Category Archives: Research – Student

We broke up into groups today to try and accomplish more work. We should have all the information on the trees along with the soil samples entered into GIS today. Half of our team is working on the final soil sample, to confirm our findings and hopefully to prove that we did not encounter fill for the old football field. We have decided that we will try and project the stream path this Wednesday and then use the remainder of this semester to clean up the blog and try and project the next steps for the students coming and and continuing on this project next semester.

We are feeling pretty good and think we have gathered quite a bit of information for the semesters to come.

Today as a group we were able to finish up the Tree Locations. It was as exciting as 1970’s hair styles.

Today we have broken into groups again. Torrential downpours have left us struggling to get data, we have finished entering all the data we have collected and some of our more adventurous members have gone out in the rain to do soil samples. Others are updating blogs.

Pic: Ali Getting Stuff Done!!

We as a group have continued to map out all the trees next to the Delaware Run and entered data into GIS. We felt like it would be more productive to start breaking into groups to try and achieve more work this week. We shortly met with Professor Krygier to discuss getting the soil samples, we will be getting information on how to do this by Monday. Trees, trees, and more trees.

As a group we met with Professor Krygier to discuss the “Delaware run project in further detail. During this discussion we decided that the two most valuable layers we could add to this project would be the soil layer to make sure it was more accurate and tree data next to the run. We mapped out the soil content on the 24th and have decided that later we will want to take some soil sample to make sure our mapping in GIS is accurate. March 26th we printed off maps and sat down as a group to decide which attributes would be most important to enter into the tree layer. We also used the end of class to start getting tree data.

This is all we see:

The past week and a half we have been mapping out the location of each tree on the floodplain including various estimates on; the circumference and height of the trees, whether they are native species or not, if they are included in the arboretum  and the tree type. We used the pencil method to find the estimated height and measured the circumference with a measuring tap from the geology department.

This data has never been collected before and will be very important as we try to predict a path for the delaware run. We are currently placing our data in arcGIS in order to create a map with our individual attributes.

Issues that we are going to have to deal with.

• The route of the run

  • How it will affect the trees

  • How much we will be able to change the path (How much will the contractor do)

  • Is there anything we have to work around for the path( utilities etc..)

• Coordination of different groups

  • Who is involved with this project (Names and contact information)

  • Do we all have the same view on the project (on  the same page)

Proposal:  Collaborators: Smith, Kerns, Siefker, Taylor

Rough Proposal. 2.3.14

 I. Review data from previous restoration project. Our group has discussed the validity of using and building on previous project, and collaborators to keep this momentum moving in a continuous pace.

 II. Visually assessing the  property to get a better understanding of the project and its implication. This will better our understanding of the work that has been completed and what needs to be prioritized.

Issues that we are going to have to deal with.

• The route of the run

• How it will affect the trees

• How much we will be able to change the path (How much will the contractor do)

• Is there anything we have to work around for the path( utilities etc..)

• Coordination of different groups

• Who is involved with this project (Names and contact information)… Kristin Piper (City of Delaware watershed coordinator), Peter Schantz (OWU’s Head of Buildings and Grounds)—> obstacle due to Eliot Hall which is their main focus right now.

• Do we all have the same view on the project (on  the same page)

 III. Create an OWU wordpress blog site.

IV. Developing a better understanding of our project jargon. Research differences in EPA  restrictions for stormwater credits.

research on storm water credits—>

Ohio: http://www.neorsd.org/I_Library.php?a=download_file&LIBRARY_RECORD_ID=4699

Delaware:http://www.delawareohio.net/UserUploads/UserDocuments/Departments/Public_Utilities/StormCreditManual.pdf

V. Get a drone scan and layout of the area in question. Get better understanding of existing vegetation to find what bio-obstacles are in the path of restoration. (Email Prof. Blanks to get approval)

VI. With all information received start a preliminary mapping of the suggested stream reconstruction.

VII. Meet with city legislation to see if our projected plan has possibility, or needs revision.

Today is the first day for our humble blog. We as a group will be adding historic archive information and create a platform to build our project.

The previous Delaware Run project blog is here: Delaware Run Project (2013)

[pertinent information has been moved to this blog]