‘Rodney Dangerfield’ River to Get High-Tech Aerial Mapping via UA Grad Student’s Proposal

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In some circles, the Sipsey River just doesn’t get much respect. It doesn’t have a regal name like its neighbor, the Black Warrior, and it hasn’t attained the notoriety of the beautiful, but environmentally threatened, Cahaba.

However, a University of Alabama graduate student’s research proposal is bringing the National Center for Airborne Laser Mapping, along with, perhaps, some additional respect from the general population, to this “Rodney Dangerfield” of river basins.

Scott Starr, a graduate student in UA’s biological sciences department, has been awarded a grant to bring the center’s airplane, using optical remote sensing technology, to survey a 40-square-kilometer area along the Sipsey River.  Starr will use the high resolution data to build a detailed map of the floodplain to gain a better understanding of the movement and distribution of water in the area and its impact on invertebrates that live there.

While the general public might not give the Sipsey River – and the surrounding swamp land, a result of frequent flooding – much thought, scientists do. It is rare, Starr said, to find a U.S. river that does not have any dams impeding the natural water flow.

The Sipsey, which flows through Marion, Winston, Fayette, Tuscaloosa, Pickens and Greene counties is not dammed and supports “staggering levels” of biodiversity, Starr says, including at least 80 different fish species. A number of freshwater mussels, including endangered species, also call the Sipsey home.

By learning more about the function of undammed rivers, scientists can better understand both the impact dams have and the potential for restoring areas to their natural state, Starr said. The section of the river to be surveyed is located within the Forever Wild Land Trust’s Sipsey River Swamp Recreation Area and Nature Preserve near Buhl.

Starr, a native of Hanover, Pa., is advised by Drs. Jonathan Benstead and Ryan Sponseller, assistant professors in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences. The plane, which is operated out of the University of Florida, is expected to survey the area sometime this fall.