Water Curricula

http://www.eeweek.org/resources/water_curricula.htm

Click, print, read, make "I heart NEEF" t-shirt (optional)... have time left in your planning period to catch your breath! :)

macroinvertebrate identifications

Hey bug lovers-
I have been fielding quite a few questions this summer about insects (and non-insects) that people are seeing while out in the field this summer. I would like to help ya'll out as much as possible with identifications of problematic specimens. SO..... If you are out in the field collecting I offer these hints that will help while collecting specimens.
1)Things you'll need:
Vials, EtOH( or some other alcohol), thermos of hot water, paper, pencil
2)What to do:
Once you have your specimen of interest dip it in the hot water, this is a flash kill that prevents the specimen from "thrashing" in EtOH , possibly damaging important morphological characters. This is also a more humane way to kill an insect, as opposed to suffocating it to death in alcohol!
3)Place specimen in EtOH and label
The label should be placed inside the vial with the specimen and should include:
location ( as much info as you have) i.e. Creek name, Lat/Long, description (eg. downstream of hwy 200 bridge near hwy post 123),Date(VERY IMPORTANT), and your name.

If you cannot send the specimen, or do not wish to euthanize it for science, please take pictures.

Hope this helps
Collect often!!! and I am always willing to help with problematic specimens

Sean Sullivan
Invertebrate Taxonomist
Aquatic Ecologist
Rhithron Associates, Inc.
www.Rhithron.com

Stream Team Statistics

This summer, Watershed Education Network staff, volunteers and interns have been participating in weekly Stream Team trips around the Missoula area. At each stream site, the group collects water quality data that includes dissolved oxygen content, air and water temperature, pH and macroinvertebrate group taxa scores on the Pollution Tolerance Index. Pictures and data from some of our summer Stream Team adventures follow.

Rattlesnake Creek- 6/16/2010- 1:40 P.M.
Site: Tom Greene
Dissolved Oxygen: 10.5 mg/L
Air Temp: 11.5 degrees C
pH: 7.4
Macroinvertebrate count:
Mayflies (155)
Stoneflies (7)
Caddisflies (4)
Midges (4)
Snipeflies (1)
Aquatic Worms (3)
Leaches (2)
Black Fly Larvae (1)
Pollution Tolerance Index (PTI) Score: 21 (Potentially Good Water Quality)

Clark Fork River
- 6/23/10- 2:25 PM
Site: Easy Street Access
Dissolved Oxygen: 11 mg/L
Air Temp: 22 degrees C
pH: 7.7
* Water too high to sample aquatic macroinverts

Grant Creek- 7/21/2010- 1:30 PM
Site: Bench Bridge
Dissolved Oxygen: 11.5 mg/L
Air Temp: 28 degrees C
pH: 7.4
Macroinvertebrate count:
Mayflies (267)
Stoneflies (8)
Caddisflies (17)
Craneflies(1)
Aquatic Worms (4)
Flatworms (3)
Pollution Tolerance Index (PTI) Score: 14 (Potentially Fair Water Quality)


If you are in the Missoula Area and would like to volunteer with our Summer Stream Team, please email water@montanawatershed.org and check out our calendar for dates/times.

Water Monitoring with SKC and gida Student Scientists

Watershed Education Network recently joined Salish Kootenai College hydrology professor Tony Berthelote in welcoming students from Minnesota's Gida-Manoomin camp to Montana. Students from the camp, whose projects include helping with restoration of native wild rice to lakes on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota, took a core sample from Lake Josephine (GNP) with scientists from the LacCore program. The students examined sediments deposited in Josephine from the eruption of Mount Mazama (what is now Crater Lake, OR) in 5700 B.C. After touring the Going To the Sun road, WEN and gida returned to the Flathead Reservation to perform water monitoring tests at Mission Falls in the Mission Mountains. The falls were rushing from snow melt water, and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day for hands-on exploration of the stream. Students learned how to test velocity, PH and dissolved oxygen content, and counted and identified macroinvertebrates, while their instructors participated in a GLOBE training session. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Identification of macroinvertibrate

While working with a group of teachers, we collected a pond sample and found a macroinvertibrate that I didn't know the name of. It was about two cm long, clear transparent yellow, funnel shaped at both ends, and had a couple of pairs of dark brown organs. If anyone can give me any information I would appreciate it. Thank you. Allen Bone

Summer and Fall Sampling Event Support

Hello student groups! This message is for you...

