Overview of content type: Project description (but will also include some empirical research results and theoretical contributions)

Statement of content: Road salt entering surface stream channels can negatively impact water quality and ecosystem health.  While it is well understand that much of this salt enters with melting snow, much less is known about how and when salt enters surface water bodies through groundwater.  This project examines how land use and watershed structure control delivery of winter salt to the stream channel network, and ultimately, the Hudson River. This question is being address by The Hudson River Subwatershed & Tributary (THuRST) Research Network. THuRST is a partnership of Colleges, Universities, and research institutions working in their respective, local watersheds, but using common methodologies, to answer a set of unifying research questions with answers of both scientific and community significance. The road salt study has is an example of a collaborative project that THuRST partners can easily join, provides useful scientific contributions, and will provide valuable insights to the Hudson River Watershed community.  Furthermore, the project has taught the group many “lessons learned” about collaborative research across many subwatersheds and helps students contextualize their local watershed within the larger Hudson watershed community. 

bit.ly/THuRSTnetwork