New River Symposium
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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 Content Type "Poster"
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- Eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve: Trends, Concerns, and ManagementKull, Katie (New River Symposium, 2022-04)The eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is a long-lived, shade-tolerant evergreen tree which grows throughout eastern North America, including within New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. Its dense foliage creates a dark, cool forest understory that supports a unique assemblage of plants, as well as facilitating exceptional stream habitat for fish species such as brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). However, eastern hemlocks face an ecological threat from several invasive pests, most notably the hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA; Adelges tsugae). This tiny insect feeds on the sugars produced by the hemlock tree, causing physiological stress that can kill in the tree in as few as four years, particularly when combined with other stressors such as drought. First detected in the southern West Virginia national parks in 2000, HWA is now common throughout hemlock ecosystems in the New River Gorge. While some mortality has occurred, the National Park Service utilizes a variety of tools to maintain ecological value and scenic enjoyment of hemlock forests in the park, including chemical treatments, biological control agents, and forest health monitoring. This poster will detail the park’s hemlock program over the past 25 years, providing data on monitoring trends, exploring emerging threats, and outlining future plans.
- Pesticides & Pollinators: Poison in our TributariesKafka, Bepe; Cox, Doug; Tejero, Miguel (New River Symposium, 2024-04-12)A poster talking about the consequences of four pesticides in our water and with our pollinators: Atrazine, Chlorpyrifos, Glyphosate, and Neonicotenoids.
- ReNew the NewGoette, Ann (New River Symposium, 2024-04-12)2024 poster presentation of efforts by the ReNew the New Committee, Giles County, Virginia.
- Using Water Quality as a Proxy to Estimate Microplastic Concentrations in the New River, VA, via Sentinel 2Rodriguez Sequeira, Luisana; Allen, George H.; Gray, Austin D. (New River Symposium, 2024-04-12)Microplastics (<5mm), are pervasive in Earth’s environments, and rivers are a major transport pathway. Microplastic detection methods that rely on counting individual particles are time consuming and require laborious field collection, inhibiting real-time insights over large spatial extents, which are needed in order to better understand the issue. Satellite remote sensing has been used to estimate water quality in rivers with relatively high spatial and temporal coverage. Finding a correlation between water quality and microplastics could allow us to estimate microplastics in rivers via satellite imagery using water quality as a proxy. Though a handful of these assessments have been done, a wide-variety of study sites are needed to form a coherent model. We focused our study in the New River near Blacksburg, VA, and collected weekly water quality measurements and surface-water microplastic samples. We combined these in situ measurements with cotemporal remotely-sensed water quality index observations from Sentinel-2 to develop a model estimating microplastic concentration. We validated the model using in-situ spectrometry and water quality measurements. By providing more observations than what can be done with in situ sampling alone, we can improve large-scale microplastic analyses and modeling leading to better assessments of mismanaged plastic waste in Earth’s rivers.
- WV Stream Watch App: Easily Report Pollution Incidents in West Virginia’s WatersDodson, Jenna (New River Symposium, 2022-04-11)Citizen scientists are increasingly using Smartphone apps as a way to broaden and streamline data collection. WV Stream Watch, an app recently developed by West Virginia Rivers and Trout Unlimited, is an effective tool anyone can use to document water pollution across the state. From anglers to kayakers to hikers, any concerned citizen can easily submit photos of water pollution incidents or habitat degradation to inform follow-up on enforcement actions or restoration needs. This presentation will review how to use the app, and present short case studies of how the app has been used to both inventory water quality and identify issues requiring enforcement actions by the WV Department of Environmental Protection. Learn how WV Stream Watch equips everyday people to be the eyes and ears of West Virginia’s rivers and streams.