Open scholarship at Cornell
eCommons is a service of Cornell University Library that provides long-term access to a broad range of Cornell-related digital content of enduring value. Learn more about eCommons.
Make a deposit
Submit your document, research paper, image, data, code, and more into Cornell's digital repository. Learn how to submit.
Recent Submissions
Annual Report FY 2024-2025
Center for Hospitality Research (2025-11-20)
2024-2025 Annual Report published by the staff of the Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at Cornell University's Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
Valuing Aquatic Invasive Species Management through Discrete Choice Experiments
Zhang, Wendong; Liu, Helen; Liu, Pengfei (New York State Water Resources Institute, 2023)
This study uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to estimate how recreational users in New York State value different management strategies for controlling aquatic invasive species (AIS), with a focus on European water chestnuts. Results suggest that water clarity, catch rate, and boat access significantly influence preferences and willingness to pay (WTP), while demographic characteristics and policy framing have varying effects on support for AIS control.
Aquatic Plant Surveillance on the Niagara River: Ground truthing a Predictive Model Sample Selection
Yoder, Lindsay (New York State Water Resources Institute, 2023)
The Niagara River is a high-priority waterway due to its immense ecological, economic, and recreational value, in addition to its role in connecting New York’s two Great Lakes. The areas of the upper river around Grand Island have been determined as significant fish habitat, particularly as native muskellunge spawning areas, and in 2022, invasive Hydrilla verticillata was found to have expanded into multiple sites within the upper Niagara River. Additionally, a full-scale SAV mapping of the Niagara River has not occurred since the early 20th century. With these considerations in mind, it is necessary to conduct a large-scale aquatic plant surveillance project in the Niagara River to determine extent of hydrilla and other aquatic invasive plants, as well as native vegetation.
This primary objective of this project was to deploy the method outlined in previous seasons of the Invasive Aquatic Plant Surveillance in New York Great Lakes Ports project alongside the standard, non-randomized systematic sampling method that is used throughout New York in another high-priority system with the primary goal being to ground truth the predictive, high-efficiency method. Under the NYS WRI Aquatic Invasive Species Program, the standard method is to survey pre-determined points every 50 meters in areas less than 9 meters deep with no randomization; all points generated are scheduled to be visited during the surveillance period. The WRI team planned to conduct rake toss samples at all locations, and use the data collected to compare and analyze the differences in distribution and abundance with what was observed at all locations versus if they had only sampled at predicted locations.
2023 Annual Report: The Ecological Monitoring of Barrier Mitigation Projects in the New York State Portion of the Great Lakes Watershed
Dietrich, Jeremy (New York State Water Resources Institute, 2023)
During 2023 barrier monitoring within the New York State portion of the Great Lakes basin continued at the Youngs Mill dam and Little Salmon dam sites for Year-2 pre-removal monitoring and was expanded to the Awes Mill dam site on the Little Salmon River for Year-1 potential pre-removal monitoring (Figure 1). Additionally, a culvert enhancement site in Cortland County (Oswego Drainage Sub-Basin) was established at Curtis Rd in the Town of Virgil (Figure 5) for Year-1 pre-enhancement monitoring. Geographic location information for each site monitored in 2023 can be found in Table 1.
The continuing goal of these projects is to evaluate the effectiveness of potential dam removals and culvert rightsizing enhancements have in restoring aquatic connectivity and improving biological and water quality metrics within their vicinity. Monitoring efforts allow project partners to understand the biological, habitat, and physical responses to dam removals and provide quantitative data to demonstrate stream improvement, while also setting realistic expectations for removal efforts in varying landscape context settings. Adding a culvert enhancement monitoring site this year, allows further investigation into how barriers of differing structures may influence aquatic life in streams. As more baseline data becomes available across different dam sites, the ability to optimize monitoring effort increases.
Documenting the physical, biological, and ecological conditions surrounding dams in the Little Salmon River basin will aid in advancing conservation priorities by identifying existing bottlenecks to achieving successes and likely areas of restoration potential. Conservation priorities within the basin include efforts to improve natural spawning success of stocked Pacific salmonid species, improve aquatic connectivity for resident brook trout populations within the Little Salmon River watershed, and restoring landlocked Atlantic Salmon populations to Lake Ontario and its tributaries (including the Little Salmon). All of the stated conservation priorities would benefit from passage restoration and reach-level spawning habitat improvement.
Understanding the Impacts of Tile Drain Density on Watershed-Scale Nutrient Concentrations across New York State
Anand, Romir; Steinschneider, Scott (New York State Water Resources Institute, 2023)
Research surveys conducted by the US. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have shown that many farms in NYS use tile drainage to increase crop yields and improve soils. However, tile drainage also increases baseflow in watersheds, elevates annual runoff volumes and reduces groundwater travel times. Given these factors as well as the N-basedfertilizers used by farms, there is a high potential for increased surface water nutrient pollution in watersheds with a high density of tile drainage. However, no work has established whether such a relationship exists in NYS, and the state’s non-point source pollution programs do not consider tile drainage as a target for remediation.
Because tile-drained areas are invariably associated with crop cover, there is limited research that examines the impact of tile drainage on N pollution independently from crop cover. To address this gap, this study evaluates the associations between tile drainage and surface water N concentrations in NYS by integrating water quality data with a novel spatial dataset of tile drainage and additional land use information. Our objective is to isolate the specific impacts of tile drainage on surface water N concentrations from the more general impacts of agricultural land cover. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to provide decision-relevant information that can help state agencies better tailor agricultural land management policies and programs to efficiently and effectively improve water quality across NYS rivers and streams.