Dr. Johan Liebens

Many streams in Florida, and in the US in general, are impaired due to excessive sediment loading. Erosion of streambanks is a major source of the sediment loading. The sediments have many negative economic and environmental impacts and restoration of streams to mitigate these impacts is a multi-million-dollar industry in the US. Because of the large number of eroding streambanks, insufficient funds are available to restore all impaired streams. Consequently, funding agencies need a method to prioritize streambanks for restoration. Prioritization of streambanks has to be based on observed and expected future erosion rates but future rates are hard to predict because prediction models must be based on multi-year observations and easily applied. Several methods have been developed to predict streambank erosion but the most popular one is the BANCS method. The BANCS method predicts streambank erosion with regression models for various categories of banks based on the near-bank-stress of the streamflow and the erosion potential of the streambank. Because the BANCS method is an empirical model it has to be calibrated for every physiographic region. The present study collected data at 75 sites in the Florida Panhandle and adjacent areas of southern Alabama and Southwest Georgia over a three-year period to calibrate the BANCS method for the coastal plain of the northern Gulf of Mexico. Data were collected in accordance with the standard BANCS method but additional ancillary information to enhance the model were also gathered. Annual streambank erosion rates ranged from 2 mm to 1.97 m over the two-year study period. None of the sites had a bank erosion potential in the very low category, indicating that most streams in the northern Gulf coastal plain are prone to bank erosion. The standard BANCS model is not a good predictor of streambank erosion in the study area: R2 values of regression models for various BEHI and NBS categories of banks were very low, relationships were sometimes the inverse of what was expected based on an understanding of physical processes involved, and models were statistically not significant. Dimensionalizing NBS method 5 resulted in the best but still moderately effective model. We developed a more robust statistical approach using a nonlinear model, data for additional hydrological and geomorphological parameters, and assessment of the effectiveness of all possible subsets of predictor variables. This approach resulted in a much better predictive model (R2 ≈ 0.6 with five predictor variables).

This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida" supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X-9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this
report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was
designed to assess environmental impacts of PCBs and other toxic pollutants in Escambia Bay and River. The KS series of samples was collected by Kristen Anne Smith under supervision of Dr. J. Caffrey. Kristal Walsh managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Jeffrey Jackson helped with the fieldwork and Michael Somerville helped with some laboratory procedures.

This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida" supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X-9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this
report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was
designed to assess environmental impacts of toxic pollutants in surface soils. Kristal Flanders managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Michael Somerville helped with the fieldwork and some laboratory procedures.

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).

This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida" supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X-9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this
report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was
designed to assess environmental impacts of toxic pollutants in Bayou Grande. Kristal Flanders managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Chris Carlton-Franco, Brandon Jarvis, Guy Allard, and Danielle Peterson helped with the fieldwork and some laboratory procedures.

Within the microenvironment of St. Michael’s Cemetery, an interdisciplinary approach to investigations has led to a better understanding of the site and its relationship to the cultural and physical landscape associated with the community. Initially organized on the outskirts of the colonial settlement, contemporary St. Michael’s Cemetery is today an eight-acre green space in the heart of the modern urban environment. The impact of 240 years of urbanization has altered the original colonial landscape, and most of the infrastructure of the early community is reflected primarily in the archaeological record. This is not entirely the case at St. Michael’s Cemetery where flora and fauna reflect the early community’s over and understory and funerary architecture dating to Pensacola’s Second Spanish occupation dots the landscape. While much information can be discerned from surface features in the cemetery, there is another dimension to the site that is unseen by the naked eye- the unmarked burials that underlie the marked burials on the site.

A primary objective of the Search for the Hidden People of St. Michael’s Cemetery project was to identify potential unmarked burials using remote sensing techniques. The contemporary surface of the cemetery contains approximately 3200 marked graves dating from 1812-2008. The remote sensing survey has identified 3,915 subsurface anomalies originating in three distinct depths throughout the cemetery. In conjunction with the remote sensing survey, a soil survey documents changes to the landscape over time.

Historical research focuses on the transformational funerary landscape of the area beginning with European occupation in the 16th century, the relationship between St. Michael’s Cemetery and the physical and cultural landscape of the community it served beginning in the 18th century, and the identification of individuals who lost their lives in Pensacola during the British and Second Period colonial periods (1763-1821).

This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida" supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X-9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was designed to assess environmental impacts of toxic pollutants in Bayou Chico with an emphasis on possible superfund site impacts upon the Bayou. Kristal Flanders managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Gustav Cancro, Brian Bradley and Nicholas Balderston helped with the fieldwork and some laboratory procedures.

This study is a component of the "Assessment of Environmental Pollution and Community Health in Northwest Florida, " supported by a USEPA Cooperative Agreement award X-9745502 to The University of West Florida (Project Director: Dr. K. Ranga Rao). The contents of this report are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USEPA. The study was undertaken because of the increasing concern for environmental pollution and potential impacts on human health in Northwest Florida. It was designed to assess environmental impacts of toxic pollutants in Bayou Texar with an emphasis on possible superfund site impacts upon the bayou. Kristal Flanders managed the spatial databases for the project and drafted the maps. Her assistance has been invaluable. Alan Knowles, Jason Moore, Jeff Seebach, Kevin Bradley, and Tony DiGirolamo helped with the fieldwork and some laboratory procedures. We wish also to thank Michael Lewis, Ecosystem Assessment Branch of the US EPA Gulf Ecology Division for discussing some data from US EPA studies on Bayou Texar with us.