Pre-Construction Assessment of Turtle Creek and Unnamed Tributaries (Turtle Creek, Union County)

Elaine Langone Center, Terrace Room

DEP biologists and interns collected D-frame kick-net samples, basic water chemistry, and deployed temperature sondes in May 2014 on six farms along Turtle Creek in Union County. The work was done to provide baseline conditions prior to implementing Growing Greener Grant funded stream bank stabilization work and installation of agricultural best management practices. Data was collected both on the main stem and on two unnamed tributaries. On the main stem, the 3 sites represent a farm where cows have active access to the stream, a farm where the cows were fenced out of the stream approximately 5 years ago, and a farm that has not had any cows in the stream area for over 20 years. The unnamed tributaries were on 2 separate farms. At both farms an upstream reference site was selected as well as a site where stream improvement or agricultural best management practices were to be implemented. The reference sites on both unnamed tributaries were closer to the source and represent a more unaltered stream ecosystem than the sites selected for stream improvement work.