Pranav Yajnik shows off his stoneflies while standing on the bank of a very swollen Huron River. (credit: Max Bromley)

150 volunteers spread thoughout the Huron River watershed in search of stoneflies.

This past weekend, HRWC volunteers braved the high water from unseasonable snowmelt and rain in order to monitor the populations of the aquatic winter stonefly.

Stoneflies are only found in streams and rivers that are free from pollution, so HRWC tracks these critters to understand how our streams are changing over time.

The data is now in and available here.  There are a few interesting stories that can be told from this year’s results.

1.  This program is held in January because two stonefly families crawl out of rivers and streams and become terrestrial adults by late winter and early spring, and at that point they would be difficult to find. However, this year our team at Mill Creek: Shield Road found a large number of stoneflies that had already emerged and were warming themselves in the sun.  This is a very early emergence and is connected to the warm temperatures that we are experiencing this winter.

2.  Congratulations to the Wood’s Creek Friends!  This is the first year (after sampling for 4 years) that a stonefly was found at the Renton Road site.

3. Mann Creek (east of Brighton) continues to be the best creek in the watershed for stoneflies.  This is now the sixth year in a row where volunteers have found four stonefly families.  In way of comparison, most of our healthy creeks only have one or two stonefly families.

Some of our friends from Alpha Phi Omega!

4.  The team that went to Pettibone Creek at Livingston Road thought that they had struck out, but upon examining their sample closely we realized that they had found a Nemourid broadback- also known as a little brown stonefly to the anglers out there.  This is the first Stonefly Search in which a team found a stonefly at this site.  While not rare statewide, Nemourid broadbacks are rare for the Huron River Watershed.  During the Winter Stonefly Search, they are only found at one other site that we monitor.  Both Pettibone Creek and this other site (Narrow Gauge Creek) have very high amounts of groundwater inputs. It is unclear if that is a spurious correlation or a legitimate reason for why the insect is found at these locations.

5.  Monitoring results on the main branch of Davis Creek have indicated that the insect populations in this creek are declining.  We are not finding the diversity or abundance of stoneflies that were found 10 years ago at both Pontiac Trail and Doane Road. The fall and spring monitoring of the full insect community also show a similar pattern. The results seem quite clear:  the water quality of Davis Creek is declining slowly but consistently.  HRWC is planning on exploring Davis Creek more this coming summer.  If interested in joining a team to walk portions of Davis Creek, please contact Paul Steen (psteen@hrwc.org).

To all our volunteers: Thank you again!  You made this valuable event possible.

Hats of all colors participated! (credit: John Lloyd)

Expert volunteer hard at work!

HRWC staff spend a lot of time working directly on in-field data collection. Most of our volunteers work on these projects also – THANK YOU! Of course, getting out in the water is great fun and often a wonderful challenge. But what of all the data that we collect? What does it tell us? Where does it go from here?

2011 Field Results

Join HRWC staff as we present the results of the 2011 field work for Bioreserve, Adopt-A-Stream, and Water Quality Monitoring. Program directors Kris Olsson, Paul Steen, and Ric Lawson will give presentations on the most recent findings, followed by Q and A.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

7:00 – 9:00 PM

NEW Center Conference Rooms

1100 North Main Street

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Please RSVP: click here

Not only will you get to see the results of efforts in the field and let the HRWC staff thank you with some fun and refreshments, you’ll get to try-out HRWC’s Field Monitoring Triathlon!

Overflow Parking at 944 North Main:for map click here

A dip net, a river, and a courageous spirit are all that's needed to generate some quality scientific data.

It was a busy weekend at HRWC!  In addition to the River Cleanup, we also held our semi-annual River Roundup, during which volunteers travel to our long-term stream research sites to seek out benthic macroinvertebrates.

One hundred thirty volunteers sampled 44 stream sites to find these organisms and help HRWC better understand the health of our rivers and creeks.   The weather was cloudless and 80 degrees, and our volunteers were exhilarated and only slightly sun-burned after spending such a beautiful day outside.

The results of our study will not be known until after this Sunday, October 16, when  we will gather again to look at what we found.  If you are interested in participating in this ID-Day, you can learn more and sign-up at our registration page.

Happy times on the river!

