Watershed & Biodiversity Stewardship at Saunders Woods Preserve
Hey there, my name is Wes Pew, I'm a Virginia Tech graduate student studying conservation. This blog covers two courses: Watershed Stewardship (Fall 2023) and Biodiversity Stewardship (Summer 2022). Here I document our work for these courses using the study area of Saunders Woods Preserve in Gladwyne, PA and its 2.5 mile tributary stream leading to the Schuylkill River. Check out all of the other blogs from the Summer 2022 Biodiversity Stewardship course listed below.
Saunders Woods Preserve
As my study area for this course I have chosen the Saunders Woods Preserve, a 25 acre preserve consisting of mainly hilly and wooded area, 3...
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Flood Plains of the Lower Schuylkill Watershed
Using ArcGIS and US Soil Survey's online mapping tools, I was able to obtain some visuals depicting the Lower Schuylkill River's flood plains and high risk flooding areas. The filter I used on ArcGIS is called "USA Flood Hazard Areas." It was created by FEMA and displays the data from their Flood Insurance Rate Map. The flood plains are primarily the land immediately next to the Schuylkill River and some but not all of its tributaries. As can be seen in the legend on the left, the light purple areas represent a 0.2% chance of annual flooding, while the darker purple areas represent a 5x higher rate at a 1% chance.
The tributary I have been focusing on (seen above in the center of the image) that runs through Saunders Woods Preserve, according to this data does not have land classified as flood plains surrounding it. To verify this, I examined US Soil Survey's online soil map. The soils of flood plains, also called alluvial soils, are typically made up of high proportions of small particle matter such as silt, sand, and clays, eroded down and deposited by the flood waters. There are many different soil types listed in the area, however most of the ones in immediate proximity to the tributary are classified as a type of loam, which is composed of a relatively equal mixture of particle sizes including the larger sized gravel. This likely confirms the data from ArcGIS that the Saunders Tributary's surrounding banks and land does not experience flooding often. From firsthand experience I know that it is a relatively small and slow flowing tributary with steep banks in some areas, so this information does not come as a total surprise.
Monday, November 6, 2023
Be sure to check out the other watershed blogs from this course!
Ceci-Briar/ Little Sugar Creek (NC)
Chris-Poverty Cr.-Tom’s Cr. (VA)
Emma-Tug Fork (VA)
Ilayda-French Broad (NC/TN)
Jim- Course Blog )
Kimberly-Occoquan River (VA)
Kirstin-Lower Chesapeake (VA)
Marco-Olentangy River (OH)
Mika-Edmonds Marsh (WA)
Shelby-Nisqually River (WA)
Tim G.-Klamath Rive (CA/OR)
Tim K.-Weber Rive UT)
Wes-Saunder’s Woods (PA)
Ceci-Briar/ Little Sugar Creek (NC)
Chris-Poverty Cr.-Tom’s Cr. (VA)
Emma-Tug Fork (VA)
Ilayda-French Broad (NC/TN)
Jim- Course Blog )
Kimberly-Occoquan River (VA)
Kirstin-Lower Chesapeake (VA)
Marco-Olentangy River (OH)
Mika-Edmonds Marsh (WA)
Shelby-Nisqually River (WA)
Tim G.-Klamath Rive (CA/OR)
Tim K.-Weber Rive UT)
Wes-Saunder’s Woods (PA)
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Sunday, October 22, 2023
Friday, September 29, 2023
Sunday, September 24, 2023
Flood Events of the Schuylkill Watershed
Floods are very serious and deadly environmental phenomena. They can have devastating effects on buildings, infrastructure, personal property, agriculture, natural wildlife habitat, and more. Mostly everywhere in the world that receives rain is susceptible to flooding, but particularly densely populated areas, areas in close proximity to rivers or the coast, and areas low in elevation. Densely populated areas such as cities have minimal trees and soil to absorb the water. Instead, it flows off of rooftops, streets, parking lots, etc., and into storm drains, then bodies of water. In severe instances, the storm drains and pipes become full, which can result in much more damage to the surrounding area. It can be caused by heavy rains or hurricanes, large ocean waves, rapid snow melt, or in the event of a dam or levee breaking. They become particularly bad when the ground becomes saturated and is unable to absorb more water, and flash floods occurring at a rapid pace can be the most dangerous as people have a limited amount of time to get to safety. According to the NOAA, floods kill more people each year than hurricanes, tornadoes, or lightning.
