(Riparian habitat assessment)
Today I was able to become more familiar with my stream, which I had no idea existed before participating in this institute. The stream is only a few meters away from the road on the left bank, if facing upstream, and crosses under the road through a pipe. To move around the stream, I have to wade in, and the water ranges from barely ankle deep to knee deep. The left bank is also very steep, and is a tangle of explosive bushes, ferns, grasses, flowers, and other small plants, while the sandy right bank has taller bushes and trees. Although, upstream, the banks have been built up with rock. There are a ton of fallen and submerged logs, plant debris, undercut banks, and snags that create texture in the water despite the absence of large rocks and the lack of riverbed diversity. However, there are a few rare gravel patches. The stream has rare fast sections where the water runs over fallen logs and into deeper pools, too. These areas, in addition to the several bends in the river, have the only deep riffles, while the rest of the stream is flat.
I was unable to find any of the small macroinvertebrates that were present in the rocky practice stream on Friday. However, there are a lot of water striders and snails. No matter the stream health, the plants on the banks are definitely thriving. I found lots of raspberry bushes, and also a plant that looks similar to images of Honeysuckle berries, plus it's the right time of year for the plant to have these red berries. If these bushes are Honeysuckle, then they are invasive.
Or, flooding could have caused the water to rise, resulting in the bank eroding like this. The banks are very sandy and weak where there are no roots holding it together.
The bottom of the stream is entirely made up of loose sand, silt, and gravel. When I tried to wade into certain parts of the stream, I sank! It will be difficult to find macroinvertebrates.
(Macroinvertebrates)
I was able to find more macroinvertebrates today despite the sandy streambed. There are several gravel sections near plant matter lodged in the silt, and I was able to find over 30 organisms, which is nothing next to 200, but a lot more than I hoped for. Today, the water seemed shallower, and some of the gravel that was underwater yesterday is dry. There were a lot more birds, chipmunks, spiders and their webs, and dragonflies out today, and I found some mushrooms and other fungi. The banks are also very adaptable, or unstable, because none of my footprints from yesterday were still there, even away from the water. The riparian zone also seemed drier, which I noticed on the climb down the steep left bank. Yesterday, the sticks, logs, and roots holding the whole thing together were damp, but today, they were dry and easily snapped. Interestingly, I discovered a buildup of foam under the bank, in a fast moving area of the stream. What does that show about its water quality? However, the stream is certainly a lot clearer than yesterday, as the silt has settled since, and I can now see the bottom of the stream. I wonder what the flooding did to the cloudiness of the water, and the levels of loose sediment? Finally, I found more signs that people throw junk down here from the road.
(Stream water and lead sampling)
Today I found more "critters" outside of the water, including spiders, millipedes, and snails. The stream was a little more cloudy than yesterday, probably because of the rain, but not cloudier than Sunday. I took more pictures and drew more of the plants in the area as well. The PH of my stream was lower and more acidic, as expected due to the rain. My water had a higher conductivity, likely from runoff into the stream. I also checked in with my e coli sample and counted 17 colonies (17 x 10 = 170). It did not rain at all while I was collecting samples, and had stopped long before I headed out.
I discovered more examples of people dumping stuff into the stream from the road, as I found a chunk of pavement and a bent pipe. I also noticed that some of the plants had dried, dead leaves, especially in the shade near the water. If the water level rose drastically during flooding, These lower branches might have been killed.