July 19, 2024
Through this heat wave of a week we mostly did macroinvertebrate surveys around our watershed. When we do these surveys use a kick net. A kick net has a very thin mesh netting so the macroinvertebrates can’t escape. We stir up the ground so the invertebrates flow into the net and filter the water from the sediment. From there we simply transport the sediment with the macroinvertebrates into glass jars to then study them later. The reason we do this is because it tells us what kind of state our streams are in depending on what kind of invertebrates we find. Next week we hope to study the invertebrates and tell you guys how our streams are doing.
We had fun doing the surveys as we would get about 3 sites done in a day. We did these surveys from Monday to Wednesday and only get to do them once a year. Lucky for this week we had a volunteer to help us, he wanted to see what a watershed is about and how we operate. He got great experience working around our crew as we made sure we explained everything we were doing. We showed him how the fish ladder works and why we are doing it. He got to experience the macroinvertebrate surveys, and on Friday he went out with Nick and Ryan to do water quality.
For Thursday and Friday we checked the amphibian boards and uploaded some pictures to our SSWA group on the inaturalists app. We then planted some trees around our parks trying to beat the rain, and others went to go get supplies for duck nesting boxes. For the next day we did our usual park maintenance through the beaming heat. While some of us are maintaining the parks, Romy and Fletcher went to do terrestrial vegetation surveys. Their job was to assess what kind of plants are around the marsh to determine its biodiversity.
Our week might have ended there, but our registration for the swim just started, so we’d suggest you register as soon as possible so we can give you the best swim experience!
https://raceroster.com/events/2024/91974/swim-for-the-south-shore-2024
-Love SSWA
