June 11, 2003

Stream life survey

Watershed Center checks health of ten area streams

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

      Finding tiny bugs under logs, clinging to rocks and living in pools or eddies is one way to judge the health of a stream.
      Two dozen volunteers helped The Watershed Center establish a benchmark of health for ten area streams Saturday morning as part of Bay Day. The volunteers went onsite and in-depth to find the telltale macroinvertibrates, meticulously categorizing and counting their finds. Donning waders and wielding nets, tweezers, trays and magnifying glasses, the volunteers minutely examined a stream's smaller inhabitants.
      "Really the health of the watershed is linked to the small streams more than anything else," noted John Nelson, Grand Traverse Baykeeper and a team leader for the stream survey. "All the little small streams are like capillaries, the bugs that live in them, the type and quantity, are indicators of the water quality."
      Volunteers for the first ever area stream survey examined the following streams: Baker, Mitchell, Yuba, Acme, Kids, Ptobego, Brewers, Cedar, Miller and Jacks. They took readings from two locations per stream, completing a detailed form about each site.
      This form noted the stream flow and speed, the composition of materials, watermark, plant type and density. It also asked volunteers to document what was in the stream's corridor, both upstream and downstream.
      Survey results showed that of the sites checked, three sites ranked good, eight sites ranked fair and two sites ranked poor.
      "The poor ranking might not be so much a water quality issue but a habitat issue, like a lot of sediment or not a lot of rocky areas for the bugs to attach," noted Sarah U'Ren, project coordinator for the Watershed Center.
      U'Ren said that the stream survey was the kickoff to a Stream Search program being launched by the Watershed Center. The survey portion of the program will be a bi-annual event, with the next session scheduled for October.
      "It was a really, really big success, we had a lot of team leaders and a lot of volunteers," U'Ren noted. "We would really like it for the Stream Search program to grow and expand."
      The Stream Survey's grass roots approach to environmentalism appealed to volunteer Tom Bauer of Acme, who helped Nelson check out Acme Creek.
      "The people have got to take control of the environment because no one else is going to do that," he said.
      In another Watershed Center activity, Nelson led a group of volunteers Friday on the final stretch of the Shoreline Survey. The center is the official Grand Traverse Baykeeper, designated as such in 2001 by Waterkeeper Alliance, an environmental organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The Waterkeeper Alliance has designated 110 Baykeepers around the country.
      As the designated Baykeeper, Nelson began the shoreline survey last summer. Then, he and other volunteers walked 132 miles of shore along the Grand Traverse Bay, covering everything except the shore of Power Island.
      Nelson and 18 others walked the remaining three miles of their survey. With the addition of the Power Island data, the survey provides a benchmark tool that can be used to track the watershed's health. The survey looked at near shore features, beach features, human impact, groundwater and how it gets into the lake and exotic and endangered species.
      "All the data we've gathered is collated on our web site for global access," said Nelson, an area native who taught science in Maine public schools for 28 years.
      The information gathered marks the beginning of ongoing monitoring of the health of the Grand Traverse Bay and watershed.
      "We want to do a survey next from the water 20-30 feet out, get a boat and putt around and do some snorkeling," Nelson noted. "We also want to monitor changes in the law for beach grooming; that's got a sunset on it of 2007, so we want to watch that."