Oh Dam! The History of Flooding. – Native Gardening Gals

We are the Native Gardening Gals or NGG. NGG consists of Addison Allen, Jocelyn Rhodes, and Sabrina Matteoli.

Team Introduction:

Hi, I am Addison Allen and I am a first year student at Penn State Berks. I am a Criminology major. I choose because I am very interested in how we as humans affect our environment. For our ECAP project, I served as the time liaison. As the team liaison, I kept in contact with the park ranger whom we worked with. I found this project exciting because it was a hands-on experience volunteering at Blue Marsh Lake. I learned a lot about how the Lake serves the community. I also learned about what fly fishing is, although it looks like someone may be drowning they are actually just fishing.

Hi, I am Jocelyn Rhodes and I am a first year student at Penn State Berks majoring in Elementary Education. Before this semester I loved learning about different things in the environment. I love to volunteer and serve others and I also love to fish with my family. One thing I love to do is walk on the trails around my community and look at things. Prior to this semester, I never really took any courses regarding the environment and when I needed a general education course this one looked very interstating. I’m glad I  chose this course because I got to do a fun group project and learn more about our environment.

Hi, I am Sabrina Matteoli, a fourth year student at Penn State Berks in the Information Technology Major. For the EACAP project completed this semester, I have served as our team’s team leader. In this role, I am responsible for ensuring that all team members remain on task throughout the semester. Prior to this semester, I had little interest in the environment and learning of ways to help it grow. I would participate in simple tasks such as recycling, although that was the extent of my drive to make the community a better place in terms of nature. Throughout my years at Penn State as well as high school, I was very excited about volunteering. When selecting a general education course for this semester, I felt that this course fit my desire in terms of completing a volunteer service project. I am so glad that I chose this path.

Service with Blue Marsh Lake:

Brianna Treichle, a park ranger and volunteer coordinator for Blue Marsh Lake, gave us a few different options to choose from in terms of service with their organization. Our team has chosen to create an interpretive panel for the stilling basin located at the base of the dam. The panel will discuss how and why the dam was built, how the water is used for the local county, the connection with the Delaware River, and other information as well. Unlike other teams, our team will not be working at Blue Marsh Lake regularly to complete our service component. Instead, our team is spending countless hours researching and designing the interpretive panel that will be printed and installed after the semester has concluded. 

Our team is excited to complete this project for Blue Marsh Lake. During this course, our team has learned the importance of nature and our local organizations that are working hard to preserve our nation’s beauty. By creating this panel, our team is excited to help others learn about the importance of the dam and the stilling basin for not only the Reading community, but those impacted by the Delaware River Watershed.  

Final Interpretive Panel:

Service Video:

Research of Dams:

During this semester, our team focused our research on dams. Throughout the research process, our team focused on the history, benefits, problems, solutions, and sustainable development goals. Each team member was responsible for completing an equal amount of the research. Jocelyn completed her research on the history, general information, and benefits potion. Some of things I found out about dams is that they went all the way back to ancient Mesopotamians. There are many benefits but some of the key ones are flood control, water storage and irrigation.Addison completed her research on the problems and consequences of dams. Addison completed her research on the causes and consequences of dams. This portion of research was difficult to find information on as dams are installed in areas to help with various concerns within a region. Although, there are some downfalls of dams that were discovered during the research portion of this project which include the following: soil erosion, species extinction, and the spread of disease. Sabrina completed her research on the solutions and sustainable development goals. For this portion of the research, there were numerous solutions that dams provide to the community that are further explained in detail, but some include the following: flood risk management, drinking water, power, irrigation, and many more. In terms of the sustainable development goals, each of the seventeen different goals were looked into in detail to understand how dams assisted our communities in meeting these goals. 

EACAP Research Tri-fold

Poster Session:

Our team, the Native Gardening Gals, presented in the lobby of Gaige to our class peers and members of the Penn State Berks community. It was great being able to see everyone come enjoying learning about the different research and service projects completed this semester. Our team truly enjoyed getting to talk to each and everyone of you to explain more about our interpretive panel and our research on dams.

Team Reflection:

Throughout the semester, our team has had a wonderful time working with Blue Marsh Lake to learn more about the dam and how it is beneficial to the Reading community. Brianna Treichle, Blue Marsh Lake park ranger, was very helpful in assisting us with the completion of this project. She was quick to respond to any questions and very knowledgeable about her position with the organization. Our team feels that working with an organization that is very passionate about their mission is something that made this project more enjoyable. Overall, our team enjoyed the service portion of this project. All three of us have enjoyed volunteering previously and felt that this project gave us the opportunity to service our community within the constraints of our busy schedules. Not only has our team enjoyed working together on this project, but we have also created lasting friendships.