Proposed Study Site

 I would like to choose Virginia’s Machicomoco State Park (MPS) as my study area. A Google Map link can be found here. MPS is a relatively new state park, and I hope that any fieldwork here could provide the park with novel data. At this point, I do not know if the park has baseline wildlife data, but I would like the opportunity to contribute truly useful, non-redundant information.

The park has a deep, pre-European cultural history and is located on the waters of the tidal York river. It might be interesting to inventory the native and non-native fauna that make use of the park and the river. York River State Park is across the river and upstream from MPS. But that park is well-established and probably already has a good bit of data that could be used as a comparison.


I’d like to research MPS because I admire the Virginia State Parks and because I enjoy field work. My family and I are in the middle of moving to West Point, Virginia, not far from MPS. I will continue my work as a public high school teacher and my experience at MPS could be relevant to my Environmental Science students. I am also looking forward to the possibility of expanding my professional network to include members of the Virginia State Parks system.

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