Cliff Webber, retired AU Fisheries researcher and Save Our Saugahatchee volunteer monitor, and Eric Reutebuch, SWaMP project coordinator, met Opelika Middle School (OMS) 7th and 8th grade students in Opelika Municipal Park to conduct stream biomonitoring of Rocky Brook Creek following the Alabama Water Watch protocol on September 17, 2009. With assistance from a SWaMP grant, students have been monitoring the stream for the past two years. The grant provided funds for OMS science teachers to purchase stream sampling equipment and educational supplies, and SWaMP personnel from the AU Fisheries Department and Save Our Saugahatchee (SOS) volunteers provided technical assistance. About 150 students from Ruth Meadow’s, Kristin Medina’s and Casey Brown’s science classes have participated in the stream biomonitoring.

 

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This year, the students collected a wealth of aquatic critters from the creek, including dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, water pennies, caddisfly larvae, crane fly larvae, aquatic worms, crayfish and a salamander.  The stream life was noticeably lacking mayfly and stonefly nymphs, which indicated that the stream was suffering from some pollution. Overall, the Rocky Brook aquatic community contained a diverse group of 20 species, and ranked as “Good”.

 

 Some of the critters the students found

 

The students plan to post their findings on two educational kiosks located along the stream, one in the municipal park, and one downstream near the tennis complex. They plan to continue their stream monitoring, and work on restoring the stream banks by planting vegetation along the stream to improve overall stream health. The next time you visit the park, be sure to take a look at all the good the things the students have achieved!

 

Check out OMS student acheivements at the educational kiosks

 

This entry was posted on Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Watershed Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.