Virtually all of the projects we have completed pertain to management or restoration of lakes, streams, or watersheds. The projects described below were selected for inclusion here because they are broad in ecological scope and they seek to restore degraded aquatic ecosystems by addressing, collectively, physical, chemical, and biological factors.

Assessment and Restoration of Patterson Park Lake

Langhei Ecology currently has a project supporting restoration of Patterson Park Lake in Baltimore, Maryland. The 3-acre, artificial lake suffers from the accumulated effects of decades of polluted runoff from an urban park watershed. Langhei Ecology's role in the restoration project is to design a monitoring program to quantify pollutant loading and export rates for the lake, conduct pollutant fate and effects modeling, advise the prime contractor on engineering design criteria to support a diverse, sustainable aquatic ecosystem, and design a long-term monitoring and management plan for the lake. This project is supported by a USEPA grant to the City of Baltimore under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.

This project is also described under the following project category:
Monitoring and Long-term Research

Mitigation of Nutrient Loading Through Top-Down Control of Food Web Structure

Lake Mendota is a highly eutrophic, urban lake in south central Wisconsin. A joint project of the University of Wisconsin Center for Limnology and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources examined the ability of lake managers to reduce algal biomass through top-down manipulation of the food web (i.e. stocking of piscivores). This applied research program included monitoring of nutrients and food web structure in Lake Mendota and in nearby, unmanipulated Lake Monona; in-lake mesocosm experiments; and computer simulation modeling. A massive die-off of the dominant planktivore (cisco, Coregonus artedi), which was unrelated to the stocking of piscivores, was followed by a substantial restructuring of lower trophic levels and a marked improvement in water clarity. Mesocosm experiments, comparisons with Lake Monona, and simulation models all supported the hypothesis that reduction in planktivory associated with the cisco die-off accounted for the reduced algal biomass and improved water clarity.

This project is also described under the following project categories:
Hydroacoustics
Monitoring and Long-term Research

Stream and Wetland Restoration and Creation at a New Housing Development

Langhei Ecology is working with a housing developer in western Loudoun County, Virginia, to protect and restore wetlands, a stream, and riparian vegetation, and create new riparian wetlands to serve as a focal point of the development. The objective is to create environmental amenities and enhance the community by considering the natural features of the site beginning at the earliest possible stages of planning. Restoration and creation of wetlands and riparian habitat degraded by upstream development and historical farming practices on the site will enhance the aesthetic appeal of open space areas and contribute to the ecological integrity of the watershed by moderating water flows, improving water quality, and providing habitat for a variety of wildlife. A goal of this project is to demonstrate that the approach is economically advantageous and thereby facilitate broad application of the approach in this rapidly developing county.

Restoration of a Western Maryland Stream Degraded by Acid Deposition

A watershed restoration project was designed for a forested watershed in western Maryland degraded by acid deposition. The project included conceptual plans for a constructed wetland high in the watershed to neutralize acidic stream conditions, and design of a monitoring program to document ecological response to acid mitigation. Baseline monitoring by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the watershed contained good fish habitat but was devoid of fish. Benthic macroinvertebrates were abundant in the streams; however, only acid tolerant taxa were present. Water chemistry analysis confirmed that the source of stream acidity was acid deposition rather than acid mine drainage. The work was conducted through Versar's contract with the Maryland Power Plant Research Program.

This project is also described under the following project category:
Monitoring and Long-term Research

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