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Winter is Coming
The seasons of the year speak to us with different messages. Now that it is cooler, I believe the tune in the air sings "autumn is here." It is during these cool months that I encourage volunteers to consider what they might choose to do in 2020 to lend your energy to protecting your earthly home.
If you want to jump into education gently, ask Blue Thumb to loan you some items that can be used for an exhibit. This could be at a public library, a high school library, a community center, or another place you have in mind, such as a local Lions Club or Rotary Club. Blue Thumb has a presentation on a jump drive that you can borrow, and we will give you a run down and pointers on the conversation that might go along with it.
Have you thought about borrowing an EnviroScape and working with your local afterschool care program or a boy/girl scout troop? What about visiting your local Public Works Department and letting them know that there is a Blue Thumb volunteer at work within their community? You could also write a letter to the editor of a local newspaper.
The times we live in are times when our neighbors might need reminders of what it means to be a good citizen. We pass this way but once, probably, and future generations will need clean air and water. Future generations deserve to have eagles, wolves, otters, and lots of songbirds sharing the planet with them. Let's take it to the next level!
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
Interactive Map
Your data matters. If you monitor a creek for an extended amount of time, you have probably been asked to write a data interpretation about your creek. This includes your monthly chemical data, your bug results, at least 1 fish collection, and a habitat assessment. Once this report is written, it is uploaded to our interactive map on our website, where you, other monitors, and the public can access it and read all about your creek. If you have written a data report recently, check out the map, as it may have been uploaded recently!
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To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
Let's talk Chloride. It has been brought to our attention that some monitors are going too far when it comes to recording the color change. We are after the slightest color change that stays, which will be considered the end point. Several data sheets have indicated that the Chloride Blank took 2-3 drops to achieve the color change; the Blank should only take 1 drop to change color.
This causes me to ask some questions when I see this on the datasheet:
- are monitors going too far past the slight color change that we are after?
- is the DI water contaminated?
- is the reagent powder packet not working properly?
Let's work on this to see if we can get this cleared up and performing better.
Spoiler Alert! This is part of this fall's QA! Blue Thumb Staff will bring to your QA a standard solution of Chloride for you to test. Us staff know the concentration of the solution and will work with you to hopefully get that answer. If your chloride test is orange in color, then you might need to back off a drop or two. If the test turns a brik red color, then you need to back off 2 or more drops and remember to not go that far in the future. We will be there to work with you on this at the Fall QA. We can work with you on the Chloride Blank as well. If your DI water and/or reagents packets need to be replaced, we can get you some new ones if we think that might be the problem.
Thank you for all that you volunteers do! We certainly appreciate you, as does the ecosystem of Oklahoma. Keep up the good work and keep sending me your data!
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
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 Make the world a better place!
Chilly weather, falling leaves, and thoughts of seasonal gifts come to mind! You can mail a check to Friends of Blue Thumb in honor of a friend or family member. If you include the friend's address, Friends of Blue Thumb will send a note letting the person know that they have been honored. Send a check (as large as possible) to:
Friends of Blue Thumb
P.O. Box 58103
Oklahoma City, OK 73112
 
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 Hey, Volunteers!
The Smithsonian's Water/Ways exhibit has moved once again! It is now located at VFW Post 3573 in Locust Grove. It will be there until December 8th, 2019. If you are in the area, or feel like taking a small road trip, go ahead and stop on by and say hello and check it out!
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 Blue Thumb Volunteer Trainings
The last Blue Thumb training of 2019 took place this past weekend. We are currently working on planning for our 2020 trainings. Right now we are planning for Stillwater in late January and Yukon in late May. Other areas we are hoping to include are Claremore, McAlester, and Duncan. Keep an eye on our website and Facebook for those dates to be posted!
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 Full Circle Citizenship - Individual Actions that Contribute to Healthy Communities
The title is a little long, so we just call it Full Circle Citizenship (FCC). The Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Soil Health Team and Blue Thumb Program paired up to offer this combined soil health/water quality pilot workshop in Afton, Oklahoma on October 24th. All the attendees were invited so that they could provide valuable feedback.
After a quick opening presentation to share the goals of the day, participants were places into two small groups where they experienced an EnviroScape Watershed demonstration and the rainfall simulator/healthy soil demonstration. They also were introduced to life in Horse Creek, which flows into Grand Lake, by kicking for bugs and seining for fish. Ottawa County Conservation District Director Grant Victor also stopped by the creek to show participants what a protected riparian area looks like.
As stated, this was simply a pilot workshop; upcoming Full Circle Citizenship workshops will be more extensive and take up most the day. One topic that will be better explored is something we like to call "Reading the Landscape", where we will cover more information about protecting our land and water by feeling a connection to the natural world around us. This can be achieved if we fully understand the places we call home through time; reading the landscape can give us a better insight into what the area was like long ago, and by studying animal tracks, nests, and other wildlife leftovers, we can strengthen that connection.
We would like to offer our thanks to the Ottawa County Conservation District for being a great partner in helping organize the workshop and for inviting attendees. We'd also like to extend our thanks to Northeast Vo-Tech in Afton for kindly providing us a space to have the workshop.
Volunteers are encouraged to let us know if this workshop is of interest to you. Do you have an audience in mind and a location that we could offer this in? Let us know.
Let's keep going down the right path together.
Oklahoma Conservation Commission will be hosting a hands on workshop on October 26th in Edmond. If you would like to learn more, please contact Amy Seiger.
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Registration will open November 4th and close December 1st. Volunteers tickets are free, and will be allowed to bring 1 guest with them.
Please let us know if you would be interested in having a static display presentation, whether about climate change, your creek, an education event you did, or something that interests you.
We look forward to seeing you!
 
- The University of Oklahoma has developed a Citizen Science Soil Collection Program to help them expand their research with pathogens and other human diseases and maladies. You can help them find a cure faster!
- Invasive species of any kind can have harmful effects on the ecosystem they live in. They take up niches and habitat that native species would normally occupy and can often out-compete them for resources. You can help play a part in reporting invasive species by joining OK Invasives, Oklahoma's front line defense against invasives.
- Don't forget about the "Stream Selfie" project from the Izaak Walton League, the #trashtag movement, and tick testing!
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