Is there anything here....? This volunteer came all the way from Muskegon to help us search for the elusive bugs.

I’ve now been at HRWC for five months. All the HRWC volunteers and members have gone from saying, “You have BIG shoes to fill” to, “How’s the new job going?” My friends, family, and the staff and volunteers from Natural Area Preservation have gone from asking, “How’s the new job going? How are you doing?” to, “What do you do?” So I thought I’d answer these questions and give you an idea of what I’m up to.

Volunteers at RoundUp finding macroinvertebrates

I work on three primary projects. The most widely known is our Adopt-A-Stream program. I coordinate the hundreds of volunteers who collect scientific-level data about the quality of the streams and main branch of the Huron River. Paul Steen, who I now spend more time with than anyone else in my life, interprets this data and creates reports. These products are used by staff and volunteers to promote the protection of the river. The largest Adopt events are the three River RoundUps, which occur in spring, autumn, and winter. In the summer we have two in-stream data gathering projects which augment the RoundUp data to give us a broad understanding of what is happening at our collection sites. Specifically these supportive projects are the Measuring and Mapping/Habitat Study and the Stream Temperature Study. Currently this program is supported by a grant from the Stranahan Foundation.

The second project I work on is our school education program. I co-coordinate this project with an amazing and inspiring volunteer, David Wilson. HRWC staff and volunteers, with Dave’s leadership, go into local schools to educate students about water quality, healthy waterways, water testing, benthic macroinvertabrates, and the list goes on. These school gigs support our local teachers’ individual needs, in bringing their students into nature with access to hard-science and applied math. With an amazing group of educators, scientists, retired engineers, and professors our local schools are in good hands. This program is generously supported by a grant from TOYOTA.

River Scouts on the Huron

Finally, I work with a group of very active river users, who have taken on the title “River Scout”. These individuals have agreed to be The Lorax for the Huron River. We are working together to raise our collective understanding of what is happening on the ground and in the river on a day-to-day basis. REI just renewed their support for this program.

On the personal side of things, I’ve really been enjoying the past few months. Over the past few years I’ve gotten to know, and become friends with the HRWC staff (of course this included Joan!). So in some respects I knew what I was getting into. The only person I hadn’t met was Paul… until my interview. I’m very excited to say that I greatly enjoy working with Paul. I’ve even taken to calling him my “work husband”, which his wife Kellie thinks is very funny.

When I decided to move to the Watershed Council many of the reasons in both my pros and cons lists could be summarized as the desire for new professional challenges. This I have gotten, and in spades. And I’m enjoying every minute of it. I have wonderfully supportive and kind peers, who help me raise the bar on my professionalism. My boss is thoughtful and forward-looking, which keeps my own expectations realistic. The HRWC volunteers are amazing and inspiring, all of whom add to my delight every day as I make my way to work.

I’m looking forward to continuing to understand my job, our volunteers, and all the HRWC activities. And I look forward to sharing the process with you.

Best, ~Jason

Two of HRWC's youngest volunteers get a lesson from Noemi about how to look for bugs. credit: John Lloyd

This spring, during our stream insect collection event known as the River Roundup, HRWC volunteers certainly experienced some of the wettest conditions we have ever seen! The main branch of the Huron was flooding and even some of the smaller tributaries were overflowing their banks. The water was moving fast and conditions were dangerous at many locations. And even though we advertise that people won’t get wet, unfortunately this year I don’t think we were able to keep that promise! Many groups came back from their sampling reporting that they had to stand in knee high water on the bank, and then had to reach their nets down into the quickly flowing main channel in order to find anything! Riffles were missing and many of the bugs had been scoured from gravel and sand stream beds.

Dealing with unusual conditions

Dealing with the results of this sampling, given these conditions, has been a challenge. Since the data gathered from the River Roundup is entered into a long term data set that is meant to show long term trends, it would be improper to use samples that were not collected properly or were taken from a stream that was scoured clean. Such samples would not show if the stream was declining because of human impacts, or lack of habitat, or pollution. Rather, these samples would only tell us that the river was stressed from high flows.

