Key Factors to Maintain Your Dam to Avoid Costly Repairs in the Future
Dams are engineered structures designed to impound water. Most ponds primarily have an earthen dam, but they can also be constructed of concrete. There are many key factors to investigate when assessing the condition of your dam. Earthen dam embankments should be vegetated with native grasses to provide adequate ground coverage and prevent erosion and […]
Back to Nature: Freshwater Jellyfish – Friend or Foe?
The hot, steamy days of late summer can provide the perfect conditions for one of our favorite rare, strange-but-true aquatic oddities: freshwater jellyfish. Native to China, Craspedacusta sowerbii has been found on every continent other than Antarctica—including here in Georgia! They can appear suddenly in warm waters where they had never been seen before.
Get to Know Evan Carpenter
Evan Carpenter is a Georgia native whose love for the outdoors started at an early age when older family members introduced him to the outdoor lifestyle. When Evan wasn’t out exploring, hunting or fishing, he could be found on a ball field as sports also played a major role in his upbringing. Soccer eventually took […]
What do hurricane season and a surplus of rain mean?
Spillway Inspection/Maintenance Hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean is officially underway and a surplus of rain is in the forecast. Now is a great time to inspect your spillways to ensure that they can handle the impending surge of stormwater. Spillways, overflows, standpipes or even “the drain” are many of the common references to what […]
New Life to City Park: A Stream Daylighting Project
Effectively managing stormwater can be especially problematic when urbanization changes the hydrology of the landscape. The engineering and science of properly managing stormwater has drastically changed over the last 50 years. This better understanding has given rise to the re-evaluation of the past methods utilized to see how to best harness natural systems in lieu […]
What the Hell? North America’s Largest Salamander
On a recent fishing expedition up on the Toccoa River up near Blue Ridge, Georgia a fisherman came up with a scary surprise of the slimy four legged kind. Actually it was Hellbender. The Hellbender is North America’s largest salamander, growing as large as 29 inches long. Their Asian cousins, the Chinese Giant Salamander, can […]
Got Pond Scum?
Well, spring is here! The bees are buzzing, the flowers are blooming, and the trees are turning green—which is a good thing. But is your pond also showing signs of green floating string mats or what is often affectionally called “pond scum”? Given the season, probably so. The more appropriate terminology for this condition would […]
An Ancient Innovation meets Modern Technology
How Fountains continue to change Environments Most Historians would agree that the first evidence of a man-made fountain was from around 3,000 B.C.E. in Mesopotamia. This fountain would have been more than likely powered by gravity, the water source being higher in elevation than the basin where the water would be discharged. Often, these types […]
Get to Know Aidan Tully
𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 – “Growing up I spent the vast majority of my time outdoors. You could either find me playing in the creek or playing soccer with my friends. I never imagined my childhood curiosity would turn into a career that allows me to wander through creeks and streams. I […]
Get to Know James Stone
James has had a strong interest in reptiles and amphibians since he was a young child. Having been raised on a small farm in West Georgia, he learned to appreciate nature and all it had to offer. James finds it incredibly rewarding when he can educate someone and change their mindset regarding snappers or water […]
