Christopher Woltemade
Professor
Office:108 Shearer Hall
Phone:717-477-1143
Email:cjwolt@ship.edu
Homepage:http://webspace.ship.edu/cjwolt/
Curriculum Vitae:download as pdf
Education
PhD (1993) Geography, University of Wisconsin
MS (1989) Geography, University of Wisconsin
MS (1989) Water Resources Management, University of Wisconsin
BA (1987) Geography, Ohio Wesleyan University
Profile
I have primary interests in water resources management, hydrology, geomorphology, and stream and wetland restoration. My current research projects reflect these interests.
I am currently working with Kurt Fuellhart on a study of the economic costs and savings of various residential water conservation programs in Shippensburg, PA. We are working with the Shippensburg Borough Authority on this study that we hope to expand to other areas in the future.
During 2009 I worked with Erick Ammon (M.S. Geoenvironmental Studies student) to evaluate the impact of soil compaction in residential lawns on infiltration and runoff rates. Results were presented at the 2009 American Water Resources Association conference and the 2010 Association of American Geographers conference. The study was published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (abstract).
During 2006 Jinnieth Woodward (M.S. Geoenvironmental Studies 2006) and I studied the water quality benefits of a small restored wetland in Shippensburg, PA. With 2 years of monitoring data we found that the wetland removes over 60% of the nitrate that enters the wetland from a limestone spring. Reducing the loads of this key nutrient will help to improve water quality downstream in Burd Run and contributes to the efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Results were published at: Woltemade, C. J. and J. Woodward. Nitrate removal in a restored spring-fed wetland, Pennsylvania, USA. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 44(1):222-234. [abstract]
In 2003 I worked with three Geoenvironmental Studies students to study the potential for wetland restoration to decrease nutrient concentrations in the Conestoga River watershed, near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This collaborative effort with the national non-profit group Environmental Defense represents an extension of my earlier research on the ability of wetlands to improve water quality in agricultural areas.
I have worked extensively on the topic of stream restoration. In 2001 I twice traveled to Nicaragua to provide technical assistance and quality assurance to the USDA/USAID Hurricane Mitch Reconstruction Project, working on 20 different projects ranging from river restoration to soil and water conservation.
I am also involved in a number of projects in the immediate Shippensburg area, focusing primarily on the Burd Run watershed. During 2001-2003 I served as co-Principal Director (with Brian Jaymes, Cumberland County Conservation District) in the effort to restore the Burd Run stream channel, riparian zone, and floodplain wetlands within the Shippensburg Township Park adjacent to the SU campus. The project was supported by a $129,000 Environmental Stewardship and Watershed Protection grant from Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener Program. I continue to work with several students studying watershed hydrology, water quality, and geomorphology, as well as monitoring the impacts of the stream restoration project.
Much of the effort to work within the Burd Run watershed is the outgrowth of the "Burd Run Interdisciplinary Watershed Research Laboratory," established in 1999 with funding from the National Science Foundation. The Research Laboratory includes field and laboratory equipment that is available for faculty-student research.
Most of the research in which I am involved, and most of my teaching, tends to cut across disciplinary lines, linking together elements from sciences such as geology, geomorphology, hydrology and aquatic biology. My approach is to better understand the biophysical system, but also to develop applications for planning, management, and policy.
Teaching & Research Interests
- Hydrology
- Water Resources Management
- Geomorphology
- Stream Restoration
Courses
ESS 110: Introduction to Geology
GEO 226: Hydrology
GEO 446: Water Resources Management
GEO 522: Geoenvironmental Hydrology