Early this summer I participated in a camp called Creek Camp which was run by Allegheny College's Creek Connections. Creek Connections is an organization that focuses on learning about watershed health. The camp was located at Allegheny College in Meadville. Creek camp is designed for rising sophomores and juniors in high school however they allowed me and one other senior to come. The main topic of the camp was stream ecology and we had many speakers and workshops designed to teach us about this. through out the week we all collaborated together to do a research project to see if there was a difference in health from the upstream and downstream portions of woodcock creek. The first day we basically just got to know each other as well as the campus. First thing in the morning the next day we headed over to the downstream portion of woodcock creek to get data for the research project. We used two methods to test the water quality. The first method was chemical testing. We tested water temperature, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, dissolved solids, turbidity, PH, and nitrogen and phosphorous levels. After we did that we tested the biological health of the stream by kick netting for macro invertebrates. We found tons of mayfly and caddisfly larva as well as fishfly larva. Here are some pictures I took of the location as well a dead walleye fry we found.
[img]Early this summer I participated in a camp called Creek Camp which was run by Allegheny College's Creek Connections. Creek Connections is an organization that focuses on learning about watershed health. The camp was located at Allegheny College in Meadville. Creek camp is designed for rising sophomores and juniors in high school however they allowed me and one other senior to come. The main topic of the camp was stream ecology and we had many speakers and workshops designed to teach us about this. through out the week we all collaborated together to do a research project to see if there was a difference in health from the upstream and downstream portions of woodcock creek. The first day we basically just got to know each other as well as the campus. First thing in the morning the next day we headed over to the downstream portion of woodcock creek to get data for the research project. We used two methods to test the water quality. The first method was chemical testing. We tested water temperature, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, dissolved solids, turbidity, PH, and nitrogen and phosphorous levels. After we did that we tested the biological health of the stream by kick netting for macro invertebrates. We found tons of mayfly and caddisfly larva as well as fishfly larva. Here are some pictures I took of the location as well a dead walleye fry we found.
[img]Early this summer I participated in a camp called Creek Camp which was run by Allegheny College's Creek Connections. Creek Connections is an organization that focuses on learning about watershed health. The camp was located at Allegheny College in Meadville. Creek camp is designed for rising sophomores and juniors in high school however they allowed me and one other senior to come. The main topic of the camp was stream ecology and we had many speakers and workshops designed to teach us about this. through out the week we all collaborated together to do a research project to see if there was a difference in health from the upstream and downstream portions of woodcock creek. The first day we basically just got to know each other as well as the campus. First thing in the morning the next day we headed over to the downstream portion of woodcock creek to get data for the research project. We used two methods to test the water quality. The first method was chemical testing. We tested water temperature, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, dissolved solids, turbidity, PH, and nitrogen and phosphorous levels. After we did that we tested the biological health of the stream by kick netting for macro invertebrates. We found tons of mayfly and caddisfly larva as well as fishfly larva. Here are some pictures I took of the location as well a dead walleye fry we found.
After we got back to the college campus, we went to the geology department and got to play with a stream table. For those of you who do not know what that is, a stream table is basically a large tub filled with a mix of sand and small gravel. At the end of the tub is a water faucet that allows you to control the flow of the "stream". Geologists use stream tables to study how streams form and change as time goes by. We probably had too much fun playing with it, especially after we figured out the finer sediments could be used to soften our hands.
Following the stream table, we got to tour the woodcock dam. It was really interesting how the dam works and how much it has to be regulated. The one thing the park ranger wanted us to leave with was the three functions of dams: flood control, low flow augmentation, and recreation. Sadly I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside (something to do with homeland security or something) but I got a pic of outside.
After that we came back to the campus and got to help out with actual research that was being done by Carnegie Museum of Natural History. What we had to do was test out a new identification tool for macro invertebrates. We had to use two different identification techniques (the new tool and a dichotomous key) and decide which we thought was easier. We all agreed the new tool was far easier. In case any of you are interested here is the link to the tool: http://www.macroinvertebrates.org/#/
After we finished that activity, it was getting close to dusk and we got to go out and look for owls with one of Allegheny's own Professor Mumme. He taught us a few of the more common owl calls and then we went and played recordings of screech owl calls to see if we could call some in. We got five or so owls and I got some nice pictures of them.
Then we went to a cemetery near by to see if we could see a barred owl. sadly we had no such luck however I did get to see my first adult wood frog!
The next day we went to the upstream portion of woodcock creek to collect the data for the research project. As we did in the downstream portion we used chemical testing as well as biological testing. After that we got to go electro fishing with Jay Gerber of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. We found 13 species including but not limited to yellow bullhead, multiple darter species, mottled sculpins, and creek chubs.
After that we went to woodcock lake for a hike. We found a lot of baby American toads as well a bunch of midland painted turtles and possibly a snapping turtle.
a baby American toad
the painted turtles
possible snapping turtle
After that we met with a man whos hobby is making and setting up bat boxes. After talking about bats we actually went to one of the bat boxes he had set up which had a colony of big and little brown bats.
The next day we went over to the pymatuning fish hatchery. we looked around and I got to see my first ever purple martin. We also saw cliff swallows, several bullfrogs and green frogs, a painted turtle, and the only snake we saw the entire trip a northern water snake.
Then we went over to the spillway and fed the carp bread which was pretty fun.
The next day we went to sugar lake for a kayaking trip and I got to see the same fish and boat officer who proctored the aquatics portion of the butler county envirothon which by the way my team had the top score. After that we learned about herps with April Claus who I happen to have already knew. She showed us some native species she brought with her and then we went to bousson nature reserve which is owned by Allegheny College. We started off looking at vernal pools. I found two lifers almost immediately: an unusually green grey tree frog and spotted salamander larva.
Then we continued on and went to a spring. we found several species including northern duskies, mountain duskies, larval reds
(Lifer!!!!), two lineds, and larval springs.
We then continued going through the woods and flipping logs and rocks. we found a ton of slimies, a few more mountain duskies and northern duskies, a spring peeper, and my highlight of the entire camp my first adult spotted salamander ever!
And that completed the week of camp!
Statistics: Posted by axeman2729 — September 2nd, 2014, 6:37 am