Preliminary investigations of organic and inorganic carbon content of the Otsego Lake watershed, summer 2011

White Creek, Cripple Creek, Hayden Creek, Shadow Brook, and Mount Wellington watercourses constitute the northern watershed of Otsego Lake (Figure 1). Approximately 44% of the northern watershed is devoted to agricultural utilization (Harman et. al. 1997) and the potential for anthropogenically derived additions of total carbon (TC), total inorganic carbon (TIC/IC), and nitrogen affecting the larger lacustrine system merits further study of the total organic carbon (TOC) loading endemic to these waters. Carbon to nitrogen ratios may further illuminate complex interactions taking place in this multiple use watershed and lacustrine systems and therefore have been examined concurrently. This analysis will serve as a baseline for future examinations of the Otsego Lake watershed as well as Otsego Lake itself.