The boys and I have adopted the South Branch of Sideburn Run stream. This means that every three months we go out to the stream and try to collect at least 200 benthic (bottom dwelling) macro invertebrates. We count the critters and then report the numbers back to the county to help monitor the health of our stream. Today's stream monitoring was a huge success. We collected 251 specimens in only one net! We've never done that before.
How does it work? We put in a net and do a little stream dance to catch the critters. Then we have the arduous task of sorting the little guys. Once they are sorted, then we count them and then carefully return everyone back to where we found them. Normally it takes several hours but today we made it in just two short hours!
The good news is that the critters are still in the stream. Three months ago it took us four nets and six hours to make it to 200- only to find out that many of the animals we were seeing weren't supposed to be in the stream. Many of the macroinvertebrates that we had seen a few months before were missing or their numbers were low. This time was different the little guys are back. Unfortunately, the critters that we saw indicate that the stream is in very poor health. This shouldn't come as a surprise though, since the lake has just been dredged. Hopefully we'll start to see some improvements this spring or summer.
The good news is that the critters are still in the stream. Three months ago it took us four nets and six hours to make it to 200- only to find out that many of the animals we were seeing weren't supposed to be in the stream. Many of the macroinvertebrates that we had seen a few months before were missing or their numbers were low. This time was different the little guys are back. Unfortunately, the critters that we saw indicate that the stream is in very poor health. This shouldn't come as a surprise though, since the lake has just been dredged. Hopefully we'll start to see some improvements this spring or summer.
Today's crew was awesome, please let us know if you ever want to join us for one of our monitoring events.