Getting Their Feet Wet: Holt Students Learn Stream Analysis

With the sheer number of streams in the state of Missouri—from the Mississippi River on down in size—it takes a tremendous volunteer effort to monitor conditions by collecting samples and data. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the Missouri Department of Conservation have together developed the Missouri Stream Team Program to help meet that need.

On Friday, staff from St. Charles County Parks and Missouri Stream Team volunteers worked with a group of juniors and seniors, potentially creating a pool of future Stream Team volunteers.

The event took place in .

"We're here to teach them a little about streams — stream chemisty and how to collect  data, and a look at the macroinvertebrates that are in the water. What species you find helps determine what the quality of the water is," said St. Charles County Parks Natural Resource Supervisor Ben Grossman.

"Everything eventually ends up in Missouri streams," said Stream Team volunteer Larry Berglund. "Motor oil, chemicals, fertilizers."

After a brief introduction, the nearly 50 students were divided into two groups. One group worked with Grossman and Natural Resource Specialist Nick Dziuba to gather macroinvertebrates.

The second group went with Berglund and two other Stream Team volunteers to learn about testing the water.

By the time students carried their equipment to the bank of Peruque Creek, the rain was coming down steadily.

"We needed it," Grossman said, but noted wryly that most of the students had brought neither raincoats nor boots for their afternoon of stream research. As it turned out, that wasn't a problem for some of the students.

The students are currently learning about the aquatic ecosystem in Candice Smith’s Environmental Science class. While some waited timidly on the rocky bank, others didn't hesitate. Before too long, students were kicking up the stream bed to net invertebrates and place them into vials for identification.

Other students assisted with gathering data like air and water temperature, gathering samples for chemical tests for nitrogen, chlorides, Ph and dissolved oxygen, and gazing into a plastic tube to determine how quickly the water would clear.