistry of Special Soils in the Catskills

Chris Johnson, Syracuse University, Long-term Base Cation Weathering Rates in the Catskill Soils

Session 4 – Biodiversity

Colin Beier, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, The Fate of Forest Soil Fauna after a Century of Acid Rain: Species, Community, and Ecosystem-Level Effects

Barry Baldigo, U.S. Geological Survey, Response of Fish Communities to Changing Environmental Conditions in the Upper Neversink River: A Clean Air Act Success Story

John Wiley, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Current Status of the Federally Threatened Northern Wild Monkshood in the Catskill Region: Recent Survey Efforts Show Notable Declines in this Climate-Sensitive Species

Session 5 – Sediment Studies

Jason Siemion, U.S. Geological Survey, Evaluating Suspended-Sediment Dynamics and Turbidity in the Upper Esopus Creek Watershed: A Comprehensive Study

Scott Steinschneider, Cornell University, Time-Varying Suspended Sediment-Discharge Rating Curves to Estimate Climate Impacts on Fluvial Sediment Transport in the Esopus Watershed

Scott Hamshaw, University of Vermont, Unraveling Sediment Dynamics in the Mad River Watershed through Event Concentration-Discharge Relationships and Multi-Temporal UAS Surveys

Beverly Wemple, University of Vermont, Interactions between Human and Natural Systems along Rural Road Networks: The Case of the Lake Champlain Basin

Session 6 – Hydrology

Natalie Teale, Rutgers University, Association of Synoptic-Scale Atmospheric Patterns with Flash Flooding in Watersheds of the New York City Water Supply System

Dorothy Hall, University of Maryland and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Use of Satellite Data to Study Lake-Effect Storms that Reach the Catskill Mountains

Donald Bonville, U.S. Geological Survey, Variations in Baseflow of a Mesoscale Mountain Catchment: Birch Creek

Ted Endreny, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Forest Hydrology Simulation Tools for Exploring how Trees Cool Urban Runoff from Catskill Rivers

Session 7 – Long-Term Monitoring

Ali Kosiba, Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, Introducing the Catskills Environmental Research and Monitoring Data Access Portal

Gary Lovett, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Air Pollution Success Stories in the U.S. and the Catskills: The Value of Long-Term Observations

Session 8 – Wildlife

Catherine Sun, Cornell University, Black Bears in New York State

Carl Herzog, NYS Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Bat Surveys in the Catskill Region: 10 Years and Counting

Margaret DiBenedetto, Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society, Identifying Golden Eagle Habitat Use in New York State

Jessica Best, Hudson River Estuary Program with Cornell University, American Eels and Weir Fishing in the Catskills

Session 9 – Forest Studies

Becky Shirer & Chris Zimmerman, The Nature Conservancy, Are Forests in the Catskills Region Resilient to an Uncertain Future?

Jonathan Rosenthal & Radka Wildova, Ecological Research Institute, Citizen Scientist/Land Manager Detection of Resilient Trees: A Potentially Powerful Response to Invasive Forest Pests

Deborah Layton, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection, Growth of a Naturally Regenerating Catskill Forest 20 Years after a Catastrophic Storm Event

CERM 2016

The 2016 CERM conference was held Thursday, October 27 and Friday, October 28, 2016 at the Belleayre Ski Center in Highmount, NY. Click here for the full conference agenda with presentation titles. Some of the conference presentations are available for viewing below.

Opening Remarks

Steve Parisio, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, CERM Overview

Don Kent, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Catskill Environmental Research and Monitoring (CERM) Research Directory

Session 1 – Research for Resource Management and Policy Decisions in the Catskills

Gary Lovett, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Why Do We Keep Getting New Forest Pests and What Can We Do About It?

Danyelle Davis, NYC Department of Environmental Protection and Jason Siemion, U.S. Geological Survey, How Effective Are Sediment and Turbidity Reduction Projects (STRPs) in the Stony Clove Creek Watershed?

Lorraine Janus, NYC Department Environmental Protection, Catskill Region Water Quality Improvements with 25 Years of Watershed Protection

Session 2 – Tools and Models to Understand and Adapt to Climate Change in the Catskills

Seth Lawler, Dewberry, Identifying Stream Reaches Most Susceptible to Climate-Exacerbated Debris Load

Ingrid Zabel, Cornell University, Climate Change Resources for New York State: The New York Climate Change Science Clearinghouse

Kristen France, The Nature Conservancy New York, The New York State Natural Resource Navigator

Session 3 – Contributed Presentations

Deborah Layton, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Preliminary Comparison of Similarities and Differences in Tree Height and Volume as a Function of Diameter for Aggregated and Individual Species in Different Watershed Basins within the Catskills

Thomas Franzem, SUNY Oneonta, Factors Impacting Amphibian Populations in Anthropogenic Vernal Pools

Session 4 – Carbon in Catskill Waters from Soil to Tap

Chris Johnson, Syracuse University, Distribution of Soil Carbon and Production of DOC

Emmet Owens, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection, Modeling of DOC and Disinfection By-Product Precursors in the NYC Water Supply

