Eighth Annual Workshop a Day of Nets and Networking

It was a bit disheartening to wake to clouds and a 43-degree temperature on the morning of Menunkatuck's eighth annual educator's workshop, "Monitoring Water Quality in Your Local Streams." I guess I wouldn't be wearing sneakers and shorts into the stream as I had planned. So, knee-high Muck boots were packed along with a couple extra layers of clothing.

Seven participants joined Chris Sullivan, Project SEARCH environmental scientist, and his assistant, Menunkatuck's president, SuZanne Botta, as they led us through the fascinating world of monitoring stream water quality on May 17th. Interestingly, we did not attract the target high school teachers, but rather, environmental educators and members of area Conservation, Inland Wetland and Planning & Zoning Commissions. The workshop turned into a marvelous opportunity for these like-minded individuals to network and enjoy a day together in the field.

Meeting at the Shoreline Outdoor Education Center in North Guilford, we made introductions over shade-grown coffee, organic juice and fresh muffins. Chris (Sully) then took this intrepid group to Branch Brook, a beautiful, unspoiled stream in North Guilford. Donned in polar fleece and footwear ranging from waders to sneakers, we hiked about thirty feet upsteam from the road to begin our evaluation of the stream

Sully handed out Non-point Source Pollution Potential Data Sheets that are used to assess the land use within 500 feet upstream and 500 feet on each side of a waterway. Calculating the percentage of forested buffer zone versus the percentage of impervious surface (roads, parking lots, sidewalks, etc.) helps to determine the potential for non-point source pollution. Non-point source pollution is pollution caused by runoff of road salt and sand, pesticide and fertilizer runoff from farm fields or lawns, soil erosion from deforestation or development, among other things. These sources of pollution do not have an obvious point of origin (like an outflow pipe from a factory) and are, therefore, more difficult to regulate. Thankfully, aside from flowing under a narrow country road, Branch Brook had no signs of being impacted by non-point source pollution.

Ovenbirds and worm-eating warblers sang from the wooded slopes above the stream as we paired up to test the waters for dissolved oxygen. Each team had its own test kit and carefully followed Sully's instructions for collecting a water sample and then adding the specific chemicals that would magically reveal the level of dissolved oxygen within this flowing stream. Thirty minutes later we knew that the stream contained healthy levels of dissolved oxygen.

While we were busy with our tests a wonderful thing happened. The sun came out. The chilly morning had transformed into a glorious day - and what better way to spend it than with an enthusiastic group of people along a riffling stream surrounded by forest and birdsong?

It was time to bring out the nets and see what macroinvertebrates we could find. These are mainly the larval stages of insects, such as flies, beetles, dragonflies, damselflies, mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies that develop in the stream before emerging as adults. They can tell you a lot about the health of a river or stream. Each net brought up dozens and dozens of creatures that we collected to bring back to our temporary lab set up at the Shoreline Outdoor Education Center.

Using macroinvertebrate identification keys, we sat at microscopes to key out the insects. It was slow going at first, but with Sully and SuZanne's help we struggled through, gained confidence and keyed out our specimens to the family level. Many families of caddisfly, mayfly and stonefly have a zero tolerance to pollution; we found several of them at Branch Brook.

We were fortunate to be able to visit Branch Brook so that participants could experience the thrill of sampling such a wide variety of creatures. This is what a healthy stream should look like. The ongoing monitoring of such waterways can help prevent their degradation by alerting us to potential pollution problems in the future.

Submitted by Cindi Kobak
Photos by Cindi Kobak

Home · Advocacy · Conservation · Biodiversity · Newsletter · Calendar · Education· Links
Email webmaster@menunkatuck.org
Last updated 18 September, 2004 .