Cait Dickson is a Senior studying Biology at Bloomsburg University and will be graduating in the Spring of 2015. She is most interested in fresh water biology, and spent this last summer researching the relationships between water chemistry and gas emissions from small ponds in Ohio. After graduation, she hopes to find a position performing water quality tests in either the Great Lakes Region or along the Mid-Atlantic coast before moving on to complete her Master’s Degree.
Cait Dickson, EPCAMR Watershed Outreach Intern, sitting on a rock in a flooded stripping pit in the Jim Thorpe Area.
When not in college, she enjoys hiking and backpacking. She has completed the Loyalsock Trail, as well as sections of the Appalachian Trail, and trails in the Catskills, and Adirondacks. Her favorite day hike is the Falls Trail at Ricketts Glen State Park.
Cait helped EPCAMR out earlier in the Summer for a day prior to starting her official internship in the Fall 2014 at the Nockley’s Stream Restoration Project in Hanover Township, PA where we had to physically place several tons of R4 sized stone into areas of the tributary to Solomon Creek where rock energy dissipators were necessary to prevent further streambank erosion and sedimentation from occurring during storm events and heavy rainfalls.
Caitlyn Dickson, looking for some sunlight in the canopy at the Mocanaqua AMD Tunnel while EPCAMR was sampling for flow and chemistry.
Cait has already been water quality monitoring at the Espy Run AMD Treatment Wetlands on the Earth Conservancy property that EPCAMR monitors continuously and the Mocanaqua AMD Tunnel, that discharges from the historic West End Colliery, behind the Mocanaqua Borough Sewer Treatment Authority, in Mocanaqua.
Caitlyn Dickson, Elizabeth Rosser, and Gabby Zawacki out in Hazle Brook Creek removing beaver dams around several discharge locations.
Just last week, she was with EPCAMR’s other two Staff removing 4 beaver dams that were backing up AMD in the Hazle Creek watershed that drains to the Black Creek and then on to the Upper Lehigh River. She was up to her chest in waders removing several large beaver dams in order for EPCAMR and the Weatherly Borough Planning Commission, one of our partners in Carbon County to be able to continuously monitor the flow measurements of the discharges throughout the year. This is the second time we’ve been back to this location in the last several years.
Today, Cait is out with the other two Staff re-marking additional sections of the Sugar Notch Yellow Trail System on Earth Conservancy property in Sugar Notch, PA. “There is no doubt in my mind that over the course of the Fall, Cait will be exposed to many facets of the environment and ecology that surrounds mine drainage and our abandoned mine lands that are having a direct impact on the biology, ecology, and aquatic and wildlife populations within the Coalfields.” Seeing that she likes to hike and spend time outdoors, and the Summer and Fall being the busiest times of the year for the EPCAMR Staff, I’m sure that she’s going to enjoy her stay with EPCAMR.” stated Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.
“Cait is going to try and work with Bloomsburg University to see if they would test some of our AMD samples in their aqueous geochemistry labs to give us a better representative sample of the water quality parameters that we are measuring in the field with field test kits. Often times, we can’t afford to send water samples to the labs unless their is funding available to perform such tasks. AMD Hach Field Test Kits are the most commonly used testing kit in the field by the EPCAMR Staff. We are hoping that the Universities that we work with to sponsor interns will work with us and allow us to give the student interns an opportunity to apply their lab skills and use of the on-campus facilities to support our non-profit efforts in the Region, since they have the resources and equipment that we obviously can’t afford, unless they are grant funded.” hoped Robert.
Welcome Cait! We’re sure that you will do just fine!
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