Southwest Virginia's Big Laurel Creek - Whitetop Laurel Creek Watershed Study

The Big Laurel Creek – Whitetop Laurel Creek watershed is located in southwest Virginia and northeast Tennessee, USA.   The watershed is one of the headwaters of the South Fork Holston River, which flows into the Tennessee River which flows into the Mississippi River.     The Big Laurel Creek – Whitetop Laurel Creek Watershed is assigned the US Geological Survey (USGS) Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC12) 060101020201 and is one of the most eastern source watersheds of the Tennessee River (HUC2 06) watershed.   The eastern boundary of the Big Laurel Creek – Whitetop Laurel Creek watershed corresponds to the boundary between the Tennessee River (HUC2 06) and the Ohio River (HUC2 05) watershed.  This means that a raindrop that falls just on the west edge of the Big Laurel Creek – Whitetop Laurel Creek watershed boundary will reach the Mississippi River by the Tennessee River watershed much, much faster than a raindrop that falls east of the boundary and flo...

Dendrology (tree and woody plant identification and taxonomy) is an important part of planning or protecting riparian zones, erosion control, and floodplain management.  Big Laurel Creek - Whitetop Laurel Creek Watershed consists of many ecosystems and plant communities, including high elevation forests, alluvial forests, and roadsides and fields in the developed floodplains.  Below is a list of important tree and plant species in the watershed that will be presented in more detail in later posts.   Frasier Fir ( Abies fraseri ) Red Spruce ( Picea rubens ) Yellow Birch ( Betula alleghaniensis ) Northern Red Oak ( Quercus rubra ) White Oak ( Quercus alba ) Chestnut Oak ( Quercus montana ) Eastern White Pine ( Pinus strobus ) Yellow Poplar / Tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) Shagbark Hickory ( Carya ovata ) Cucumber Tree ( Magnolia acuminata ) American Chestnut ( Castanea dentata ) Eastern Hemlock ( Tsuga canadensis ) Mountain Laurel ( ...

This blog was created to share products developed for the Virginia Tech graduate course NR 5264 Watershed Stewardship, College of Natural Resources, Fall 2025 semester. It is my hope that some of the products shared with you through this blog will be of assistance to the Southwest Virginia (SWVA) community as we recover from the damages caused by Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024 together.