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Tales of Stream Monitoring Fun
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Friends of Accotink Creek and Friends of Lake Accotink Park hold biological stream monitoring workdays four times per year. |
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March 11, 2023 Stream Monitoring: We had a crew of 12 volunteers today. The weather was favorable, sunny and calm, with temperatures rising to 46 degrees. Accotink Creek was a bit high rain the previous day, but not to high for us to carry on. We needed to set the maximum of 4 nets to collect the minimum of 200 invertebrates for a valid score. The last net was the most productive. We should have tried that spot first. Our catch today included a single scud, a shrimp-like crustacean, and one we've not seen for years. Otherwise, was overwhlmingly dominated by midges and aquatic worms, borth tolerant of water quality impairment. Accotink Creek received a poor numeric stream health score of 5 on a scale of 0 to twelve. This is what we've come to expect at this location, usually 4, sometimes 5, sometimes 3. See the tabulated results here.
Paved surfaces are the nemesis of Accotink Creek's benthic invertebrate population. All the runoff during rainstorms pours down storm drains and shoots into the creek, scouring away the banks and smothering stream life in fine sediment. The sediment-generating activities of the I-66 project are exacerbating the situation. Take advantage of financial incentives to become part of the solution with Conservation Assistance.
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Accotink Creek Creatures
A lament for aquatic invertebrates penned
GET YOUR BRAIN WET!
Plan now to volunteer again with others to preserve our oceans and waterways Back to our main Monitoring Page
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