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Home , Hawlings River, Little Seneca Creek, Monocacy River, Muddy Branch, Oxon Run, Paint Branch

MONITORING WITH THE AUDUBON NATURALIST SOCIETY

Cathy Wiss, Coordinator Monitoring Program ANS VOLUNTEERS HAVE BEEN MONITORING SINCE 1993

WE NOW HAVE 28 SITES:

24 IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY, 1 IN HOWARD COUNTY, AND 3 SITES IN WASHINGTON, DC (Montgomery County): Northwest Branch OUR SITES ARE Lower (Montgomery County): LOCATED IN 13 Little Bennett Creek

WATERSHEDS : (Montgomery County) Middle Patuxent River (Howard County) ALL BUT 3 OF THE direct (Montgomery County): MONTGOMERY Little Falls Branch COUNTY SITES ARE Watts Branch IN MONTGOMERY Rock Creek: Upper Rock Creek (Montgomery County Parks) COUNTY PARKS Lower Rock Creek (DC – Rock Creek National Park)

Seneca Creek (Montgomery County): Great Seneca Creek (Private property) ANS TEAMS MONITOR 3-4 TIMES A YEAR:

IN APRIL, JULY, OCTOBER, AND OPTIONALLY DURING THE WINTER (DECEMBER- FEBRUARY) ABOUT 200 VOLUNTEERS FROM THE COMMUNITY AND ONE HIGH SCHOOL CLASS MONITOR WITH ANS WE OFFER EXTENSIVE CLASSROOM AND FIELD TRAINING IN MACROINVERTEBRATE IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT, AND OTHER WATER-RELATED TOPICS MONITORS COLLECT BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES FOLLOWING THE MBSS PROTOCOL (20 SAMPLES WITH A D-NET WITHIN A 75-METER REACH) TEAMS OF VOLUNTEERS ARE ASSIGNED TO EACH SITE

THE TEAM LEADER, WHO MUST PASS A YEARLY QUIZ, IS RESPONSIBLE FOR IDENTIFICATION BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES ARE IDENTIFIED ONSITE TO FAMILY LEVEL AND SOMETIMES TO GENUS LEVEL

ANY THAT CANNOT BE IDENTIFIED ARE PRESERVED IN 70% ETHYL ALCOHOL TO BE IDENTIFIED IN THE OFFICE MONITORS TEST PH AND MEASURE WATER AND AMBIENT AIR TEMPERATURE THEY ALSO CONDUCT HABITAT ASSESSMENTS USING THE SAME FORMS AS MONTGOMERY COUNTY DEP

(SPRING AND SUMMER MBSS FORMS; HABITAT ASSESSMENT FOR RIFFLE/RUN PREVALENT ) MONITORS ENTER THEIR DATA INTO A SALESFORCE DATABASE Northwest Branch at Kemp Mill Road 5.00

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Winter Spring Summer Fall Trend for spring index period 2-period moving average (Spring)

WE USE THE FAMILY-LEVEL BENTHIC INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY (BIBI) DEVELOPED FOR THE WADERS PROGRAM TO CALCULATE STREAM HEALTH SCORES IN 2018 WE USED OUR DATA TO PRODUCE A REPORT ON THE HEALTH OF 3 OF ROCK CREEK IN DC

WE FOUND THAT STREAM HEALTH WAS STABLE IN ONE , DECLINING IN ANOTHER, BUT IMPROVING IN THE THIRD

OF CONCERN IS THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SEVERAL FAMILIES, ESPECIALLY IN THE STREAM THAT HAD BEEN THE MOST DIVERSE

ON THE OTHER HAND, A FEW NEW TAXA ARE BEING FOUND, SUCH AS BAETIDAE ACENTRELLA TESTING THE WATERS PROGRAM

ANS EDUCATION SPECIALISTS WILL HELP STUDENTS AT 3 SCHOOLS MONITOR THE PRESENCE OF MICROPLASTICS IN THE SURFACE WATERS OF BEL PRE CREEK, NORTHWEST BRANCH, AND

Express.co.uk THEY WILL OBTAIN SAMPLES BY POURING 100L OF SURFACE WATER THROUGH NESTED SIEVES (#3.5 MESH STAINLESS STEEL AND #50 MESH BRASS)

Buddymantra.com STUDENTS WILL USE FIELD MICROSCOPES TO OBSERVE THE SAMPLES AND DESCRIBE THE MICROPLASTICS FOUND

OVERALL DIVERSITY OF MICROPLASTICS CAN BE DETERMINED BY COUNTING THE COLORS OF PLASTICS IN THE SAMPLE, BUT THE PROTOCOL DOES NOT LEAD TO A DETERMINATION OF THE TYPE OF MICROPLASTICS PRESENT Commonsensecanadian.ca THE STUDENTS WILL ALSO MONITOR BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES USING THE ANS CREEK CRITTERS APP Figure 9: Screenshots from ANS' Creek Critters app.

THE APP IS DESIGNED TO EASILY INTRODUCE ANYONE TO THE “CRITTERS” LIVING IN OUR STREAMS THE CREEK CRITTERS APP IS AVAILABLE FOR BOTH IOS AND ANDROID PERIODICALLY, ANS CONSERVATION STAFF WILL HOLD EVENTS TO INTRODUCE THE COMMUNITY TO CREEK CRITTERS AND ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO BECOME STEWARDS OF THEIR STREAMS FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER, ANS WILL PARTNER WITH THE ANACOSTIA RIVERKEEPER TO MONITOR IN ROCK CREEK, THE POTOMAC, AND ANACOSTIA

The results will be posted each week on the Anacostia Riverkeeper’s website so that the community can see whether it is safe to come in contact with the water