We decided to deal with the River Roundup samples in the following way. First, if a team reported, either orally or on their datasheet, that they were not able to collect the stream insects according to the proper protocol because of high water, we did not record their sample results into the long term database. None of the data was thrown away, rather it was entered into a different database so it can possibly be used in the future if we want to look at the effects of flooding on insect communities.

Additionally, per our quality assurance project plan, if a sample is more than 40% different from the median of the last three samples, this sample is marked as an outlier. Normally in such cases we would revisit the site and determine why the sample was so different. This is an important check since a 40% decline at a site may indicate some type of pollution that we would want to know about. This spring, the outliers were clearly a result of the high flow conditions, the sites were not revisited, and the data was not entered into the long term database.

Samples from 12 river sites, including 4 on Davis Creek, 2 on Portage Creek, and 2 on Fleming Creek, were not included in the long term dataset. Twenty-eight samples were accepted. These were mostly from the smaller tributaries that we monitor. We did not even attempt to monitor our sites on the main branch of the Huron, or lower Mill Creek.

High water and fast flows stopped the sampling, but not the photographer, at Letts Creek in Chelsea. credit: Eric Bassey

Highlights of April 2011

Click here for our official results

With the data that we accepted into our long term database, we continue to look for trends that indicate if the biota of a creek is improving or getting worse over time. Here are a few highlights:

1) Millers Creek in northeast Ann Arbor has been given a lot of attention in the past ten years because the stream”s water rises and falls very quickly, causing erosion problems and hurting the insect and fish community. Various groups, including HRWC, the Miller’s Creek Action team, and the City of Ann Arbor have been working to improve the conditions of Millers Creek. I am pleased to report that this spring we found the best sample ever at our Plymouth Road site, even managing to find a stonefly here for the very first time. In the case of this site, the extremely wet weather may have improved its condition since it is not unusual for this creek to dry up under normal weather patterns.

2) Fleming Creek has also been improving in recent years. In particular, volunteers have been finding more and more sensitive insects in the upper portions of the creek, at Warren Road.

3) We have numerous sampling sites throughout the Davis Creek watershed, and unfortunately we are seeing the insects at these sites decline slowly but steadily over time. This is likely a result of the watershed’s biggest yet hardest to detect disturbance, non-source pollution. We will watch Davis Creek closely in future samples.

4) Volunteers at Greenock Creek at Rushton Road found almost three times as many families this April as compared to the past 3 April collections (normally about 5 insect families are found; this year 14 insect families were found). It is possible that the additional water opened up new habitat that is normally unavailable to insects. Whatever the cause, this is a very unusual situation.

Thanks to the 105 volunteers who made this River Roundup possible. We will see you in October for the next one!

The Saturday RoundUp started off quite cool, overcast, and breezy – as many of our spring days have been. Our early groups braved the weather to find, in many locations, swollen creeks and rivers overflowing their banks. Volunteer stream Collectors augmented their collection techniques, in some cases standing in 3 feet of water ON the stream bank. Everyone found great appreciation in the afternoon’s warmer temperatures and tasty snacks back at HRWC (thanks to Big City Small World Bakery and People’s Food Coop for the donations).

Year in and year out hundreds of volunteers enjoy the river and creeks, while collecting data about the Huron River and its tributaries. “Every time I lift my net out of the water I get excited to see what interesting creatures I’ve collected. The River RoundUp is such a lot of fun!” ~Maryn Hasey. For more information about the RoundUp read Dick Chase’s account of this spring’s events.

Check back in a couple weeks for detailed reports on the RoundUp findings.

Trained volunteer collectors take you to two stream sites, where you help search through stones, leaves, and sediment. The amount of life in our fresh water is amazing.  Volunteers meet in Ann Arbor and then go to two sites; one may be near their home.  You must register early to be assigned to a team.

Children are welcome to attend with their own adult.

WHERE: Meet in Ann Arbor.  Then car pool to two streams in Livingston, Oakland, Wayne and/or Washtenaw Counties.

WHEN: Two starting times: April 30 at 8:45 AM to 3:30 PM, or 10:15 AM to 5 PM

DEADLINE: Registration closes on April 15, 2011.

NEXT STEP: First time volunteers, please fill out the basic information form and the registration form.  Returning volunteers, please fill out the registration form only.

