La Barque Creek continues to garner well-deserved attention as an unusual and protected safehaven for spectacular biological diversity. Water quality monitoring attempts for last months 'bioblitz' were mostly postponed due to greater than usual flood waters and rain surge events. Bob Coffing has come up with a new plan to try to rectify the situation and to gather as much data as we can in a watershed profile: "WQM Month" will begin June 1st and end July 1st. The idea is that it becomes increasingly difficult to coordinate a large number of Water Quality Monitors for a single "bioblitz" day, but that smaller groups of 2 or 3 or 6 could coordinate with Bob to gather Macroinvertebrate and Chemistry data for multiple sites on different days.
If you would like to be a part of this team effort, or if you would just like the opportunity to survey a creek that actually has bugs in it, please contact: "robert coffing" robertcoffing@sbcglobal.net
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
ST 3550 Recovers ATM machine from Big River
The Story below was printed first in the Park Kills MO "Daily Journal. You can read their version here.
It was then picked up by Fox 2 News and aired on Tuesday evening. You can see the text here:
and the video here.
Missouri Stream Team 3550 recovers ATM from the Big River at Bonehole access.
On Saturday, May 17th, Stream Team #3550 cleaned sections of the Big River from Mount's Gravel Pit (off of Hwy 8) to the Bonehole access (near Hwy P).
One of the Stream Team crews, composed of Park Hills and Des loges residents, recovered a 200 pound ATM cash dispensing machine near the Bonehole access.
The recovery team was Sam Allison, Jamie Allison, Jeff Barton, Jason Legrand, Rodney Reed, Tim Richardson, Jason Stevens, and Brad Yoder.
The team dug the ATM out of the silty mud, and Mr. Yoder used his truck and a tow chain to drag it up onto the bank.
Stream Team coordinator, Jerry "Chip" Barton called the St. Francois County Sherriff's office, and Deputy Jason Rayoun retrieved the ATM for inspection of identifying serial numbers, bank identification logos and the mud soaked hard drive. Kenny Barkley's tow truck hauled the evidence back to the station for inspection.
The ATM appeared to have been in the river a very long time and the data may not be recoverable, but speculation was high that it may be evidence of a crime as ATM companies and banks do not dispose of their equipment in this way. when found, a fish had taken up residence inside, but the money box was long gone.
In addition to the ATM, Stream Team 3550 recovered and removed approximately 2 tons of trash from the Big River and its tributaries. This included 48 tires, a clothes drier, a couch, a swimming pool, 80 full bags of assorted trash, about 300 pounds of metal that was recycled.
The family of Kenny and Phyllis Ratliff won this representation of a native American medicine shield, which was donated by a local resident sponsor.
The cleanup was to have involved canoes donated by Cherokee Landing, but became a land-based operation, instead, due to near flood conditions. Several local kayakers from Leadwood were the only Stream Team members to collect trash by boat.
The "boat based" cleanup has been rescheduled for Saturday, June 7th with the Stream Team members meeting at the Leadwood boat access at 8 am. Call Jerry Barton in Leadwood (573-218-8989) for more information and to join this effort.
The Missouri Stream Team program is a joint partnership of the Department of Conservation (MDC), the Department of Natural Resources (MDNR), and the Conservation Federation of Missouri, local volunteers and sponsors.
There are currently more than 3,500 Stream Teams in the state and over 70,000 members. Collectively, these volunteers have removed more than 400,000 tons of trash and debris from Missouri's rivers and streams in the 19 years that the program has existed. You can see this collective effort represented on an interactive map at http://www.mostreamteam.org.
Thomas Ball
Missouri Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistant
home (314) 962-1241
Confluence Greenway office (314) 436-1324 ext 118
thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net
www.mostreamteam.org
www.moriver.org
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Stream Team on Facebook
For those of you with access to Facebook, there is a page set up for the Missouri Stream Team there:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6285532050
Hopefully this will be another place we can go to share our enthusiasm, post our events, and meet fellow Stream Teamers!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6285532050
Hopefully this will be another place we can go to share our enthusiasm, post our events, and meet fellow Stream Teamers!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Need WQMs in Washington County for demo at Potosi Cleanup 5/10
ST 3550 (Leadwood MO) is hosting a litter pickup on Breton Creek at the Potosi MO City Park on Saturday, May 10th 2008. The event has been requested by Potosi Mayor T. R. Dudley who is forming a new Potosi Stream Team.
We need a couple of Water Quality Monitors (preferably from washington county &/or Potosi area- given gas prices) to demonstrate collecting Macs & data from the stream & help present it at the Stream Team display booth for the educational part of the program. Registration for cleanup starts at 8:00 am at Potosi City Park. Event will end at about 1:30. Hot dogs, chips & drinks are being provided by the Potosi Parks Board.
For more information about the cleanup contact Jerry "Chip" Barton at 573-218-8989.
To volunteer to help with WQM demo contact MO Stream Team AmeriCorps assistant, thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net home (some evenings) 314-962-1241 Confluence Greenway (most days) 314-436-1324 ext 118.