The Schuylkill watershed, and the Schuylkill river specifically, is no exception and has been enduring floods for as long as the records show, the earliest recorded dating back to the 1700's. According to the NOAA's Schuylkill River gauge located in Philadelphia, the water level is normally around 6-7 feet. The following graph depicts this data.
The Schuylkill Watershed: Characteristics, History, Ecology, Quality, Recreation, Water Supply, Challenges, Solutions, and more
As the Saunders Micro-watershed has little data available due to its size, for this assignment I've broadened my scope to the greater Schuylkill watershed, which the Saunders micro-watershed is a very small part of. These slides cover some general information, history, ecology, recreation, drinking water information, and some of the challenges faced by this watershed and watersheds in general, as well as examples of organizations implementing solutions used to address these challenges.
Friday, September 15, 2023
Reintroduction: Watershed Stewardship
Welcome to the reopening of my Saunders Woods Preserve Blog documenting the work I am conducting on the area for my Virginia Tech Graduate School classes. In summer of 2022 I created this blog for my Biodiversity Stewardship course which was a very successful endeavor, and the posts from that time can be seen below. This fall (2023), I am continuing this blog for my Watershed Stewardship course. For this class, as the name implies, I will be shifting my focus to some extent to the watershed as opposed to the biodiversity and ecology of the preserve. There will be some minor overlap and references to previous work in certain posts between the two classes but I will try to keep that to a minimum. Saunders Woods Preserve is home to a small stream, a part of a micro watershed, that is unnamed. A little research, however, revealed it has been labeled as Schuylkill Tributary 00920. I will likely be referring to it as the Saunders Stream and Saunders Watershed. The headwaters of the stream is located in Saunders but a majority of its length on the way to the Schuylkill is actually not in Saunders, however. It is only a little over two miles long and leads to the larger 135 mile Schuylkill River, which flows from Pottsville through Philadelphia and then meets the Delaware River which leads to the Delaware Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean. While the watershed of the tributary stream I am focusing upon is likely only one or two square miles and lacking basically any data, the Schuylkill’s watershed is around 2,000 sq mi. Looking forward to discovering some more knowledge on this watershed and publishing it right here throughout the semester.
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
How to Start a Non Profit Conservation Organization in Pennsylvania
This guide was created using Harbor Compliance’s “How to Start a Nonprofit in Pennsylvania” webpage [A], my professor Dr. Jim Egenrieder’s example document on how to establish a 501(c)(3) [D], information provided by federal and state government websites, the IRS website, and various other resources. All references are listed below each step and correspond to a list of sources at the bottom.
How to Start a Non Profit Conservation Organization in Pennsylvania
1. Name your organization & create its mission statement
o The name sets the tone and identity of the organization while the mission statement clarifies in a concise but compelling manner what it is that the organization seeks to do or accomplish. Ensure that the name is original and available using the PA Department of State’s corporation name search engine (https://www.corporations.pa.gov/search/corpsearch). For profit organizations are required to have words like “corporation,” “company,” or “fund,” but non-profits are exempt from this requirement.
o References: [A, B, C, D]
Friday, August 5, 2022
Natural Lands NPO Summary
Natural Lands is the non profit conservation organization that manages Saunders Woods Preserve and many other natural areas around Eastern Pennsylvania and South New Jersey. Enjoy this brief overview of a great organization that has provided hundreds of thousands of people an opportunity to connect with nature as well as fostering biodiversity, healthy ecosystems and preserving our natural areas for years to come.
Monday, August 1, 2022
Spotted Lanternfly Taxonomy
Domain: Eukarya
- Containing a membrane bound nucleus and other organelle such as mitochondria/chloroplast, and chromosomes during mitosis and cytokinesis. Contains the kingdoms of Animalia, Plantae, and Fungi. The two other domains are Archaea and Bacteria.
- Eukaryotic & multicellular organisms without cell walls. Ingestion to obtain sustenance, locomotion, cells forming tissues, aerobic respiration (requiring oxygen), and sexual reproduction are further characteristics with a few exceptions.
Friday, July 29, 2022
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Species Identification Mobile App: NatureID
The mobile app for species identification I have chosen to review is called NatureID (https://natureid.com) and is developed by AIBY Inc. Having never used a plant identification app before, I was very impressed with the accuracy, ease of use, and amount of information provided by this app. I downloaded it for iOS for free, so there are frequent ads that pop up that fortunately you can quickly exit out of, but from my understanding you can pay for a premium version which does not have ads. One other thing to note is that you do need cell service or Wi-Fi for this app to work because it scans your photo and analyzes it against its database to determine the identification of the plant in your photo.