Relevant Weather Links

The following links are either already set to display the nearest station to Widewater State park or could not be set, but can be easily zoomed.  A couple are for your typical weather forecast which is great for planning field work, as well as more detailed forecasting links.  I linked a number of pages related to hydrology of the rivers and streams as well as rainfall information.  These links were selected due to the two rivers bordering the parks as well as the number of marshes and wetlands within the park.  I selected a link for historical data that covers a variety of topics like weather, wind, barometric pressure, rain, and snow.  I also do a lot of GIS work with my job so I was excited when I found one link with NOAA that is for downloading GIS file of weather information.  Lastly, I selected a link for fire weather forecasting.  This link is not directly applicable to my site as wild fire is not common and I do not conduct prescribed fire on the site.  It does have applications for guaging droughts and can be very useful for other sites as well.

Precipitation Historical Data

http://water.weather.gov/precip/index.php?location_type=wfo&location_name=lwx

River Observations

http://water.weather.gov/ahps/index.php

River Forecasts

http://water.weather.gov/ahps/index.php

Sport Weather Forecast

https://www.weather.gov/spot/

Weather Underground Historical Data

https://www.wunderground.com/history/

NOAA Historic Weather for Fredericksburg, VA Station

https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datasets/NORMAL_ANN/stations/GHCND:USC00443192/detail

GIS Files of Weather

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/gis/shapepage.htm

Graphical Representation of weather forecasts

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=38.4219&lon=-77.3311&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

NOAA Weather Forecast

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-77.331123046875&lat=38.421924083567745#.WVbJmhPytok

Fire Weather Forecast

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ridge2/fire/

ArcGIS Online Map of Widewater State Park

Follow the link below to the ArcGIS Online map of Widewate State Park.
http://arcg.is/1aDGqj

The map depicts the location of the sensitive ecosystems, interesting wildlife sightings, and other interesting biodiversity features.

I preferred creating my map in ArcGIS Online over Google My Maps.  My preference could be subjective simply because I have experience with Arc Online and I have a number of files in ArcGIS Desktop that is usable in the Online software.  It is very easy to zip already existing shapefiles and upload them into ArcGIS Online.  If you create attribute fields in Desktop such as acreage, miles, ecotype, etc. they will all transfer to Online.  Once in the Online software you can choose which attributes will show in the Pop-up when the item is clicked Online.  Creating features in Online is not as easy to do as it is in Google My Maps.  The tool to create in Online is not as easy to locate and how to select the type of feature desired is not as easy either.  ArcGIS Online is definitely geared more to the more experienced cartographer who has shapefiles created in Desktop already.
The map for the viewer is easy to use as well and has just as many features such as measuring tools and different basemaps like Google My Maps.
One feature I really like about is the ability to have an organization account.  I have established a private group with my agency so that I may create and share my maps only with certain people.  Co-workers can request or I can invite people to the group.  This allows me to create maps with sensitive information that I can share with other employees who need access to that, but I do not want the public to have access to.

Google My Maps of Widewater State Park

Follow the link below to view the Google My Map of Widewater State Park.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OK5Etp2CMX6N_-nwOw7oy3fyz6I&usp=sharing

The map depicts the location of the sensitive ecosystems, interesting wildlife sightings, and other interesting biodiversity features.

  I found this mapping tool to be very easy to use whether you have experience with cartography or not.  Establishing the extent of the map was easy and further creating the points and polygons to depict the unique features of the park were easy too.  Editing the features, colors, and descriptions was simply done and Google My Maps prompted those edits for the cartographer.  I found that creating features was limited in the information you could display.  You could attach or link images to the feature, but that can also be done in ArcGIS Online.  I liked that you could type a brief description and the acreage of the polygon was automatically calculated.  The one issue I found with Google My Maps is that I could not import any of my files from ArcGIS.  My ArcGIS was unfortunately not working due to problems with my works server and my personal computer is a Mac.  Due to this I was unable to open ArcGIS desktop to re save my shapefiles to be compatible with Google My Maps.  I believe if I could have opened my files in ArcGIS then I could have saved them in another format to upload into My Maps.  Despite this hurtle I was still able to get a great deal of information onto the map, but not quite as much as I was able to load onto ArcGIS Online.
  Google My Maps is equally well laid out for the map user.  The tools are bright bold colors and easily located.  The functionality of the tools for the user are also very simple.

Introduction to Ecology Powerpoint

Please follow the link to the Powerpoint I created.  The intended audiences are those interested in learning about ecology or attempting to teach it to others.

https://docs.google.com/a/vt.edu/presentation/d/15op4WBmcGogo-wH403Q3v2z4mRh-Eg5GdGswhQfSp2I/edit?usp=sharing

So What Is Biodiversity?

Biodiversity is the total variety of flora and fauna located within a given ecotype or region.

Welcome to Widewater!

I have selected Widewater  to study the biodiversity for a multitude of reasons.

Widewater State Park in Stafford, Virginia and is a peninsula located at the confluence of Aquia Creek and the Potomac River.  Widewater was acquired by Virginia State Parks from Dominion Power in 2006, but recently the money was approved to begin to develop the park.  For the last 10 years the park has sat relatively quiet.  Myself and a few Law Enforcement Rangers on patrol were some of the few who would visit to park.

The site was occupied hundreds of years ago by the Native Americans who lived on and near the peninsula utilizing its excellent hunting and fishing.  Later the land was settled by many notable families such as the Lee’s and the Brent’s (who the point of Widewater is named after).  Widewater was a crucial defense and port location for the Confederates and later during the early 20^th century the Aquia creek was a booming fishing industry.  Presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt and other affluent people often visited the site from DC looking for exceptional waterfowl hunting.  In the early 1960’s a small community of approximately 100 homes is settled on one of the beaches.

In more recent history, Widewater has been subject to poaching both on land and water, illegal timber harvest, and damage from ATVs and dirt bikes.  However, its not all bad since much of that activity has declined since State Parks owned the property.  I have worked to remove Ailanthus altissima from the park in the last couple of years and I am working of other agencies to contract an aerial spray of Phragmites australis.  In 2016 I launched the first every managed deer hunt in the park and I am expanding on that program this year.   I have gotten reports of bears and have seen tracks from bobcats within the park.  The variety of wildlife at Widewater is rich and despite the repeated damage from man over the centuries some endangered plants and rare ecotypes have managed to survive.  Coastal Depression Swamps still persist in areas of the park in spite of development and cutting of timber.

My first visit to Widewater I spotted a Leucistic Crow which seemed to appear every time I returned.  The image of that crow stuck with me and I became enthralled with the park.  The variety of wildlife and presence of endangered fauna keeps my passion fueled.  I feel that with an new undeveloped park I have the opportunity to have these wonderful things saved from development all while watching to see how wildlife adapts and invasives may spread with the development and growing presence of park visitors.