Trees of Stumpy Lake Watershed

In an effort to familiarize myself with common trees growing in the Stumpy Lake Watershed, I spent time researching trees while on-site. I gathered leaves, took photographs of significant features such as leaves and bark, and was then able to identify them using a variety of tools but with specific help from the Virginia Tech Dendrology website. The following slides were created based on this research.

Stumpy Lake Flood Plains

 In order to better familiarize myself with the Stumpy Lake Watershed, I've done some research about flood plains and have used mapping tools available from both FEMA and the City of Virginia Beach in order to visualize them. The following slides represent the information I've gathered about Stumpy Lake's flood plains. 

Nutria: An Invasive Species to Virginia Wetlands 

Invasive species pose major risks to native ecosystems such as that of Stumpy Lake. Nutria, a large semi-aquatic rodent is one such species that has made its way into our precious Virginia wetlands. 

Watershed Monitoring and Evaluation

The Importance of Watershed Monitoring

If there was not water, life could simply not exist. Streams and rivers are able to provide us with an above ground glimpse of the health and hydrology of a watershed. They also provide habitats for non-human animals and plants. The water quality of your watershed can be enhanced only by collecting good information about the conditions and by responding, most effective at the local level, to that information. Remember, that all life depends on water and all of us are citizens of a watershed, so our activities and the ways in which we use our water resources and the land adjacent to them will affect not only the quality of our drinking water, but also our recreational activities, and the health and diversity of the plants and animals.  For all of these reasons, I've created these slides covering the three main components to watershed monitoring and evaluation. 

Stumpy Lake Watershed Threats and Challenges

 

 In order to help educate the public on the threats that the Stumpy Lake watershed faces in regards to pollution and water quality, I created this brochure to create awareness. 

Stumpy Lake Watershed: Recreational Land Use

 Land use is an interesting component when studying watersheds. I decided to dive into the recreational amenities that Stumpy Lake watershed has to offer its visitors. Check out the following slides to learn more:

Stumpy Lake: A Flood Event

 Upon researching information regarding flood data for the Stumpy Lake Watershed, I was not able to find any definitive statistics. Due to this, I geared my research towards a particular weather event which did, in fact, cause flooding of the reservoir. Check out the following slides pertaining to this: