River des Peres in the News

Recently, the River des Peres Watershed Coalition has been in the news quite a bit. Danelle Haake, the current Chairperson of the Coalition, will be interviewed the morning of April 22 by Doug McElvein of the KMOX morning show "Total Information" (am 1120). The audio of the interview may be downloaded from the KMOX website.

Cindy Duhigg, Danelle Haake, and Howard Webb of the Coalition were interviewed by Don Corrigan of the Times for their April 18, 2008 edition. The article and images may be found by visiting the Webster-Kirkwood Times and South County Times (note: different images are available for the two different articles).

The Coalition also found its way into the Journal on February 19, 2008. The article included interviews and photos of Danelle Haake and Dan Sherburne by Shawn Clubb. The article was printed in the West County Journal, the Kirkwood-Webster Journal, the South County Journal, and the South Side Journal.

We thank out local news outlets for their interest and their help in spreading the word!

River des Peres Community Planning Forum - 4/29

The River des Peres Watershed Coalition will be holding its third Community Planning Forum at the Heman Park Community Center on Tuesday, April 29th. Doors will open at 6:00 pm (refreshments provided) and the meeting will begin promptly at 6:30.

At our first meeting, we listed the 'critical issues' for the River des Peres. We had quite a long and detailed list, but we summarized it to: education, hydrology (flow), water quality, habitat quality, aesthetics, and policy.

At our second meeting, we began a list of the many ways we could work to address these critical issues. We again developed a long list, much of it focusing on education - the current list can be found at: http://www.thegreencenter.org/rdp/minutes_agenda/3-25-08-Summary.pdf

The April 29th meeting will be very important - if you are interested in improving the River des Peres, Deer Creek, Gravois Creek, or any of their tributaries, you don't want to miss this meeting! We will add to the list of actions we can take and then we will vote on which one(s) should be our highest priority. Everyone gets a vote, even if this is your first time working with the group. We are deciding the direction for the Coalition and we want as many people there as possible.

If you have questions or suggestions of actions we should add to the list, please email riverdesperes@gmail.com.

I-64 Reconstruction - Impacts on Deer Creek

Stream Team 3189 has taken on a special project. Beginning in 2007, this team has been monitoring 4 sites along Deer Creek. One site is upstream of I-64 (Hwy 40) and the other three are downstream. We hope to use the data to see how the highway reconstruction is affecting the stream. These four sites are monitored of chemistry twice a month and for biology twice per year. We have been recording data for over a year now.

If you would like to participate in this project or would like help in designing a project of your own, email danelle.haake@gmail.com.

WQM Interpreters needed 4/29 & 4/30 at Perugue Creek

Thank you all. Stream Team 2573 "Crawdads" has responded to the call and will assist Stream Team 1883 with this WQM effort.

"Nancy Snider is soliciting your assistance for some 6ht grade school groups at Perugue Creek on April 29th and/or April 30th. There will be 2 classrooms in the morning and two in the afternoon on both days. Nancy needs someone to assist a group with the benthic macroinvertebrate sampling and the shoreline suvey. Call thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net at 314-962-1241 if you can assist with this education day."

Missouri-Mississppi Confluence Cleanup Sat. 4/12

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out to this cleanup.
The Mississippi was 1 foot over flood stage, so Capt. Steve wisely didn't launch the plate boat. Nevertheless, we pulled 3 tons of trash from the banks of the Mississippi, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and nearby Watkins Creek. It was cold, but it didn't snow. So, heyyy, Thanks again.


"While this blogsite is dedicated to improving communication among Water Quality Monitors, I intend a similar one for Stream Team River Cleanups, but haven't got around to it yet.

When/Where: This Saturday, 4/12/2008 at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge from 8 til noon.
What: We will have 3 cleanup options:
Wet feet & waders at Watkins Creek (801 Dunn Rd to Riverview);
Dry feet & land based at both sections of North Riverfront Park & Old Chain of Rocks Bridge;
Muddy & boat based with the Missouri River Relief crew on the Mississippi River bank west shoreline.
Free lunch will be provided at noon.
To register, call Kevin Keach at (314) 436-1324"

River des Peres Watershed Coalition

The River des Peres Watershed Coalition is interested in helping anyone who is working on the River des Peres or its tributaries - Deer Creek, Black Creek, Two-Mile Creek, Sebago Creek, Engelholm Creek, MacKenzie Creek, Gravois Creek, etc.

If you want to hold a clean-up event, need help monitoring, or just want more information, e-mail riverdesperes@gmail.com or go to www.riverdesperes.org!

La Barque WQM Bioblitz postponed to 4/26/08

The Stream Team 2991 "Friends of La Barque Creek" Bio-blitz has been postponed from 4/5 due to flooding conditions and increased risk. The new date is 4/26 and the details, at this point, remain the same as listed in the post below.

We'll meet at the Hilda Young Conservation Area on 4/26 at 9 am, and disburse to the WQM sites. We will then reconvene at the Eureka Lion's Park at 12 or 12:30 for lunch (provided) and to compare data results.

Water Quality Monitors who would like to join this effort are encouraged to contact thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net or Bob Coffing robertcoffing@sbcglobal.net .

St. Vincent's Creek WQM needs partner.

Linda Fried would like a WQM buddy to help monitor St. Vincent's Creek at St. Vincent's Park east of I-170 on St. Charles Rock Rd this week and on a regular basis.
Linda needs someone who can monitor during the week day. She is very confident in monitoring equipment, bugs & procedures; would just like someone along to lighten the load & for added personal security of both. Working alone is a drag. Linda is really cool. You'll like her.

Contact:
linda fried linda(removethisspambotblocker)friedster@gmail.com

Yeah, remove the two parentheses & removethisspambotblocker to make the email address work. There are robotic trolls that look for email addresses in blogs. This simple step should help linda keep her email less cluttered.

St. Charles County Operation Clean Stream

Register Now for Operation Clean Stream 2008!


On Saturday April 5, St. Charles County, Greenway Network, and the communities of Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Lake St. Louis, O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Peters and Wentzville will work together with volunteers to remove trash from local lakes, streams and tributaries.

The last time OCS mobilized, roughly 300 volunteers pulled over 10,000 pounds of trash from Dardenne, Peruque, Belleau, Spencer and Cole Creeks.

Once again the Stream Trash ART (START) project will be a unique component of the cleanup. This project, created by Greenway Network project director Ralph Rollins, salvages metal pulled from the streams and reuses it to create welded works of art. Joseph Farmer, a St. Charles artist and member of Best of Missouri Hands, and a team of volunteers will be working on site at Quail Ridge Park. Working from materials found that day, they will create a sculpture that reminds everyone to keep our streams and rivers clean.

Families, organizations and individuals can register to help out by calling 636-949-7415. Participants registering by March 25 will receive a free Operation Clean Stream T-shirt. You can participate in your own city or let them know if you are willing to go where you are most needed elsewhere in the county. The day will start at 8:30 a.m. with registration at one of 5 pre-assigned rendezvous locations. Starting points include St. Peters City Hall, O’Fallon Civic Park, Barat Haven Trailhead on Henning Road, St. Charles City Hall and Quail Ridge Park. All participants can enjoy lunch starting at 11:30.

This community-wide event is sponsored by Missouri Stream Team, George Butler Associates, Brookside Environmental Services, Missouri Department of Conservation, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Wal-Mart. If you would like to help, but are unable to participate in the actual clean up you can still contribute to this worthwhile project. Contributions can be made through Greenway Network at http://greenwaynetwork.org, email to info@greenwaynetwork.org, or by calling (636) 498-0772. See you at the creek!

Greenway Network events

Greenway Network, Inc. Sream Team 463 invites you to see what we are doing this year. Please go to our website, www.greenwaynetwork.org.
Larry Ruff

Living Green In Watkins Creek Watershed

Lower east Watkins Creek north of I-270

There is a new Stream Team forming, and it already has many new members, 3 major stream cleanup events, 2 bush honeysuckle eradication sites, bank stabilization locations, one major phytoremediation effort, and some previous WQM sites that haven't been visited since 2003. There is also a beaver dam & lodge to be investigated.

We particularly need WQM folks who live in North St. Louis County to sign up and adopt a site. On the lower reaches, this stream looks like most Missouri streams. It's got limestone rock faces, some steep alluvial banks (high erosion & siltation) and lots of trash to be cleaned.

It crosses under Hwy I-270 twice and Hwy 367 once, picking up rock salt, leaky oilpan residue, and the usual crud. The 367 construction project loaded a lot of windblown silt, but that's over. In Aug 2004 there was a major (4600 gallons) ethanol spill directly into the creek, sterilizing everything downstream. There was a cleanup effort that ended in '06. There are benthic invertebrates and fish above the spill site, but we need particularly Intro & 101 trained teams to look for bugs asap. It is a very interesting & beautiful creek with a high likelyhood that we can clean it up & restore it to good health.

The WQM team is being headed by veterans Bob Dye (Friends of Fox Creek, Coldwater Creek WQM) and Claire Schosser (River des Peres Watershed, and a LOT of other Teams) and we could really use your help. Bob & Claire are both residents in the watershed.

This team is so new it doesn't have a number yet, so to join please go to:

http://mostreamteam.org/regform.htm

and insert "Living Green in Watkins Creek Watershed" as the Team Name.

For contact you can either add your own name, or insert "Tom Ball", "Bob Dye", "Kelly White" or"Claire Schosser". We will have separate contacts for Cleanup events, native plantings & etc. but we need a strong WQM team for this hurtin' stream.

