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Watershed Protection of the St. Lawrence River Watershed
with Special Consideration to Large Wetlands and Large Landownership

Part Two: The Salmon/Trout, Raquette, and Grasse Watersheds

FINAL REPORT

November 2002

Prepared by

Leslie Karasin, Project Coordinator
R. P. Curran, S. S. Halasz, D. M. Spada, J. W. Barge
New York State Adirondack Park Agency, Ray Brook, NY 		E. B. Allen and G. K. Gruendling
State University of New York at Plattsburgh 		K. M. Roy, C. G. Buerkett and C. C. Cheeseman
Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, Ray Brook, NY

For the

State Wetlands Protection Program
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Grant No. CD992644

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Appendices
Summary
Acknowledgements
Background and Study Area
Objectives
Literature Survey

Methods
Sub-watershed Mapping
Wetlands Mapping
State Land Unit Management Planning
Results
Results of Sub-watershed Mapping
Results of Wetlands Mapping
Results of State Land Unit Management Planning
Discussion: Large Wetlands
References Cited
Appendices

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Location of Adirondack State Park in New York State
Figure 2. Major watersheds in Adirondack Park
Figure 3. Adirondack Park Land Classification in the St. Lawrence II watershed
Figure 4. Sub-watersheds in the St. Lawrence II project area
Figure 5. USDA/SCS 11-digit watersheds in the Salmon/Trout Watershed
Figure 6. USDA/SCS 11-digit watersheds in the Raquette/Grasse Watershed
Figure 7. Wetlands in the St. Lawrence II project area
Figure 8. Wetlands map provided for the Bog River Flow UMP
Figure 9. Wetlands map provided for the St. Regis Canoe Area UMP
Figure 10. Wetlands map provided for the Raquette Boreal Wild Forest UMP
Figure 11. Large wetlands in the St. Lawrence II project area

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Sub-watersheds of the St. Lawrence II watershed project area
Table 2. Major wetland cover types of the St. Lawrence II project area
Table 3. Wetland cover type distribution based on Class1 and Class2 labels
Table 4. Relationship, by area, of Class1 and Class2 wetland labels
Table 5. Relationship, by number of polygons, of Class1 and Class2 labels
Table 6. Area and number of wetland polygons with the Beaver modifier
Table 7. Area of wetland water regime modifiers by wetland Class1
Table 8. Wetlands data table provided to DEC for the Bog River Flow UMP
Table 9. Large wetland complexes

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: Quadrangle Index
APPENDIX 2: Legend for Adirondack Park Wetlands Mapping Project
APPENDIX 3: Wetlands Data Table - organized alphabetically by NWI label
APPENDIX 4: Wetlands Data Table - organized in order of decreasing area
APPENDIX 5: Sub-watersheds Metadata
APPENDIX 6: Wetlands Metadata
APPENDIX 7: ArcInfo AML for assigning watershed flow direction
APPENDIX 8: ArcInfo AML for creating regions in sub-watershed map

SUMMARY

The St. Lawrence River Basin Study titled, "Watershed Protection of the St. Lawrence River Watershed with Special Consideration to Large Tracts of Land Part Two: The Salmon/Trout, Raquette, and Grasse Watersheds" is one of 10 EPA-funded State Wetlands Protection Program projects awarded to the Adirondack Park Agency, and marks the completion of detailed wetland and watershed maps for about 70% of the Park. Part I of this study focused on the St. Regis River Basin and was completed in 2000.

The St. Lawrence River Basin is ecologically unusual because of its concentration of large peatland complexes. Three-quarters of the land in the project area is wilderness, wild forest, or resource management, resulting in large contiguous forest areas.

The objectives of this study were to:

A total of 708 sub-watersheds were mapped in the 961,218.8 acres (388,993.0 ha) that comprise the Raquette, Grasse, and Salmon/Trout river basins. Out of this acreage, 122,711.3 acres (49,659.7 ha) were mapped as wetland, which constitutes 13% of the total watershed area. The influence of beaver activity was seen in 25% of the total number of wetlands, or 19% of the total wetland area.

Wetland maps and associated statistical data and habitat interpretations were provided to New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Unit Management Planners for inclusion into three UMPs: St. Regis Canoe Area, Bog River Complex, and Raquette Boreal Wild Forest.

Data collected in this project, when combined with the data layers from the Oswegatchie/Black and Upper Hudson watersheds, provides a consistent continuous picture of the wetlands and surface hydrology of these portions of the Park and will continue to be of immense value for wetland resource protection in the future.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This project was funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Wetlands Protection, State Development Grant No. CD992644, and was completed in cooperation with the Remote Sensing Lab at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and the New York State Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation.

At the Remote Sensing Lab at SUNY Plattsburgh, thanks go to Kyriel Taylor, Michael Sundberg, Adrienne Pike, Lisa Walsh, Peter van Erp, Evan Kline, and Jaclyn Ammaturo. At the Adirondack Park Agency our gratitude is extended to the entire staff, especially Judy Smith, and Dan Fitts.

Although the research described in this report has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under assistance agreement no. CD992644 to the New York State Adirondack Park Agency, it has not been subjected to the Environmental Protection Agency's peer and administrative review and therefore may not necessarily reflect the views of the EPA and no official endorsement should be inferred.

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