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A Look Under The Ice

Watershed Stories

Keep up with the work of Ausable Freshwater Center (AFC) staff. These stories share information about our stewardship and monitoring work, natural stream restoration, and culvert replacement techniques by highlighting specific projects in the Ausable and Boquet River watersheds of northern New York. They also give you fun facts about the plants and wildlife that live in these watersheds, as well as tips for enjoying responsible, low-impact recreational opportunities.

May
18
2026
Native Habitat Requirements for Aquatic Species
Healthy rivers and streams are built from a balance of structural, water quality, and biological conditions. Each fish, mussel, insect, and aquatic plant in the Ausable River and other Adirondack watersheds depends on specific habitat features to survive...
Ecology
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May
07
2026
A Local's Global Perspective on the Ausable
It must have been an early afternoon in July or August of 1982 when my dad, brother, and I left my great-great uncle's dairy farm on Cumberland Head in the 1925 Dodge sailboat my dad had salvaged in Westport the year I was born. Uncle Al, then in his...
Stewardship
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Apr
07
2026
Planting for Recovery
The Ausable Freshwater Center is advancing self-sustaining stream restoration and flood resilience in the Adirondack region. We have multiple in-channel projects designed and engineered for implementation, which, together with those projects already...
Ecology
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Mar
06
2026
SCALE-ing Up: A Glimpse into Our 2025 Field Season
Last fall, Ausable Freshwater Center (AFC) field teams began collecting data for the Survey of Climate and Adirondack Lake Ecosystems (SCALE). SCALE is a comprehensive and diverse lake assessment. SCALE aims to establish a new chemical and ecological...
Limnology
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Jan
21
2026
Identifying Species for Local Success
Tree planting is increasingly used as a tool to build climate resilience in the Northeast. Reforestation and afforestation have proven effective in environmental mitigation, restoration, and adaptation. However, the Northeast, including New York, is...
Restoration
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Jan
06
2026
The Role of Vegetation in Stream Restoration
Healthy riparian vegetation is the glue that holds streambanks together. Plants play a critical role in the hydrology, hydraulics, and geomorphology of a functioning stream corridor.
Restoration
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Dec
17
2025
Growing Community
Community involvement is at the core of the Ausable Freshwater Center's success. Every project, whether it's a large-scale river restoration, a community tree planting event, or native plant propagation, relies on the shared effort of volunteers,...
Stewardship
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Dec
10
2025
Best Practices in Catch-and-Release Angling, Part 2
Catch-and-release fishing is a great way to enjoy the outdoors in a conservation-friendly way. There are many simple steps anglers can do to increase the survival rates of the fish they release back to the river. In part one of our two-part blog, we...
Recreation
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Nov
05
2025
The West Branch Sediment Study – A First Step Toward Restoring the Health of our Region’s Natural Infrastructure
The vitality of the West Branch Ausable River and the reputation of its renowned trout fishery belie a river at risk of losing key stream functions that keep its waters and wildlife healthy, create flood resilience, and keep our local economy strong....
Geomorphology
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Oct
22
2025
No-Mow, No Problem: A Simple Way to Support Your Watershed
How can you support the watershed as a landowner? If your property borders a stream, river, or lake, the vegetation growing alongside the bank matters. Even if your property doesn't border water, this blog is for you too because native pollinators and...
Stewardship
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The Ausable River is a river on the edge.
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