Clyde setting up a mount for an in-stream HOBO data logger. Equipment purchased through Dr. Flood’s grant from Trout Unlimited.

Clyde setting up a mount for an in-stream HOBO data logger. Equipment purchased through Dr. Flood’s grant from Trout Unlimited.

Students conducting a stream health survey looking for EPT taxa.

Students conducting a stream health survey looking for EPT taxa.

Lab safety, cooperation, and productivity is key to any good environmental hydrologist’s training.

Lab safety, cooperation, and productivity is key to any good environmental hydrologist’s training.

Surface Water Hydrology

Graduate & Undergraduate Course

The course begins at the microscale, discussing the unique properties of the water molecule, then immediately zooms out to the macro-scale by discussing the expansive circulation network water travels, sculpting mountains and carving valleys on its ever-moving path across and through our planet. You will learn an appreciation for humanity’s ancient and still growing role in augmenting the hydrologic cycle. The course then focuses on individual components/processes of the Hydrologic Cycle, from the small and invisible processes such as evaporation, to the grand and powerful hydrologic phenomena such as flooding. Along your journey through the elements of the water cycle you will learn the state-of-the-art concerning how hydrologic information is quantified, measured, and compared.

AMD is a real problem in Appalachia, but it does’t get everyone down.

AMD is a real problem in Appalachia, but it does’t get everyone down.

Before we had the Sontek doppler… we had the propeller on a stick! Emily laughing at the ways of yesterday.

Before we had the Sontek doppler… we had the propeller on a stick! Emily laughing at the ways of yesterday.

 
 
 
in 2018 we worked hand in hand with the MDE monitoring water quality and aquatic health impacts from lime-sand treatment in AMD afflicted streams.

in 2018 we worked hand in hand with the MDE monitoring water quality and aquatic health impacts from lime-sand treatment in AMD afflicted streams.

P9271254.jpg
P9271179.jpg
Even a basic tool for soil analysis reveals reclaimed soils are low in organics.

Even a basic tool for soil analysis reveals reclaimed soils are low in organics.

Monitoring the pH and EC of streams treated with limestone sands.

Monitoring the pH and EC of streams treated with limestone sands.

Preparing the surface for yard waste in 2019.

Preparing the surface for yard waste in 2019.

 
 
IR 103.png
57511553_2546833438674788_6757281014688514048_o.jpg
103.jpg
 
Expanding the 4-Mile Ridge Turbines.

Expanding the 4-Mile Ridge Turbines.

73295066_2931735190184609_2976255909124112384_n.png
Currently Coal Ash is dumped back into the unlined surface mines of the Georges Creek.

Currently Coal Ash is dumped back into the unlined surface mines of the Georges Creek.

53766475_2478825612142238_8501731945313468416_o.jpg
Screen Shot 2020-01-09 at 1.12.54 AM.png

Environmental Restoration

Upper-level Undergraduate

It is true that we are living in The Anthropocene, a geologic epoch defined by our sweeping changes—both physical and chemical—to the planet’s natural systems. Ironically, it is our species’ inherent natural ability to engineer ecosystems to suit our needs that has resulted in the complex set of environmental successes, challenges, and tragedies that are daily unfolding all around the planet. In Dr. Flood’s Environmental Restoration class, students are given the tools and taught the techniques needed to change the trend in habitat simplification that has become the hallmark of human ecosystem development. We take systems with a great diversity of members and remove them to make way for a handful of preferred species. Restoration students utilize engineering methods and tools to reinstall and repair environments degraded or destroyed by human endeavors. In this moment of great concern and global anxiety over environmental health and sustainability, ecosystem restoration engineering offers tangible, positive, and morally sound results; it is also perhaps our only best option.

In 2019, Dr. Flood received a $50,000 USD grant from the Maryland DNR to manage a student led team charged with researching stream-sealing materials and the preparation of a restoration plan for a tributary to the Potomac near campus. Students were excited to contribute meaningfully to the environmental health of their region and also learned valuable lessons about legal, engineering, and financial impediments to progress. We are very very grateful the MDNR as well as the folks at the Bureau of Mines for helping us over the course of the semester.

 

Intro to Physical Geography

It is hard not to get excited to teach and discuss the reason the sky is blue, how deep is the sea, where did water come from, how old is our planet and when did life arrive?

Students in Dr Flood’s Physical Geography course embark on an intellectual journey that takes them around the dynamic surface of our planet, down into its dense iron-nickel core still hot from the Earth’s formation, along the mighty streams that cut and carve its terrestrial surface, and up through the thin veil of atmosphere that has enveloped us all nearly every moment of our lives. During their semester-long adventure, it is Dr. Flood’s sincere hope that many of the planet’s physical phenomena will inspire awe and speak to that deep sense of wonder engrained in every human soul. But Flood entreats students to dig deeper into enigmas and gain insight into the processes, mechanisms, and relationships that have generated and continue to shape the physical and living world around them.

