Cold water habitat was determined using available fish and water temperature data collected by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) Monitoring and Assessment, Inland Fisheries and Volunteer Stream Temperature Programs. The analysis to date includes years 1988 - 2023. The mapping application will be updated with new or updated information as it is collected, quality assured and analyzed. CT DEEP has a robust data set of stream fish community and temperature logger data dating back to the late 1980's. In previous work (Beauchene et al., 2014) these data were used to develop cold water temperature metrics and fish species that were indicators of cold-water habitat. With the knowledge gained from the compilation of recent Connecticut based studies, identification and subsequent classification of cold-water habitat can be made with data from either fish or stream water temperature. To catalog cold water habitat CT DEEP analyzed all available fish and water temperature data collected in accordance to standard operating procedures to identify cold water rivers and streams. The analysis to date includes years 1988 – 2023 and identified 1,716 samples and 792 sites indicating cold water habitat from both fish community and temperature logger data. If a site was measured to have cold water habitat with either fish community or water temperature using the June-August metric at any time during our surveys, it was considered cold water stream habitat. Additional information regarding the data and project can be found on: https://portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Water/Inland-Water-Monitoring/Cold-Water-Stream-Habitat-Map.
Organization: State of Connecticut
Last updated: 2024-02-09T15:48:39.945497
Tags: bioscience, biota, brook-trout, cold, cold-water, cold-water-fish, cold-water-habitat, connecticut, ct-deep, deep, environment, inlandwaters, slimy-sculpin