Come learn how Scientists, Community members, and Students worked together to convince the government to address a 90-year-old man-made ecological problem.
What happens when the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) turns a defunct log transportation channel into part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW)? In 1932, Noyes Cut was dug through the saltmarshes of the Satilla River near Dover Bluff, GA, but it was not maintained after 1935.By 1938, the residents of the Dover Bluff Community first documented the decline in water quality presumably caused by Noyes Cut. It took almost 50 years for the USACE to respond and send an engineer to investigate. McMahon’s 1983 report confirmed the landowners’ observations and proposed that Noyes Cut be closed. However, Georgia never spent money allotted for the closure and Noyes Cut remains today.
Fast forward to a 2013 scientific society meeting where a local researcher gave a presentation on the Cut’s history and ultimately started a collaborative assessment of the ecological effects of Noyes Cut. Since June 2014, faculty at two universities, local interest group members, and a multitude of citizen scientists and student volunteers have collected biological data on the effects of Noyes Cut. This research has helped the USACE make sound decisions and move forward with the plans to close Noyes Cut.
Join Amy Abdulovic-Cui, PhD; A. Loren Mathews, PhD; Jessica M. Reichmuth, PhD for this fabulous talk.
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