Major cleanups are planned for 4/2, 4/8, 4/12 (with Trailnet) and 4/26 (with Water Festival at Hazelwood East HS). Email thomas.ball@sbcglobal.net if you are interested in this Stream Team.

ST2991-- Retour a La Barque 4/5/08 WQM

Water Quality Monitors from ST 2991- Friends of La Barque Creek will be collecting data in a massive bio-blitz on Saturday, April 26th. This is a return to 10 existing monitoring sites, with hope for a couple more that haven't been sampled in a few years. We already know we are down, at least, three Level 2 monitors and could use some help. La Barque Creek Conservation Area is about 4 miles SE of Eureka (109>ff south to f>Doc Sargent Rd> Valley rd).

Contact Tom Ball ( home: 314-962-1241 ) or Bob Coffing to arrange to participate in monitoring this pristine creek before the bugs bloom. Lunch will be provided.

ST 2991- Friends of La Barque Creek

photo by botanist, Jack Harris, WGNSS

On March 1st and March 13th, ST 2991 hosted a terrestrial snail survey at the La Barque Conservation Area with members of the MDC Master Naturalist program, The Webster Groves Nature Study Society and local residents. 15 volunteers participated.

The survey has, thusfar, yielded identification of 25 known species of terrestrial snails and a number of bryophytes. Snail identification is being mastered by Ron Oesch (orange hat above), including miniscule specimens found in soil samples using a compound binocular microscope. Specimens range from 1.2mm to 17mm. For an interesting photo primer of Missouri snails see Larry Watrous's site at: http://www.lwatrous.com/missouri_mollusks/landsnails/photo1.htm
and for a taxonomic listing of Missouri mollusks with references & distribution database :
http://www.lwatrous.com/missouri_mollusks/

You can see the tabulated data collected thusfar including photos, and a calendar of future surveys at: http://www.labarque.org/index_files/page0028.htm
Spend some time looking around. This is an amazing website that focusses on La Barque Creek Watershed.

The survey will be ongoing until June, with the next survey collection scheduled for Saturday, March 29th from 9am to 3pm at the La Barque CA parking lot. They are requesting volunteers. Bring a lunch, a garden trowel, an old (large) pill bottle and clothes you can get down on the ground with. Or just come, its a great time.

Botanist, Nels Holmberg (tall greybeard in center above) is identifying the bryophytes and coordinating volunteers with Bill Coffing. Let them know if you're coming.



The result also included sightings of at least 3 white spotted, "western slimy" salamanders and 6 red back salamanders.

Plethodon albagula- western slimy salamander


Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Amphibia
Order: Caudata
Family: Plethodontidae
Genus: Plethodon
Species: Plethodon cinereus

4 front toes, 5 hind toes. This one is in the "red-back" phase. The redback salamander is referred to as northern, southern or eastern; I suppose depending on what part of the country you hail from.

It appears that Amren UE has a tentative decision to costruct a new high voltage transmission line (now known as "the blue line" through the eastern part of the watershed. The plan will include a 100' clearcut buffer area that will crisscross the Hilda Young CA, crossing the existing high voltage line, and connecting the Eureka and Cedar Hill power stations. You can see a detailed photo map of the plan and other interesting details about this pristine watershed at http://www.labarque.org/ Mitigation plans for degradation of the watershed are referred to, but unknown at this time.

Eastern Missouri Stream Teams Water Quality Monitoring blogsite

The purpose of this blog is to provide a place where trained Water Quality Monitors in the Missouri Stream Team program can post calendar items, requests for assistance from Stream Team AmeriCorps or other WQMs, site descriptions, WQM data results (if you like), pictures of your activities, or to muse and speculate with others about water quality in your watershed.

It is my hope that this site will attain a critical mass of germaine and relevent posts so that inactive water quality monitors can more easily find opportunities to use the skills the've learned at the WQM workshops, and that WQMs with active investigation sites can solicit help when wanted.

Know that you can post pictures, but that many folks may have painfully slow internet connections and that the larger the file size the longer it takes to load. The stonefly picture below is a thumbnail. If you click on it, you'll get the 1.42 megabyte jpeg. Cool, huh? Got a bug you don't know? Post it here. Maybe we can help.

This site will be monitored by current and past Missouri Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistants in the St. Louis region. It is intended as a communication vehicle for all WQMs in Eastern Missouri-- principally in Mark Van Patten's region, which extends from Lincoln county to the bootheel.

Depending on use and abuse (if we get SPAM postings, for instance) the security rules for posting to the site may change. More later.

To post to this blog you need a Google login identification and password. If you don't have one you can get one for free by clicking "sign in" in the upper right. Clicking the "create blog" button above will allow you to create your own blogsite for your own purpose-- it is not for posting to this one. It gets easy with experience. Welcome to the brave new world of "blogging".