West Virginia University recently provided state employees valuable instruction for determining environmental effects on regional waterways.
Employees from the West Virginia Department of Transportation and West Virginia Conservation Agency learned methods of assessing streams and rivers during Stream Processes and Ecology Workshop 2007. The event included workshops May 14-17 at the Lakeview Resort in Morgantown and May 29-June 1 at Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis.
The project was a collaboration between WVU s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.
WVU instructors included Steven Kite, associate professor in the Department of Geology and Geography; Todd Petty, associate professor in the Division of Forestry; and Donald Gray, professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Neal Carte, who works with the West Virginia Division of Transportation, also served as an instructor.
Workshop participants analyzed physical, chemical and biological inputs from adjacent land-use and watershed conditions, including the effects of agricultural run-off in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
They determined geological history, on-going processes, land use (particularly urbanization), mining, forestry, agriculture and restoration goals unique to mid-Atlantic highland rivers and streams.
In addition, participants characterized bed load sediment, assessed bank stability and performed habitat work, focusing on overall stream health, channel units and features suitable for targeted aquatic species.
Participants used methods of fluvial geomorphology and hydraulic geometry in their workshop assessments.
Fluvial geomorphology analyzes how rivers and streams affect a landscape and how they evolve into their current condition. Hydraulic geometry is concerned with the shape and size of rivers and streams within a designated space.
These methods aid those working in the monitoring, assessment or design of stream restoration or reclamation projects.
For more information, contact Kite at Steve.Kite@mail.wvu.edu .