FALL/WINTER 2019 NEWSLETTER
LIVING LABORATORIES
Queens University of Charlotte students taking water samples at Whitehall Nature Preserve in Charlotte, N.C.
CLC partners with local universities to create outdoor classrooms for researchers and students t the Redlair Preserve in Gaston County, students from UNC Charlotte are analyzing how pollutants migrate from small watersheds into the South Fork Catwaba River, collecting data that could prove valuable for water quality protection. At the Eastover Ridge Preserve, students from Queens University of Charlotte are conducting research on the ground — evaluating the usage of owl boxes and the threat of invasive Japanese privet — and in the air, with high-resolution drone imagery that could reveal new information about the stress level of trees. These are just a few of the ways in which the Catawaba Land Conservancy is partnering with higher education institutions, providing vital learning opportunities to area students who, in turn, are conducting research that may ultimately improve the organization’s understanding of its protected properties. The Conservancy has been partnering with various colleges and universities since its formation in the 1990s, says Sharon Wilson, the Conservancy’s Land Stewardship Director, and the organization has continued to look for ways to make the lands available for academic study. “It’s such a wonderful connection point,” Wilson says. “Small groups of students doing research, we think, is one of the highest and best uses for these conserved properties.” This semester at Queens University, Professor Reed Perkins is teaching two Geographic Information Systems (GIS) courses, and in early October his students flew a drone over the 22-acre Eastover Ridge property, creating a detailed aerial image that will allow them to analyze vegetation and land cover. “The students love when they have an
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opportunity to do real-world projects that are not simply contrived by the professor,” says Perkins, Chair of the Environmental Science and Chemistry Department. With follow-up images over time, Perkins’ students may also be able to answer some questions the Conservancy has about Eastover Ridge. Last year, the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department completed a portion of the Briar Creek Greenway on the Preserve. The new greenway links Eastover Park at the Mint Museum to the Eastover Ridge Preserve. In the process, some invasive shrubs at Eastover Ridge Preserve were treated and the Conservancy would like to know what impact this might have had on nearby trees. The drone images will allow his students to evaluate the stress of the trees on the property. “The question on the table is the impact of these invasive species management processes,” Perkins says. “Eastover Ridge Preserve is a great place to study that question.” Missy Eppes, a Professor of Earth Sciences at UNC Charlotte, has been conducting research at the Redlair Preserve since 2004. Two years ago, her studies were boosted by a $75,000 grant she and colleague David Vinson received from the Duke Energy Water Resources Fund, which invests in programs and research benefiting waterways in the Carolinas. With the grant, Eppes and Vinson have established a long-term study of the hydrology and sedimentology of the water that flows through Redlair’s 750 acres into the South Fork Catawba River. “Redlair is wonderful because it’s made up of these miniature watersheds that all link together,” she says. By understanding how sediment and other pollutants make their
way from those watersheds into the Catawba, she says, “that will enable us to prevent it or to design development in a way that reduces it. These long-term observations are going to provide key insights into water quality in a rapidly growing area like Charlotte and the Piedmont overall.” Redlair has even drawn researchers from outside of the state. A colleague of Eppes’, Michelle Nelson with Utah State University’s Luminescence Laboratory, visited Redlair last year to collect samples as part of their analysis of the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) signals from quartz sand grains. Just as important, says Eppes, is the impact that Redlair has on students. This last summer, Eppes advised two minority students conducting research at Redlair. “The students fall in love with Redlair, every one I’ve ever taken out there,” she says. “It’s a way to reach out to students who wouldn’t think to do research as an undergrad and to increase the engagement of underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).” That’s not to say that every student’s research project will generate the outcome they expect, says Scott Weir, an assistant professor at Queens University whose conservation biology students will be visiting Eastover Ridge Preserve, Whitehall Nature Preserve, Redlair Preserve and the Pinhook Preserve this semester. “Especially with older students, it’s important to experience the hardship and the struggle (of research) and to realize that this is the process and you don’t always succeed,” he says. Weir’s students will be tackling a variety of questions at Conservancy properties this
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