If you plan to do a summer or fall sampling event with your students, let us know! We have funds available to support your transportation, monitoring equipment, substitute teacher fees, expert speaker honorariums, etc. Thanks EPA!!!

Yay K-12 monitoring!!!

Seasonal Water Quality Data Collection in the Upper Gallatin Reveals a More Complete Picture of Stream Health

The Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) is a nonprofit watershed group located in Big Sky, Montana that has been running a successful volunteer water quality monitoring program since 2000. BWTF collects water chemistry data four times a year representing four distinct hydrologic/biologic regimes (winter baseflow, summer baseflow, high flow, pre-snowmelt). In addition, BWTF collects and analyze aquatic insects twice a year in April and September.

Macroinvertebrate Data Request- Fairfield HS

Posted on behalf of Rai Hahn, 7-12 Grade Science Teacher, Fairfield PS

We are evaluating the macro-invertebrate populations on the stream between the Dearborn and Two Medicine Rivers along the Rocky Mountain Front. Does anyone have data they could share with us? Rai Hahn and Triston Isakson, Fairfield High School.

Water Monitoring in Lewis and Clark County

Posted on behalf of Jennifer McBroom, Lake Helena Watershed Group Coordinator

The Lake Helena Watershed has formed a volunteer monitoring group and is expecting to go out in August for their first sampling event. Some of the creeks that the monitoring group will sample are, Skelly Gulch, Lump Gulch, Jennies Fork and the Middle Fork Warm Springs Creek. We are sampling for nutrients and total recoverable metals such as Zinc, Silver, and Arsenic. We will also use our YSI meters to measure pH, DO, temperature, and specific conductance. Wish us well, because we also measuring discharge with our yard stick and tennis balls! We will keep you informed of our progress!

Thanks,
Jennifer

Water Monitoring at Livingston Public Schools

Posted on behalf of Todd Wester, Director of Curriculum and Instruction, LPS

July 20, 2010

“Where have all the bugs gone?” Livingston, MT school students aim to find the cause and a solution to the disappearance of a once-diverse and abundant population of stream-bottom dwelling insects, crustaceans, mollusks, flatworms, and segmented worms from Fleshman Creek, an urban stream that flows through their south-central Montana town.

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Data Ahoy!

Did you know that your local water body may already have years (and in some cases... years and years and years) of data collected? The Clean Water Act Information Center (link also posted to the right) has Excel sheets full of historical data from monitoring events around the state. DEQ has also made this information really user-friendly by creating a series of drop down boxes that allow you to search by county, TMDL planning area, water quality category, etc. Gotta love that!

WELCOME!

Mission: This blog was designed to help make monitoring fun and easy! Post questions, events, stories, etc. to help foster our water monitoring community.

About us: We at MT Watercourse (housed at Montana State University in Bozeman) have been involved in water monitoring since the 1990s. Now, we have support from a variety of private and public funds to help YOU with your water monitoring efforts! Learn more about us here.

Every month, blog participants* will be entered in a raffle to win $500 for their water monitoring program. The more you blog, the more chances you have to win. Thank you for the funds, EPA! A new winner will be randomly selected on the first of every month starting in August. Check out the blog to see if you won!

Ready... set... BLOG!

You can be entered in the raffle by:
1) Posting an event, question, reply or story to this blog
2) Attending or hosting a water monitoring-related event (just blog a line that you attended)
3) Monitoring (again, just blog a line that you monitored your stream)
4) Submitting your data (just blog it!)
5) Adding a friend or colleague to our blog (just blog a line that you added someone)
6) Participating in our monthly water monitoring conference call (coming in August)

If you have other ideas on ways to participate please let us know... via this blog, of course!

*You knew there was a catch right? You must be a MT resident or perform monitoring activities in MT, and the funds must go towards a water monitoring related purpose. A winner will be chosen from the previous month's contributors (August winners will be based on July participants and so on.) Each contribution counts as one entry in the raffle. That's not too unreasonable right?