SRS Research Team Receives Source Water Protection Award
Healthy forests = clean water. It’s a simple idea about forests’ critical role in capturing, filtering, and delivering more than half of the water supply in the United States. But how does one know it’s true? The answer: research from the U.S. Forest Service. Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and their predecessors have been conducting research on the connections among forest watersheds, management practices, and water quantity and quality and communicating their results for more than 75 years. The NC Source Water Collaborative recently honored SRS’s leadership and contributions to a vast body of knowledge with a Source Water Protection Award in the category of Education for “Defining and Understanding How Forests Protect Watersheds and Source Water.” Eastern Threat Center research hydrologist Ge Sun, SRS research hydrologist Pete Caldwell, and SRS project leader Jim Vose accepted the award at a ceremony on March 15 during the Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI) of the University of North Carolina System’s annual conference in Raleigh, NC. Additional scientists honored with the award include Center research ecologist Steve McNulty; SRS research ecologist Kitty Elliott and project leader Chelcy Miniat with Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory; and SRS project leader Dave Wear with the Center for Integrated Forest Science. “The theme of the 2017 WRRI annual conference was ‘solutions through dialogue and cooperation,’” says Sun. “It’s great that North Carolina recognizes SRS contributions to water research and education through close collaboration over the years.”
