The Holston River Watershed

Happy Saturday! I enjoyed putting this presentation together because I have been noticing invasive plants since I moved to the watershed, and listing them all out made me realize how many there are. This isn't an all encompassing list of invasives that could be found here, just ones that I have noticed between work and while on walks and hikes. Invasives can be scary, especially when you see something that starts out as a small infestation completely take over. It is important to be vigilant for any small patches of invasives that begin to move in to a new area and try to remove them before they begin rapidly spreading seeds. Not all, but many plants that become invasive start out as ornamentals, then spread uncontrollably; I use to really love morning glory but I see it differently now that I spend hours each summer carefully removing tendrils from small trees. Have you noticed any of these while out and about in your watershed?

I decided to research dissolved oxygen readers this week and considered how they could be used to monitor health in the Holston River watershed. I have used a dissolved oxygen meter in the past, and while it was capable of a lot of things, it was also quite difficult to maneuver. Thankfully, it had to be moved from a vehicle to a canoe, but if traveling quite far to access the water, it would have been more difficult. Buying equipment is usually stressful because a lot of things need to be considered, and equipment is rarely inexpensive. This overview of DO meter covers some of those parameters, and gives a brief look at this importance of monitoring DO levels in waterbodies.

Another special threat, oh my!  Over the last few weeks, I've realized how many of the land use characteristics in the Holston River Watershed can lead to environmental degradation if precautions aren't taken. While this slide show doesn't specifically mention those ties, if you review the land use presentation before this one, there are many overlapping aspects. Thankfully, there are regulations put in place to reduce damage, and there are many small things individuals can do to reduce their own impact.

This week I decided to focus on how mining has effected the Holston River Watershed. While the economic stability of the area is important, protecting the precious resources and beautiful, ecologically diverse environment is as well. Mining has occurred for a long time in the watershed, but laws were not put into place until around 50 years ago. While mining still occurs, the requirements are stricter now, and more remediation efforts have been required to help mitigate the environmental damage that mining causes. An additional reference: All photos are stock photos provided by Microsoft 360.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to interview Ciera Yates, a resident of Taylors Valley, VA, who shared her experience from hurricane Helene that hit Virginia on September 24th, 2024. Her and her husband live right along Whitetop Laurel Creek, a tributary to the Holston River Watershed, and adjacent to the Virginia Creeper trail. While it is difficult to hear how horrendous this storm was, she did an excellent job sharing her story and is hopeful for how the community is continuously responding, even a year later. After the interview concluded, Ciera shared with me something she had forgotten to mention. While walking through her neighborhood after the hurricane, she came across multiple stranded hellbenders, an endangered salamander as well as an indicator species, and was able to move five of them back to the water after they had washed up onto the road. She then found another one the next day that was completely trapped under an exposed tree root. Thankfully, all of the salamanders w...

Out of all of the natural disasters, I did not expect droughts to be the most dangerous to human life. This week I explored how droughts affect the Holston River watershed, and learned how they can impact other environments as well.