Meet A Citizen Scientist: Darren Kelly

Darren Kelly, volunteer citizen scientist, standing near the gauge in Bay Tree Lake.

Bladen County was a great place to start because there are a number of carolina bay lakes, and we were able to work with NC State Parks and other local partners to get lake gauges into several Bladen County lakes. Among the first of these lakes was Bay Tree Lake, where we installed a lake gauge on April 18, 2017. Bay Tree Lake is interesting because it is managed by NC State Parks, but the only easy access to the lake via boat ramp located in a gated community. Getting high quality lake level measurements, therefore, required partnership with State Parks as well as community members who live near the lake.

One of those community members is Darren Kelly, who submitted his first measurement in June, 2017. To date, Darren has submitted more than 200 lake level measurements and was instrumental in helping us make the right connections to study a nearby lake, Horsepen Lake. Darren was kind enough to talk with us about his experience with our project. See below for interview questions with Darren.

Lake Observations by Citizen Scientists and Satellites: How did you hear about the our project?

Darren Kelly: I live in the Bay Tree Lakes community and use the lake for recreational purposes such as boating and fishing. One day while at the boat ramp, I noticed the depth gauge in the water near the pier, read the small attached sign and followed the instructions.

LOCSS: Why do you participate in LOCSS?

DK: I enjoy the outdoors, live very close to the lake, I am very interested in science. With NASA funding a project for UNC to study lakes around NC, possibly around the US, and even the rest of the world, it’s a lot of fun to contribute and be a small part of the project. In the end, it really doesn’t take a lot of effort on my part…just read the gauge water level, and text the measurements to the number posted on the gauge.

LOCSS: What have you enjoyed most about participating in the LOCSS?

DK: I believe once i started taking lake height measurements, my curiosity got the best of me. I find that I’m interested in seeing how the lake levels rise and fall throughout the year, and what that interaction is with other nearby bay lakes. I also really enjoyed meeting and talking to some of the folks in the project staff.

LOCSS: What things are you most interested in finding out about the lake?

DK: The water levels and how they change throughout the year, the seasons, the weather, etc, and I am curious about how Bay Tree lake interacts with all the other surrounding lakes, or anything else the project team discovers. The articles the project staff published are really interesting, and of course I really enjoyed reading the article on Bay Tree Lake, with the history of water levels from satellite data going back many years.

LOCSS: What other citizen science projects have you participated in?
DK: This is the first, but I would be interested if there are others in my area.

LOCSS could not do all the we have done without the help of volunteer citizen scientists like Darren. All lake height measurements from Bay Tree Lake, including all measurements submitted by Darren, can be found on our lake data page. Thank you Darren for all that you’ve contributed to the project!