SECN Highlights June 2022

Abigail "Abby" Gonzalez is the 2022 Scientists in Parks Ecology Intern at the Southeast Coast Network.

Photo courtesy of Abigail Gonzalez

Network's New SIP Intern

Abigail "Abby" Gonzalez is the 2022 Scientists in Parks (SIP) Ecology Intern at the Southeast Coast Network. Abigail grew up in Puebla, Mexico, where her childhood dream to work in the beautiful outdoors was born. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science at the University of Houston. She worked as a Land Steward at Hermann Park Conservancy in Houston for the last couple of years conducting several projects in habitat restoration and conservation. As the SIP Ecology Intern, Abigail is assisting with vegetation monitoring this summer including work at the current park, Cape Lookout National Seashore. In her free time, Abigail loves to dance, roller skate, thrift shop, and go on scuba diving trips. Welcome to the Network, Abigail!

William "Ches" Vervaeke recently conducted Surface Elevation Table monitoring on a marsh at Fort Frederica National Monument. Left, Ches prepares to take surface elevation measurements. Middle, he cores a marker horizon. Right, the marker horizon core showing sediment deposition.

NPS photos / Daniel McCay

SECN Coastal Ecologist William "Ches" Vervaeke, gives a presentation on mangrove expansion during Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve's annual Science and History Symposium.

SECN staff

Ches Presents at the TIMU Symposium

The Southeast Coast Network's William "Ches" Vervaeke participated in the Timucuan Science and History Symposium, held April 28 at the Ribault Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Ches, the network's coastal ecologist, presented Marching Mangroves: The Hunt for the Northernmost Mangrove, along with Timucuan's Fiona Southwell and former SECN staff member, Claire Schmidt. The annual event is sponsored by Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve.

Paper Published

Ches co-authored a research paper examining the effects of CO₂ and sedimentation on a transitional marsh, recently published on Plants, a semi-monthly online platform from the Multidisciplinary Digitial Publishing Institute (MDPI). The paper highlighted work at USGS's Wetlands and Aquatic Research Center in elevated CO₂ greenhouses. Ches used a modified Surface Elevation Table (SET) to measure elevation change in experimental units. Findings included that positive elevation change slows after sediment is added (presumably due to ongoing compaction).

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SECN Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey stands with his son, after a Careers on Wheels presentation at Colham Ferry Elementary School in Watkinsville.

Photo courtesy of Eric Starkey

Career Day for Eric

Eric Starkey, the SECN Aquatic Ecologist and Acting Network Program Manager, participated in Colham Ferry Elementary School’s “Careers on Wheels” day. The event was a great opportunity to visit with students about a career in natural resources and how the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Division helps to preserve and protect our National Parks. Students checked out the SECN boat, saw a water quality sonde recording data and took a water sample with a horizontal sampler.

Fire Training at First Coast Technical College in St. Augustine, Florida.

Daniel McCay / SECN staff

Daniel Attends Fire Training

Daniel McCay, SECN Hydrologic Technician, recently completed a Fire Training Course at First Coast Technical College's Public Safety Campus in St. Augustine, Florida. The five-day course covered basic wildland firefighter training as well as basic fire behavior and was taught by Chance Hines, a firefighter with the city of St. Augustine. Daniel was the only member of the National Park Service to attend. Most of the students were Florida Department of Environmental Protection employees or volunteers. They burned a block size area of forest behind the campus on the last day. Interestingly, the brush still lit up easily even though the area had received approximately three inches of rain the day before. One cause could be that many plants in that area have oils or resins that are flammable.

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The SECN Vegetation Monitoring Crew was at Cape Lookout National Seashore in May. Left, Botanist Forbes Boyle works on a vegetation count before one of the shore's wild horses eats it up. Right, (from left), Scott Ward with the University of North Carolina's Botanical Gardens, SIP Intern Abby Gonzalez; SECN Biological Technician Elizabeth Rico and Forbes.

Photos courtesy of Elizabeth Rico

The Bridge B water quality sonde at Congaree National Park was recently swapped out and a water sample taken as well. Clockwise from left, Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey and Hydrologic Technician Daniel McCay set a newly calibrated sonde into Cedar Creek to collect quality control readings. Daniel takes readings on his laptop from the sonde.  Eric retrieves the Van Dorn horizontal water sampler from the creek, and Eric and Daniel pour the water sample into a container to be sent to the lab.

NPS photos / Mark Hynds

Physical Scientist Stephen Cooper checks out a width taken during wadeable stream monitoring on Cedar Creek at Congaree National Park. Holding the tape near the bank is Editor Mark Hynds with help from Southeast Coast Invasive Plant Management Team Intern, Shalynn Klunder.

NPS photo / Daniel McCay

SECN Aquatic Ecologist Eric Starkey carefully surveys the channel of McKenzie Creek at Congaree National Park. The crew kept careful watch for snakes resting under or on large woody debris. The inset photo shows a closeup of a resident cottonmouth snake (Agksitrodon piscivorus).

NPS photo / Daniel McCay