New River Symposium

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https://hdl.handle.net/10919/86759
The New River Symposium is a multidisciplinary conference held biennially in the New River watershed (parts of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) organized by the New River Conservancy. Photo: Shumate Falls, Va., near the West Virginia state line.

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Browsing New River Symposium by Author "Blankenship, Joan"

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    Mucking Around with Aquatic Plants in Claytor Lake: What Have We Learned?
    Copeland, John R.; Blankenship, Joan; Walters, Laura (New River Symposium, 2019-04-12)
    Aquatic vegetation is an important habitat component in southern reservoirs, but native vegetation in these important fisheries is often displaced by unwanted non-native species, creating less desirable habitat conditions. Claytor Lake, a 1,764 ha mainstem reservoir of the New River in Pulaski County, Virginia, contained a number of native aquatic plants historically, but was colonized by hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata) in the early 2000’s. Hydrilla control during the early 2010’s using triploid grass carp (Ptenopharyngodon idella) resulted in hydrilla suppression and the loss of remaining native aquatic vegetation beds in Claytor Lake. While the management plan guiding hydrilla control discussed native vegetation restoration as an outcome, additional partnerships were created and grant funding was awarded to make the dream a reality. After 5 years of native vegetation restoration work on this reservoir, we share our story as an example of what can be accomplished when diverse constituencies converge in natural resource management. Potential impacts of the Claytor Lake triploid grass carp stocking on native aquatic plants in the Upper New River will be discussed, as well as spin-off effects on the aquatic integrity of the New River, as well as the potential for native plant reintroduction in the Upper New River.
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    The New River Grant Trail: From 5ML to 5 Liters
    Blankenship, Joan (New River Symposium, 2019-04-12)
    This presentation is designed to show the connection between native habitat restoration and the funding that is necessary to make the projects happen. The BASS Nation of Virginia with a partnership between Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries all supported the application to get a small grant to pay for the first step in the program. Thanks to some quick team building we were able to save the project and move to the next step. We needed to continue but we needed more money. We added two more grants to the project and moved from Henry County to Pulaski County High School and closer to Claytor Lake. We continued to add to our information data base. We were able to find another grant to continue. This allowed us to move the project to Virginia Tech where our hard work finally started to gain some added traction. Enter Dr. Sara Sweeten who took a real interest in the native plants and made suggestions to really grow the project. With our current grant we were able to fund further expansion of the program.