A Look into Biodiversity in Rockingham County, Virginia

 For the purposes of this post, instead of focusing in on the entirety of Rockingham County, I picked a focus area in the Smith Creek Watershed near Keezeltown. I did this for two reasons; the Area of Interest must be under 100,000 acres and Smith Creek is classified as an impaired watershed in Virginia so providing insight into this area and its issues could help foster remediation not just in water quality but in biodiversity.  Since I current work for NRCS, this post will be from the perspective of a professional and I will highlight two soil types and how biodiversity can have a positive impact on the area.  The first thing I looked into is what soils is majority of the AOI mapped as? The first and largest majority of the AOI is mapped as Frederick and Lodi silt loams, 7 to 15 percent slopes, eroded at 17.8% of the total AOI. These soils are generally well drained but do hold the potential for low to high run-off and erosion. They are suitable for Corn and cereal grain production.

  Photo from: https://chamber.hrchamber.org/list/member/rockingham-county-2153 The climate links that I will be looking into for my study area of Rockingham County are rainfall, seasonal temperatures, and natural disaster events. I found these three factors to be very influential to the biodiversity of the area as rainfall is needed for forage grasses and plants to grow to support wildlife and even provide habitat; seasonal temperatures can dictate movement and habitat preferences in wildlife and other organisms; and probability or frequency of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes and wildfires can have various impacts on all organisms.  According to past data collection, on average the Rockingham County area sees roughly 36.2 inches of rain a year. Also, may is usually the month with the most average rainfall of 3.7 inches. These totals allow for good forage growth in the spring and fall from cool season grasses.  Due to the karst geology of the area, groundwater moves relativ

  In my short experience using My Maps, I can see how it could be used and used well to present material to a wide range of people. Adding points of interest and having said point be integrated with google allows for a lot of information to be shared to target audience. The polygon tool is also great for highlighting larger areas or even routes for traveling and hiking.  In the map I created, I highlighted the major areas in which biodiversity exists or can exist within Rockingham County. This comes from my own personal experience in visiting these areas.