Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 20:49:26 -0300 From: Jenn Morse To: limnes@chebucto.ns.ca Subject: Permission to use McIntosh Run data Hello Mr. Mandaville, I am a graduate student at Dalhousie University. I, along with 2 other graduate students, have been working with Martin Willison and the McIntosh Run Watershed Association on a project. We have discovered some wonderful material on the Soil and Water Co nservation Society's website. We are particularly interested in the material contained within a letter from John Ritter of DFO related to 1991 water quality data in Long Lake and the McIntosh Run that is posted on the website. We were wondering if we co uld include this information in a report to the McIntosh Run Watershed Association, in which we are helping the Assocation to develop a watershed management plan. We would like to include the statements below in the body of the report as well as the comp lete text of the letter mentioned above as an appendix to the report. Of course, we will credit all this information to you and reference the Soil and Water Conservation Society's website. I hope that we can utilize this information, as it is very helpf ul to our project, espcially in helping us to understand the changing state of McIntosh Run. I was very impressed by your website, you have such a wealth of information available that must be so very helpful to the many volunteer organizations working on the many lakes and rivers in our city. Thank you very much, Jenn Passages included in report: a.. DFO conducted electrofishing in McIntosh Run in the summer of 1990 and observed "no lethal effects of the lake water"; b.. Experiments showed that a 90% egg survival at pH 7.0 is reduced to a 70% egg survival at pH 4.7. However Brook Trout may avoid the dangerous pH levels by spawning in areas of ground water upwelling where the pH is higher or less acidic; c.. Aluminium was not highly damaging since "much of the aluminium in our rivers is bound up in the non-toxic organic form" (Ritter 1991 referenced on the SWCSMH website, Ritter 2003 personal communication). d.. Note: Appendix 3 contains the complete 1991 letter from John Ritter of DFO (now retired) to Shalom Mandaville of the Soil and Water Conservation Society of Metro Halifax, which was the source of the aboe information. ********************************************************** Jennifer Morse Master of Environmental Studies Candidate School for Resource and Environmental Studies Dalhousie University 1312 Robie Street Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3J5 phone: (902) 425-3643