Research Webinar: Nutrient Loading from Headwater Streams in the Lake Champlain Basin: Quantifying High-Flow Events
LCSG's final 2026 Spring Research Webinar will feature a presentation from Alex Amman from SUNY Plattsburgh.
Rapid shifts in water quality during episodic high-flow events can disproportionately affect annual nutrient loading from forested headwater catchments. In the Northeastern United States, observed increases in total and extreme precipitation over the past century - trends expected to intensify with ongoing climate change - raise concerns about how these events drive watershed nutrient fluxes. In recent decades, several flooding events in the Lake Champlain Basin (LCB) of NY/VT have been associated with acute deterioration of lake water quality and traditional long-term sampling regimes may underestimate episodic contributions. We are collecting and analyzing high-flow event stream water from four LCB headwater catchments in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. These catchments vary principally in their forest management history and age, occupying a spectrum from recently harvested timberland to old growth forest. Our focus is on total and dissolved forms of nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as major cations and anions. Of particular interest is determining precipitation thresholds required to activate strong nutrient export responses, as well as how the timing and magnitude of these exports varies in each of the catchments during a specific event. This study will contribute to ongoing efforts to refine watershed nutrient budgets and inform nonpoint source pollution mitigation strategies that address downstream water quality issues such as eutrophication under variable hydroclimatic regimes.
Participants should expect approximately 30 minutes of presentation, which will be recorded, followed by a facilitated, 30-minute Q&A period.
Register in advance for this webinar.
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these webinars, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Anna Marchessault at 802-777-9130 or seagrant [at] uvm.edu no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont. University of Vermont Extension, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status.