Finger Lakes Project in Audubon Magazine
3 July 2013 Finger Lakes Project in Audubon Magazine
In collaboration with researchers from the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, the work of underwater camera operator David Brown was recently featured in Audubon Magazine.
Brown and FLI researchers are documenting underwater landscape and water quality in the Finger Lakes region as part of a grant-funded project named BASELINE. Brown is creating a comprehensive underwater video documentation of Finger Lakes watersheds before potential changes from invasive species and hydrofracking take place. Audubon linked a portion of Browns film to its website.
As part of the project, raw film and water data will be available to non-profit organizations free of charge and disseminated through presentations and short films.
The full article from Audubon follows.
Audubon Magazine
Recording the Vibrant Life of New York Waterways Threatened by Invasive Species and Fracking
Video: An up-close look at underwater worlds.
Susan Cosier June 5, 2013
The Finger Lakes region in western-central New York is a place with abundant water, from sprawling lakes to pristine waterfalls. Yet David O. Brown found himself drawn to a particular creek near his hometown of Ithaca. Over the past four years the videographer, wearing a snorkel and mask or full scuba gear, would dive in its crystal-clear water. Hed bring his video camera and shoot footage of life below the surface. In one spot, roots from a nearby tree held the bank in place, fish weaving in and out of the spindly tendrils. It looked like a mangrove, hundreds of miles from the tropics. One time Brown drifted 20 yards downstream, ending up near a storm drain where a parking lot abuts the waterway.
The water turns into a sewer, and all that life is confined upstream, says Brown. Water should never be treated as a nonrenewable resource; it should always be treated with the respect it deserves as the foundation of life on the planet.
That stream, and how different it was from the one Brown remembered from his childhood, was one of reasons he decided to embark on a new project to document the state of the regions lakes, streams, and ephemeral pools before the most drastic effects of invasive species and the threat of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, appear in full force. Brown, with funding from Toyotas TogetherGreen fellowship and the Park Foundation, filmed 6 lakes, 10 streams and rivers, and 2 vernal pools. The project, titled BASELINE, offers underwater footage, paired with water-quality data collected by the Finger Lakes Institute, to schools and nonprofits free of charge.
People are very surprised when they see whats going on down there, he says. Theyre really thrilled to know theres that much life down there, and I just get a kick out of that. A lot of people arent aware of whats here because most people dont put on a mask [and look beneath the surface].
Caught on camera are spawning salamanders, a northern water snake slithering across the waters surface, and a male American toad riding on a female as she lays her eggs. Smallmouth bass and bowfin appear in his footage, as does a pumpkinseed sunfish hovering over its nest to protect its young. Although Brown focused on endemic species, he did see and document invasives, including European round gobies and Asiatic clams. Aquarium owners often dump the contents of their tanks-including nonnative species-in streams when they no longer want them. They fundamentally alter the ecosystem, he says.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the regions waterways is fracking, a process energy companies use to extract oil and natural gas from the ground. To bring those nonrenewable fossil fuels to the surface, companies pump a concoction of water and sand mixed with such chemicals as benzene and toluene into the underlying formation. Some experts estimate that 40 percent of the water can be recovered, meaning it comes back to the surface after its used, but thats 40 percent of millions of gallons that go down, and when [the water] comes back up, its not usable, says Brown. The rest of the liquid stays underground. Furthermore, fracking and the accompanying infrastructure may also pollute waterways.
Erosion and habitat destruction from road building and land clearing can have serious effects on water quality and wildlife, says Rob Jackson, an environmental scientist at Duke University who has studied fracking and its effects on water. To get a well into operation also requires approximately 1,000 truck trips, and there can be up to 10 wells on a single pad. That also has water implications; it has implications for noise and even air quality, which can impact wildlife as well, he says.
Currently theres a moratorium on fracking in New York, but its going strong in nearby Pennsylvania, where a number of problems with the method-including contaminated drinking water and alleged health issues-arent being addressed.
If we are serious about looking out for generations to come, says Brown, we have to think long-range and not go trading [water] for nonrenewables like fossil fuel.
Whether or not fracking is ultimately allowed in the region, Browns footage might serve as a baseline, so that students, state agencies, and conservationists can see how the areas waterways change over time. In the short term hes hopeful that people who havent donned masks themselves are inspired by his footage to protect their waterways when they catch a glimpse of the vibrant variety of life below.