First time volunteers basic information form: http://www.hrwc.org/volunteer/registration-for-first-time-volunteers/

RoundUp event registration form: http://www.hrwc.org/volunteer/roundup/register-for-river-roundup/

A broadback winter stonefly (family Taeniopterygidae) Credit: John Lloyd

The January 29 Stonefly Search revealed that two of our study sites on the north branch of Mill Creek, near Chelsea, were missing stoneflies for the first time since monitoring began in the mid-1990′s  (Read more in this blog).

As a result, HRWC sent additional teams of volunteers to look more closely at these locations.  At the Fletcher Road study site, the follow-up team was able to locate the broadback winter stonefly. They reported that the abundance of the insect was low, so it is possible that the original team did not find it because of time constraints. Our normal Stonefly Search parameters are for the volunteers to only look for 15-20 minutes. For the follow-up visits, the time constraint was removed since our goal was to carry out a concentrated search of these locations.

At the Ivey Road study site, 2 volunteers spent over an hour in the water and not only did they fail to find stoneflies, they only found three living creatures (1 caddisfly, 1 worm, and 1 dragonfly). This is a tremendously poor insect population for a stream that historically was very diverse and abundant, and it tells us that something unusual has happened to either the habitat or the water quality on this section of Mill Creek.

In order to determine the extent of the problem, our volunteer team traveled upstream and sampled the next two stream/road intersections as well. While once again they failed to find stoneflies, our team did locate an abundant mayfly population, indicating that the water quality problem is likely limited to the stream section around Ivey Road.

With the current level of snow and ice on the creek, it is difficult to do more testing at this time. When the weather warms up, we shall return to the creek in order to get a better look and search for specific causes to the problem. We also alerted the proper authorities about the issue. We will report of any other future discoveries or actions on this blog.

Beautiful Mann Creek boasts an outstanding diversity of stoneflies! Credit: Max Bromley

Our 157 volunteers arrived back safely, turned in their nets and waders, drank some coffee and thawed their toes. Thus ended the 2011 Stonefly Search.  And now, the results are in!

Stoneflies are special organisms because they are only found in very clean water, and are indicators of a healthy stream. By tracking stonefly populations over  time, HRWC is able to track the health of a stream.

Click  here to see the results for every site monitored in the 2011  Stonefly Search.

Mann Creek- a local treasure

Mann Creek is  located in Livingston County just northeast of the US-23/I-96 interchange. There must be something unusually good about this creek, and at HRWC we want to figure out what that is.

For the past 5 Stonefly Searches (since 2007), our volunteers have found 4 families of stoneflies in Mann Creek. This includes 2 stonefly families that can be found in creeks year round (Perlidae & Perlodidae), and 2 stonefly families that are normally only found in the winter (Capniidae & Taeniopterygidae). Even in the Huron’s healthiest streams, it is unusual to find more than 2 families of stoneflies during the Stonefly Search.  So, Mann Creek is special indeed.

Mann Creek flows through a residential neighborhood- but one really interesting thing about Mann Creek is that there is a very wide natural riparian zone surrounding the creek.  This riparian area provides habitat and food for stoneflies as branches and leaves fall into the creek. To see Mann Creek and its impressive riparian zone, click here.

Warning- Missing stoneflies on the north branch of Mill Creek!

This year, our volunteer teams failed to find stoneflies on two study sites located on the north branch of Mill Creek (Fletcher Road and Ivey Road). Stoneflies have been found at these sites in every sample taken since 1996, so the sudden absence of these bugs indicates a potential problem. Both teams reported that the stream seemed very mucky; perhaps there is an erosion problem upstream? HRWC plans to send other volunteer teams out to these sites in the next week to take more samples and look for water quality problems.

One of the best aspects of volunteers and stonefly monitoring is the speed of the results. Within a week, we have sampled 54 sites, identified two sites with potential problems, and now know where to focus our resources and follow-up.  Thanks to everyone for your efforts!

HRWC needs your help to produce engaging descriptions of the current conditions of our streams. 

We produce “health reports” that present the results of the monitoring studies.  Here is an example. These “health reports” can be more interesting if they include a colorful but brief story that characterizes the creek.

Please email Joan Martin or phone her at (734) 769-5123 x 600 with your stories.