We need a couple of Water Quality Monitors (preferably from washington county &/or Potosi area- given gas prices) to demonstrate collecting Macs & data from the stream & help present it at the Stream Team display booth for the educational part of the program. Registration for cleanup starts at 8:00 am at Potosi City Park. Event will end at about 1:30. Hot dogs, chips & drinks are being provided by the Potosi Parks Board.
For more information about the cleanup contact Jerry "Chip" Barton at 573-218-8989.
To volunteer to help with WQM demo contact MO Stream Team AmeriCorps assistant, thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net home (some evenings) 314-962-1241 Confluence Greenway (most days) 314-436-1324 ext 118.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Call for presenters for MEEA Conference
The Missouri Environmental Education Association (MEEA) Conference will be December 5th & 6th in St. Louis at the Missouri Botanical Garden. They have a standing call for presenters which you can find here. The deadline for presentation proposals is May 14th.
I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for some ambitious Water Quality Monitors to present some accumulated data. Possibly, we could do a panel comparison of results from high & low on the River des Peres Watershed, Watkins Creek and La Barque Creek, for instance, along with discussion of how the data is being used. Possibly, we could collaborate with the Missouri Master Naturalists & they could present results of their terrestrial snail survey, bryophyte survey and etc. to name a few.
If interested in being a part of this, please contact thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net
I think this would be a fantastic opportunity for some ambitious Water Quality Monitors to present some accumulated data. Possibly, we could do a panel comparison of results from high & low on the River des Peres Watershed, Watkins Creek and La Barque Creek, for instance, along with discussion of how the data is being used. Possibly, we could collaborate with the Missouri Master Naturalists & they could present results of their terrestrial snail survey, bryophyte survey and etc. to name a few.
If interested in being a part of this, please contact thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net
USGS stream flow gages for MO rivers
Here's a Weblink to the USGS National Water Information System for Missouri's rivers & streams. Many of the rivers and streams in the US have permanent automated gaging stations that send real time data to the internet. You can view & download reports on current and past river conditions in several formats. Regretably, this program has been underfunded for years and there are many rivers that don't have a gage that should have one, but who knows you might get lucky with your particular monitoring site.
It's really handy to be able to look on the internet and see what the river is doing and what it has done in the past. It can save you a trip to a distant monitoring site if you look it up and find it to be in a flash flooding condition and worth waiting until it goes down again. Also, it can shorten your data collection significantly if your stream flow rate is already known and from a reliable source
I have my WQM sites saved to "favorites" or bookmarked, and here is an example from Watkins Creek in North St. Louis County
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=07001985&agency_cd=USGS
The search process is a little daunting, but with tenacity you should be able to find what you are looking for and more. There have been times in the past when this program got more money, and so in many cases you have access to a lot of Water Quality Monitoring data collected and delivered from a very professional source- the USGS water quality technicians. This can be great if you have a new site and want to see what the water quality picture looked like in past years. For instance:
http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/qwdata/?site_no=07001985&agency_cd=USGS
Some of the sites are still being actively monitored four times a year, so you can frequently find water chemistry data that can support or question your own data collection.
There's another river gage site I've been going to a lot, lately, to see what is happening with the floods. NOAA has a really nice site for flood status and prediction and much of the eastern Missouri river systems can be found here :
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=lsx
Click on one of the square dots in the interactive map to see what's happening and what is likely to happen at that particular location and river.
Here is what the national picture looks like:
http://www.weather.gov/ahps/
Different river systems are handled by different forecasting centers for different parts of the state. So here is the interactive map that can take you to the center that covers your neck of the woods:
http://www.weather.gov/ahps/rfc/rfc.php
It's really handy to be able to look on the internet and see what the river is doing and what it has done in the past. It can save you a trip to a distant monitoring site if you look it up and find it to be in a flash flooding condition and worth waiting until it goes down again. Also, it can shorten your data collection significantly if your stream flow rate is already known and from a reliable source
I have my WQM sites saved to "favorites" or bookmarked, and here is an example from Watkins Creek in North St. Louis County
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=07001985&agency_cd=USGS
The search process is a little daunting, but with tenacity you should be able to find what you are looking for and more. There have been times in the past when this program got more money, and so in many cases you have access to a lot of Water Quality Monitoring data collected and delivered from a very professional source- the USGS water quality technicians. This can be great if you have a new site and want to see what the water quality picture looked like in past years. For instance:
http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/qwdata/?site_no=07001985&agency_cd=USGS
Some of the sites are still being actively monitored four times a year, so you can frequently find water chemistry data that can support or question your own data collection.
There's another river gage site I've been going to a lot, lately, to see what is happening with the floods. NOAA has a really nice site for flood status and prediction and much of the eastern Missouri river systems can be found here :
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=lsx
Click on one of the square dots in the interactive map to see what's happening and what is likely to happen at that particular location and river.
Here is what the national picture looks like:
http://www.weather.gov/ahps/
Different river systems are handled by different forecasting centers for different parts of the state. So here is the interactive map that can take you to the center that covers your neck of the woods:
http://www.weather.gov/ahps/rfc/rfc.php
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