GC5AABG Jamestown Audubon Center Ponds (Earthcache) in New York, United States created by rainbowtree

This cache has been archived.

rainbowtree: DO NOT post a log to this cache.
If you choose to disregard CO's request and log this archived cache, be sure you have the following ...
1. Pics at the required coordinates with you or your signature item as verification of visit.
2. All questions completely/thoughtfully answered.
A special thank you to those who completed all the requirements as requested -and- added the Journeys to your log.

GC5AABG ▼

A cache by rainbowtree Message this owner

Hidden : 4/1/2015

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

EARTHCACHE REQUIREMENTS
Each cacher must send his/her own answers BEFORE logging a find. Enjoy the journey (learning adventure) as well as the destination (smiley earned). Remember to take only pictures and leave only footprints. To get credit for this Earthcache, complete the following tasks:

1. MESSAGE :-) or EMAIL …. At the posted coords you will see one of the Water Control Boxes. How are they used to control the water level of the pond? NOTE: Trails are open dawn to dusk every day.

2. MESSAGE :-) or EMAIL …. a. What two ways does the water chestnut negatively affect the health of the ponds at the Center? ... b. Does this invasive species affect flooding of the ponds? Explain.

OPTIONAL - Please respect the time and effort involved in finding and creating this earthcache by adding A B C to your log.

A. Post a picture at or near the posted coords. This picture is your log signature verifying that you were at the earthcache.

B. JOURNEY OF THE MIND ... Science explains what we observe. Relate (in your own words) something you found interesting in the reading. This adds to your learning adventure and your log.

C. JOURNEY OF THE HEART ... Art shares our personal experience of what we see. Share something special you found on site, and why it is special to you ... prose / story / poem / picture. This is a memorable addition to your log and will make other hearts smile.

CONEWANGO CREEK GEOLOGY
The valley of the Conewango Creek was formed during the last ice age. In pre‐glacial time, the drainage pattern for the region was in a northerly direction toward the basin of present‐day Lake Erie. Water then flowed to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River. The valley of the ancient Allegheny River became filled with glacial deposits as deep as 500 feet with an additional 100 feet of silt deposited by a lake formed by melting ice. During the Wisconsin glacial period the northward drainage was blocked and forced in a southerly direction. The present‐day Conewango Creek meanders across these deposits in a broad valley lying in Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties of New York State. As the creek flows southward through this valley, the underlying sediment along its banks is exposed. When eroded, the silt gives the Conewango its turbid appearance. Entering Pennsylvania, the valley narrows, being restricted by moraines and kame terraces left by the retreating ice. Wetlands and croplands are replaced by glacial deposits. Just north of the village of Russell, the creek cuts through these deposits where the gradient suddenly drops resulting in rapids, shallower water, and a marked change from mud bottom to a gravel creek bed. From this point, to its mouth in Warren, the valley has a few narrow flood plains as it flows between glacial moraines and hills of Devonian bedrock.

CONEWANGO CREEK WATERSHED
Big Pond and Spatterdock Pond are naturally occurring ponds within the Conewango Creek Watershed.

PONDS
Average depth of the ponds are 2' - 6'. Two large ponds, Big Pond and Spatterdock Pond (posted coords), started as beaver ponds. The beaver dams were replaced by man-made dikes decades ago. The remainder of the ponds are man-made. Pond levels are controlled using five Water Control Boxes. These control boxes are used to prevent flooding, provide habitat for wildlife, and to manage non-native invasive species.

FLOODING
The ponds at the Jamestown Audubon Center get their water supply from a combination of water from tributaries, freshwater springs and seasonal flooding from the Conewango Creek. Water control boxes help to manage the amount of water in the ponds. Levels are changed seasonally for frog breeding, bird migrations, invasive species control and more.

WATER CHESTNUT
The ponds at the Jamestown Audubon Center offer a view of the various plants and animals that use the ponds to meet their survival needs. Both ponds and organisms are being negatively impacted by the infestation of the non-native invasive water chestnut. To help keep it from spreading, water levels are lowered to prevent germination, and raised to drown them after maturity. Lowering water levels also allow for mechanical harvesting where staff and volunteers "weed" the pond.

The plant can form nearly impenetrable floating mats of vegetation. The density of the mats can severely limit light penetration into the water and reduce or eliminate the growth of native aquatic plants beneath the canopy. The reduced plant growth combined with the decomposition of the water chestnut plants (which die back each year) can result in reduced levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, and negatively impact other aquatic organisms. Water chestnut has little nutritional or habitat value to fish or waterfowl and can have a significant impact on the use of an infested area by native species. The sharp, spiny nuts can result in puncture injuries to those "weeding" the pond.

For more information on the invasive water chestnut see:
http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/ais/pdfs/WaterChestnutFactsheet.pdf