Session 5 – Wood in Catskill Streams and Floodplains: Ecosystem Integrity, Water Quality, and Public Safety

Ellen Wohl, Colorado State University, Messy Rivers, Healthy Rivers, and Large Wood: The Role of Physical Complexity in Sustaining Ecosystem Processes

Katie Costigan, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Large Wood in Central Appalachian Headwater Streams: Controls on and Potential Changes to Wood Loads from Infestation of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

Stephen Long, Author, Thirty-eight: The Hurricane that Transformed New England

Session 6 – Catskill Soils and Wetlands Cooperative Research

Julie Urban, Penn. State University, Molecular Sequencing of the Humus Layer in Catskill Soils: Using Deep Sequencing to Characterize Resident Bacterial and Fungal Communities

Session 7 – Contributed Presentations

David Esteban, Vassar College, Microbial Community Differs Under Sugar Maple vs. Red Oak: Implications for N cycling in the Catskills and Hudson Valley Region

Allan Frei, CUNY Hunter College, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee: How unique were they in the Catskill Mountains?

Lauren Davis, Retired Engineer, Potential Improvements in Flood Mitigation Evaluation

Poster Session

Troy Ellick and K. Belinsky, Using a Bird Feeder Network to Characterize Campus Bird Diversity Abundance

Sarah Hinshaw, A. Cabanillas, and W.D. Davis, NYC Dept. of Environmental Protection, Updating and optimizing Catskill Mountain bankfull discharge and hydraulic geometry regional relationships

Kyongho Son, E. Schneiderman, E.M. Owens, L. Lin, and L. Band, Estimating carbon budgets of the Biscuit Brook watershed using RHESSys

Ashokan Watershed Conference 2015

The 6th Annual Ashokan Watershed Conference was held Saturday, April 11, 2015 at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, NY. See the conference program and speaker contacts.

The 2015 conference, Back to the Future: Creating a New Watershed Legacy, was about where we are today because of the past, and where we will be tomorrow because of the present.

Sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County, Ulster County Soil and Water Conservation District, and NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

Conference Videos

Building the Ashokan Reservoir

Understanding the Rivers Future Generations Will See

Invasive Species: Hemlock Woolly Adelgid and Emerald Ash Borer

Stream Experts Panel

CERM 2014

The 2014 CERM (Catskill Environmental Research & Monitoring) conference was held October 23-24 at the Belleayre Mt. Ski Center in Highmount, NY.

2014 CERM Conference Agenda
2014 CERM Presentation Abstracts

Some of the conference presentations are available for viewing below.

Oral Presentations

Title: Mission, Goals, History, Accomplishments
Speaker: Bill Rudge, NYSDEC

Panel Discussion: CERM Initiatives: Research Forest, Data Sharing, Cooperative Research, Bibliography

Session 1 – Science Communication and Citizen Science

Kerissa Battle, Community Greenways Collaborative, Community-Scientists on the Phenological Frontier: Data Accuracy and Models of Networked Ecological Initiatives

Jennifer Epstein, Riverkeeper, Riverkeeper’s Fecal Contamination Monitoring: Citizen Science and Advocacy in the Rondout, Esopus and Catskill Watersheds

Session 2 – New Approaches to Environmental Monitoring

John Campbell, USDA – Forest Service, Environmental Sensor Applications at USDA Forest Service Experimental Forests: The Smart Forest Network

Ruth Yanai, SUNY-ESF, Improving Environmental Monitoring with Uncertainty Analysis

Barry Baldigo, USGS, Variations in Water Temperature and Implications for Trout Populations in the Upper Schoharie Creek and West Kill, 2010 – 2012

Session 3 – Novel Uses for Historical Data Sets

Karen Moore, NYCDEP, Adventures in Data: Revisiting Historical Water Quality and Streamflow Data in the Catskills

Session 4 – Geology and Soils

Chuck VerStraeten, NYS Museum, Weathering Catskills Bedrock: Overview and Potential Implications

Chris Johnson, Syracuse University, Estimating Mineral Weathering Rates in Catskills Watersheds

Jason Siemion, USGS, Factors Affecting Suspended Sediment in 10 Tributaries to a New York City Water Supply Reservoir

Session 5 – Climate and Climate Change

Alan Frei, CUNY- Hunter, Extreme Events and the NYC Water Supply System

Mark Vian, NYCDEP, Using High Water Marks to Develop Hydraulic Geometry Relationships for the Upper Neversink River to Support River Management and Restoration

Scott George, USGS, Resilience of Fish and Macroinvertebrate Communities to an Extreme Flood in the Upper Esopus Creek

Session 6 – Terrestrial Ecosystems

Gary Lovett, Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Impacts of Invasive Pests on Forest Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics in the Catskills

Margaret DiBenedetto, NYCDEP, Distribution, Density, and Movements of Non-breeding Golden Eagles in the Catskill Mountains

CERM 2012

The 2012 CERM conference titled “Effects of Climate Change & Invasive Species on Ecosystem Integrity & Water Quality” was held October 25-26 at Belleayre Mountain. Some of the 2012 CERM conference presentations are available for viewing below.

2012 CERM Conference Agenda