Healthy and Unhealthy Freshwater Ecosystems Graphic
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This graphic was created to help explain the differences between ecosystems in healthy and unhealthy upstream waterways. Below is a draft narrative to help you use this graphic to communicate with your stakeholders.
Narrative of the Healthy/Unhealthy Freshwater Ecosystems
This graphic shows both a healthy and an unhealthy fresh water stream that could appear in the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The graphic includes species that are characteristic of both healthy and unhealthy fresh water streams. It shows how an upstream waterway can use best management and conservation practices (e.g., planting forest buffers and installing green infrastructure) positively affect aquatic habitats and provide clean water to the Bay. The graphic also demonstrates how the lack of conservation practices and increased pollution can negatively affect a waterway. This two-sided graphic is applicable to all upstream jurisdictions (New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia) in the Bay watershed.
The left, “healthy” side of the graphic shows several macroinvertebrates, fish, birds, insects and vegetation that are indicative of a healthy freshwater system. Species shown are stonefly larva, caddisfly crayfish, devil crayfish, yellow lamp mussel, green floater mussel, muskrat, belted kingfisher, great blue heron, brown trout, striped bass, alewives, pumpkinseed fish, coontails, eelgrass, red maple tree, pine trees and paw paw tree. The left side of the graphic also demonstrates a long riparian buffer along the length of the stream and a dense forested buffer between the farm and the stream. In addition, a healthy red maple root system and a living shoreline[1] are visible between the farm and waterway.
The right, “unhealthy” side of the graphic shows a murky, “dirty” freshwater system filled with nutrients, sediment, leaves, trash and sickly vegetation. In addition, dead creature, invasive species and pollution-tolerant organisms such as bloodworm midge larvae, red midge larvae, midge larvae, black fly larvae, pouch snails, red swamp crayfish and aquatic worms are evident. The land area draining into the unhealthy side includes numerous impervious surfaces, a tall stack that is dispersing airborne pollutants, eroding shorelines, brownish grass, a pipe discharging polluted water directly to the waterway and garbage on the stream bank. In addition, there is minimal living vegetation, an algal bloom blocking sunlight, no forested buffers and no living shoreline.
[1] Living shorelines are a green infrastructure technique using native vegetation alone or in combination with offshore sills to stabilize the shoreline. They provide a natural alternative to “hard” shoreline stabilization methods like stone sills or bulkheads, and provide benefits including nutrient pollution remediation, essential fish habitat provision and buffering of shoreline from waves and storms.
