Union hosts eighth annual Mohawk Watershed Symposium

Publication Date

Karin Limburg, a professor of environmental biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, will deliver the keynote address at the annual Mohawk Watershed Symposium Friday, March 18, at College Park Hall.

Now in its eight year, the daylong symposium features dozens of oral and poster presentations on topics including flooding, fish and water quality, watershed management, climate change and water rights.

More than 150 participants are expected, including scientists, engineers and other professionals, and students. The conference is open to registered participants.

The Mohawk River watershed is a unique and distinctive drainage basin that originates in the valley between the western Adirondacks and the Tug Hill Plateau. It flows 140 miles to the east, where it joins the Hudson River.

Limburg will discuss “From the Mountains to the Sea and Back Again: Why the Mohawk River is Important to the North Atlantic.”

Limburg studies human impacts on watersheds, rivers, estuaries and coastal oceans, particularly effects on fisheries.

Other invited speakers and their topics include:

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, water infrastructure in New York.

Jacqueline Smith, professor of geology, College of Saint Rose, “Microplastic Pollution in the Mohawk and Hudson Watersheds.”

William Nechamen, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, “Future Flood Risk in New York State: Guidance for a New Flood Risk Standard.”

Howard Bartholomew, former president of Dam Concerned Citizens, Inc., “Retrospection and Anticipation: The Evolution of Citizen Action in the Schoharie/Mohawk Watershed.”

William Ouimet, professor of geology, University of Connecticut, “Quantifying Early Anthropocene Landscape Change and its Effects on Watershed Processes in Southern New England.”

Dan Shapley, water quality program manager, Hudson Riverkeeper, “Delta to Waterford in 24: The Riverkeeper and SUNY Cobleskill Mohawk River Water Sampling Project.”

Simon Litten, environmental consultant, “The Barge Canal: Why Was It Built and What It Did.”

Robert H. Boyle, founder of Riverkeeper and the Hudson River Foundation for Science and Environmental Research, “The Mohawk's Future and What Needs to be Done.”

For more information and to register, click here.

The Environmental Science, Policy and Engineering will cover registration on or before March 1 for interested faculty, staff and students on a limited basis. Contact Deb Klein (kleind2@union.edu) for coupon code.

The conference is sponsored by the Geology Department and organized by John Garver, professor of geology professor, and Jaclyn Cockburn, a former Union professor now at the University of Guelph, Ontario.