Water Bugs – Citizen-Scientist: Skill Level Three

CITIZEN-SCIENTIST – Skill Level: Three

Activity: Bringing life back to the streams

Objective: Assess and improve biotic integrity of local streams
Science Skills: Relating, Collecting and Interpreting Data, Applying Learning
Life Skill: Responsible Citizenship, Contribution to Group Effort, Community Service

Preparation Activities:
Familiarize yourself with the Stream Assessment Guide.

Contact a local agency focused on habitat restoration, such as the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association or the Whatcom County Conservation District.

If you have a stream on your property which you like to enhance or restore, identifying and locating plants and other materials to aid in Habitat Restoration.

What You Will Need:
Pencils, tape-measure, filed guides, ping pong ball, Stream Assessment Guide, rubber gloves, waterproof boots.

Activity:

1. Review the Stream Assessment Guide. How are healthy streams able to support more bio-diversity? How is this beneficial to the stream ecology? From what is described as a healthy stream habitat, what do you think would create a poor habitat? Why?

2. Revisit an impaired stream you identified in the Engager Activity: “What’s Swimming your Stream: The Sequel.” You may want to do a study of the aquatic insects as a part of this activity.

3. Use the Stream Assessment Guide to figure out what, if anything, this stream might need to support more life.

a. Using a tape measure, pick a 200 foot long area along each stream and its surroundings to explore.

b. A ping pong ball or an orange can help you assess stream speed.

c. The Stream Habitat Evaluation Index will ask you to score the stream based on the things you see. The total score will give some idea of if your stream is a “healthy” habitat. For each point scoring attribute, ask yourself: Why do you think that makes for a healthy stream?

4. Take along field guides to native plants and trees of your area. See if you can identify native plants and keep a list of them. You may also want to keep a list of places where you find large healthy populations of particular plants “in the wild.”

5. Identify a small area of the stream for potential restoration. Find out who manages that area of the stream to make sure you have permission. There are several organizations listed in “It’s All Connected” who can help you plan a successful restoration.

Teachable Moments:
The health of a stream is influenced by the land around the stream as well as the bacteria and pollutants that enter it. Professional and citizen scientists measure the health of a stream in several different ways including examining the animals such as aquatic insects which live in the stream, assessing riparian zone – the land directly adjacent to the stream, and measuring the quality of the water in the stream.

Trees along the banks of a stream provide shade for the water, which helps to keep it cool, they stabilize the stream banks which helps to prevent excessive erosion, and the leaves that fall into the stream grow bacteria and algae which are food for the aquatic insects who live the stream and form an important part of the food web. Trees, shrubs and natural vegetation also filter and clean the water that may flow over the land in a rain storm before it gets to the stream.

Even dead trees are beneficial to streams. When trees fall into the stream they change the course of the stream and help to create riffles and pools and cover for fish. This wide variety of different habitat types support a wide variety of aquatic insects for the fish to eat. Different habitats also offer fish places to hide from bigger fish and bird predators and places to rest out of the current.

Working in cooperation with the right groups you can offer invaluable service in restoring the habitat that supports so many of your natural resources.

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