Southeast Coast Network News November 2018

Shoreline surveying being conducted on Hatteras Island, just north of Roanoke Pier.

NPS Photo/Lisa Cowart Baron

Post-Florence Shoreline Surveys

Southeast Coast Network coastal ecologist Lisa Cowart Baron assisted Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Cape Lookout National Seashore with post-Hurricane Florence shoreline surveys. Cape Lookout NS staff, previously trained by Lisa, were able to complete their own surveys. Lisa traveled to Cape Hatteras and worked with park staff to collect data at Bodie Island, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Hatteras Island, and Ocracoke Island.

Class in Session

Fluvial geomorphologist Jacob McDonald and aquatic ecologist Eric Starkey hosted a University of Georgia Field Methods class at the network office. They gave a brief presentation about the network's surveying and monitoring methods and how monitoring data are used by network parks. Jacob focused on stream and river morphology and surveying techniques while Eric gave an overview of the program's approach to water-quality monitoring.

Water hazard! A small alligator, right photo, checks out the data sonde deployed by Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve's natural resource specialist Dan Tardonas. The sonde was deployed in the borrow pit pond near park headquarters.

NPS photo/Kate Henderson

Timucuan Water-Quality Project

The Southeast Coast Network recently provided a water quality sonde and deployment equipment to Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. The park used the equipment to measure six core parameters in the borrow pit pond near park headquarters. Dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, specific conductance, temperature, and turbidity were evaluated hourly for 60 days . The data collected will provide baseline conditions of water quality for this pond in September and October.

Proposed site 009 in the Settles Bridge unit of Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. The site was recommended for monitoring because the presence of caddisfly cases and fish eggs indicates relatively good water quality.

NPS Photo

October Publications

The Southeast Coast Network recently published three reports in the Natural Resource Data Series. Wadeable Stream Suitability Assessments for Long-Term Monitoring in Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Congaree National Park, and Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area have been published on IRMA. In addition, the network published a report in the Natural Resource Report Series. Monitoring Coastal Shoreline Change in Southeast Coast Network Parks: Protocol Implementation Plan and all associated standard operating procedures have been published on IRMA.

Fixed-station water quality reports for several parks (2015-2016) are expected to be posted on IRMA in November.

In the Field

• The Southeast Coast Network is hosting its annual Steering Committee and Board Meeting, November 14-15 in St. Augustine, Florida.
• Fixed station water quality sonde maintenance is scheduled for November 27 at Congaree National Park.