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Appomattox Court House National Historical Park (APCO) Background of Study Project Title: Assessment of the Impact of Land Use Management and Water Quality at Appomattox Court House National Historic Park. Project Description: Throughout 2002-2004, staff and students from Lynchburg College in cooperation with Natural Resources staff of Appomattox Court House National Historical Park assessed water quality within pastures leased for commercial grazing activities in comparison to water quality in relatively undisturbed areas of the park. This effort involved the collection of water samples (4x per year) and aquatic macroinvertebrates (1x per season) from six sites within the park. Water chemistry analyses included parameters required through the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program (alkalinity, pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, temperature and flow) as well as parameters that will provide useful information to park managers related to the impact of grazing activities on park resources (nitrate, nitrite, nitrogen ammonia, turbidity, hardness, phosphorus, fecal coliform bacteria and aquatic macroinvertebrates). Aquatic macroinvertebrates were identified to family to provide a baseline species list and was used to generate diversity indices that provided needed information to park managers related to the impact of grazing activities on water quality within the park. This was an essential study as this national park did not have baseline water quality information and is impacted by land use activities. This project is also a model for other national parks dealing with land management issues and protection of natural resources. This project provided an educational experience in the National Park System for 2 internship students in Environmental Science at Lynchburg College. Summary of Findings From June 2002 through May 2004, the Appomattox River, Plain Run Branch and several tributaries throughout Appomattox Courthouse National Park were sampled. A total of seven sites in the park were sampled for water chemistry and four sites for macroinvertebrates in June, October, January and March to assess the potential impact of grazing on stream water quality and to inventory existing water quality. From our findings, water quality in the park is good to excellent depending upon the area of the park sampled. Our most significant finding is that water exiting the park in the Appomattox River is of better quality than water entering the park in this same river system. Water quality in the mid sections of the park is the best measured along Plain Run Branch and mid sections of the Appomattox. Data suggest water quality may slightly degrade on some level as the Appomattox River exits the park. We could not correlate grazing along some portions of the Appomattox and tributaries to this degradation. This report represents the effort of a two-year study of this issue. Additional years of study may reveal changing trends in water quality. |