Stonefly searches planned

[davetclown]

Stonefly searches planned

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[url "http://www.spinalcolumnonline.com/1editorialtablebody.lasso?-token.searchtype=authorroutine&-token.lpsearchstring=Kevin%20Elliott&-nothing"]Kevin Elliott[/url] January 12, 2005 - Volunteers will be searching stretches of rivers and streams in southeast Michigan this month, hoping to find evidence of stoneflies.

Unlike the pests seen buzzing around garbage cans in the summer, the presence of stoneflies can actually mean that a stream or river has a low amount of pollution. Because stoneflies live in waters with high amounts of dissolved oxygen, river watershed groups survey the number of stoneflies in an area to help gauge water quality.

"Winter stonefly larvae are pretty obvious to find in the cold winter months because they're growing and thriving, and all of their predators are pretty lethargic at that point and time because the water is so cold," said Heather Van Den Berg, dducation director for the Clinton River Watershed Council. "(The presence of stonefly larvae is) a good indicator of high-quality streams, low sediment, consistent flow through the river, and also cool (water) temperatures."

The Clinton River Watershed Council will be conducting its winter stonefly search on Saturday, Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. until noon. The Huron River Watershed Council will perform its stonefly search on Saturday, Jan. 22, with search groups starting at both 10:30 a.m. and noon.

The Huron River Watershed Council uses teams of four to five people to survey up to 73 river sites throughout Oakland, Livingston, Washtenaw and Wayne counties.

According to Joan Martin, stewardship facilitator for the Huron River Watershed Council, the teams will be led by trained members, who will actually wade through shallow waters to collect samples.

"Everyone else will be on the bank, ready to receive a white tray that has some water and debris from the stream, and they watch until something starts swimming," Martin said. "Most likely, at this time of year, that's a stonefly."

"One of the things that people are always remarking on, if they are new to this, is that they had no idea on how much lively activity is going on under the ice and water at this time of year."

After sampling is conducted, watershed councils record their data and typically report any negative findings to communities or state agencies.

"Whenever we don't see any stoneflies at all ... that's a red flag," Martin said. "It's not a sure indicator. You can be sure of what you do see, but you can never be sure when you don't see anything about what the reasons are, but it's an indicator that there might be a problem in the stream. It needs follow up, and there might be a source of pollution (when stoneflies aren't found)."

Martin said that some lakes area locations where sampling will occur will be in the main portion of the Huron River in White Lake and Commerce townships, and along the Pettibone Creek in Milford, where stonefly larvae haven't been found in recent years.

"We have 73 sites, and we don't usually get to them all, but on a good year, we can get to over 50," Martin said. "If we had more people, we could go to more sites."

Winter stonefly searches have already been conducted in the Rouge river watershed, on Saturday, Jan. 8, by the Friends of the Rouge Watershed group.

According to Sally Petrella, public involvement coordinator for the Friends of the Rouge, seven of the 16 river sites sampled revealed stoneflies.

"Most of the stoneflies we found at the Rouge were in the middle branch or the lower branch. This is only the second time we found them in the upper branch," Petrella said. "We still have not found any on the main branch."

Individuals wishing to volunteer to survey sites in the Huron River watershed should contact Martin by Friday, Jan. 14 at 734-769-5971, or by e-mail at jmartin@hrwc.org.

To volunteer for the stonefly search in the Clinton River watershed, contact Van Den Berg at 248-601-0606, or by e-mail at heather@crwc.org.

"It's a good activity to get bundled up and get outside after the new year, and kind of go wading around and do something that you typically wouldn't do on your own," Van Den Berg said. "You certainly learn something about the biology and ecology of our streams."

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Kevin Elliott is a staff writer for the Spinal Column Newsweekly
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