The AuSable and Boquet Rivers are two of the major tributaries to Lake Champlain. The two watersheds together are often referred to as the Ausable/Boquet Subbasin of Lake Champlain. The two rivers are situated in the "forever wild" New York State Adirondack Park, the largest publicly protected area in the contiguous United States. The headwaters of both rivers are in the "High Peaks Region" of the Adirondack Mountains. They receive drainage from 795 square miles. The watersheds include abundant wetlands with diverse wetland habitat types such as, bogs, fens, emergent marshes, shrubs wetlands, sedge meadows, and swamps.
Sixty wetlands within the two watersheds, ranging from approximately 2 to 60 ha, were selected to obtain data from as many different situations as possible with regard to wetland type, elevation, size, degree of disturbance, and location. For each wetland, a baseline and multiple transect lines perpendicular to the baseline were chosen nonrandomly to position sampling locations across the wetlands in order to survey as many different vegetation associations as possible. The numbers of sampling locations per wetland ranged from 7 to 37, depending on the size of the wetland. A total of 768 sampling sites were surveyed within the two watersheds in summers 2005, 2006 and 2008.
Results/Conclusions
We paid special attention to endangered, exotic, invasive, and threaten species. For each vegetation association at each sample site, the parameters determined included species richness, relative abundance, diversity statistic, and numbers of invasive and exotic species. We recorded a total of 456 plant species including 136 species of trees and shrubs, 86 species of graminoids, 24 species of ferns and fern allies, 210 species of herbaceous. We noted 57 exotic species, two threatened species (New York State) (Equisetum pretense, meadow horsetail, and Viburnum edule, Squashberry), and two endangered species (New York State) (Carex atherodes, wheat sedge, and Schoenoplectus heterochaetus, Slender Bulrush). An additional 29 species are listed as Exploitably Vulnerable by the New York State Natural Heritage Program.
