River & Watershed - About of the Ausable Watershed
What is a Watershed?
Watershed Management Planning
A watershed is the area of land that drains water to a body of water, such as a stream, tributary, river, wetland, and/or lake. All of the rain water that falls in the Ausable Watershed flows into the Ausable River, it then flows northeast and empties into Lake Champlain.
The watershed is a useful land delineation to use in planning because water does not stop at village, town, or county boundaries. We all live upstream of somebody and downstream of somebody else. We all share the water. The water in the Ausable Watershed is shared by 7 towns, 2 villages, 7 hamlets, and 2 counties. The Ausable River and its watershed are a jewel of the Adirondacks so we need a plan to protect it!
Some interesting facts about the Ausable River Watershed:
- The Ausable has a total of 94 miles of river channel broken into the East Branch, the West Branch and, the Main Stem
- The Ausable River Watershed covers 516 square miles
- There are seven Towns and two Villages in the Ausable River Watershed: Au Sable, Black Brook, Chesterfield, North Elba, Wilmington, Keeseville, and Lake Placid. The people who live in these municipalities and the watershed share the same water of the Ausable River!
- All of the rain that falls in the Ausable River Watershed flows into the Ausable River, it then flows northeast and empties into Lake Champlain!
- It is nationally ranked for its trout fishing
- It is on the list of NYS Wild, Scenic, and Recreational Rivers
- It is recognized for its exceptional white-water rafting and canoeing
- The highest peaks in New York State lie within this watershed:
- Mt. Marcy (The East Branch starts on Mt. Marcy!)
- Algonquin (The West Branch starts on Algonquin!)
- Allen
- Mt. Haystack
- Gothics
- Whiteface
What do we know about the Ausable River Watershed?
The watershed also contains the following nationally ranked scientific investigation stations:
- One of two mountain cloud monitoring stations (Clingman’s Dome, in the Great Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, is the only other station in the US!)
- Three of the fifty-two lakes monitored by the Adirondack Lakes Survey for acid rain affects lie within the Ausable Watershed
- One of three federally funded atmospheric deposition stations,
- One of five NYS DEC rainfall monitoring stations located in the Adirondack Park,
- One, real time, USGS stream gauging station is located on the river below Au Sable Forks. Check out the flow at: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?04275500
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