 

Environmental Planning

Environmental Planning is not all greenways, bike paths, BMP’s, and stormwater management. Especially not in Appalachia. The class begins with asking the stakeholders of mountain Maryland what in the heck it is they want out of their environment? What sections of the environment do they want to stay exactly the way it is, what would they like to see developed or changed, what would they like to see removed, and what would they really not want to see in their backyard. From this feedback Environmental Planning students have been able to assist in numerous regional planning projects, from restoring a stream reach for trout fishing, to working with the Adventure Cycling Association to produce GIS bike routes for Allegany County, to completing a Environmental Assessment along NEPA guidelines for a wind-turbine extension project.

Flood’s class has made consistent effort to turn the waste of Appalachia into a resource… or at least less bad waste. Coal ash and AMD are the two most pressing environmental waste streams impacting Western Maryland. Student experiment with the potential uses of coal ash as a pozzolan in cement mixtures. AMD is principally Fe, SO4, and Mn, but many of its precipitates contain concentrations of Rare Earth Elements used in the manufacture of electronic goods. Students have revealed that there is money to be made from RRE in AMD, but separating them from their orange sludge matrix is for now an impediment.

2017 students investigated soil development on reclaimed mine hillsides in Appalachia. Mine operators can reseed a hillside and get their bond back, but the soil—the very foundation for ecosystems—is often left impoverished resulting in increased ru…

2017 students investigated soil development on reclaimed mine hillsides in Appalachia. Mine operators can reseed a hillside and get their bond back, but the soil—the very foundation for ecosystems—is often left impoverished resulting in increased runoff, poor yields, and impaired forest succession.

Surveying.jpg
In 2019, Flood & students permanently rerouted the flow of yard-waste in Frostburg to previously mined hillsides to kick-start soil development! It feels great to make a positive and lasting impact!

In 2019, Flood & students permanently rerouted the flow of yard-waste in Frostburg to previously mined hillsides to kick-start soil development! It feels great to make a positive and lasting impact!

Taking a deep look at what Appalachia soils looked like before the surface mining destroyed thousands upon thousands of fertile acreage. Dr. Flood organized a trip with USDA soil scientists, mine owners, and FSU students.

Taking a deep look at what Appalachia soils looked like before the surface mining destroyed thousands upon thousands of fertile acreage. Dr. Flood organized a trip with USDA soil scientists, mine owners, and FSU students.

 
 
59566611_2571926829498782_8569917647808888832_o.jpg
P5011131.jpg
 
Efforts towards what Dr. Flood calls “Environmental Alchemy.” Attempting to turn AMD and Coal Ash into proverbial gold.

Efforts towards what Dr. Flood calls “Environmental Alchemy.” Attempting to turn AMD and Coal Ash into proverbial gold.

P5101234.jpg
At AES Warrior Run learning about coal ash production, chemistry, and environmental management

At AES Warrior Run learning about coal ash production, chemistry, and environmental management

P5241294.jpg
 
 
 
 
Surveying.jpg
PB012477.jpg
PA041480.jpg
 
56219852_2518451454846320_5396053982772723712_o.jpg
30738354_1975108732513931_7274224777378660352_o.jpg

Surveying & Field Techniques

Upper-Level Experiential Learning Course

Students in Dr. Flood’s Surveying & Field Techniques course learn how to delineate a wetland, key out plant taxa, conduct a soil survey, set up a baseline and run transects through forests and peri-urban environments, analyze basic water chemistry, create a stream cross-section and longitudinal profile, set up an excavate a 1x1 with acceptable vertical control, create 3D maps with AutoCAD Civil3D, set up and run Topcon total stations and data collectors, analyze soil and sediment chemistry for development suitability using XRF instrumentation, conduct a Wolmann pebble count, and map a straight line from a wooded glen through campus with the tools used by the original surveyors, the Roman Groma and teamwork. This class was inspired by Dr. William Doolittle at UT Austin and has been a hit with FSU students. The goal is to give them as many useful environmental skillsets that I feel professionally competent to teach. Each module aligns with a field of study and real career in environmental consulting or management (okay not the groma… but surveying definitely). Definitely one of Dr. Flood’s favorites.

 

STEM Outreach

Dr Flood has worked hard to organize and participate in as many STEM outreach events as possible. This drive was instilled in him by his PhD advisor, Dr. Sheryl Luzzadder-Beach who tirelessly promotes diversity and champions equality in the sciences. Flood has been successful in weaving STEM events into the Surface Water Hydrology class, wherein college students get to share their new knowledge of the workings of world of water with kids from nearby schools. They utilize the actual streamflow table and the new augmented reality sandbox. This is often the first time these students step foot on a college campus and Dr. Flood strives to ensure that it is only the first step in a beautiful journey of life long learning.

 
 
snowsurveying.jpg
1x1.jpg
 
55887662_2518451768179622_1102908341316747264_n.png
30709748_1975108862513918_3527962278114623488_o.jpg