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Bit by bit, I am making some appearances at streams and working with very small groups on stream ecology education. One good day I had was at Baron Fork where the volunteers asked me to provide an introduction to their stream to six children and two adults. We had a wonderful time. If you check out the Blue Thumb Facebook page, you probably saw the photographs.
Would you like to do something like this? Shall we get together at your stream for a short education event? We will stay outside, we will stay away from each other, and we can let people have some exciting moments studying fish and bugs - with nobody rushing them or getting in their personal space. Your group can be tiny or up to ten people. I understand if it is too soon for this in your view. But Blue Thumb is here for you, the world is different, and the outdoors are calling.
Teachers and Students:
Blue Thumb is currently in discussion about how best we can support your efforts for the 2020 - 2021 school year. A few teachers agreed to participate with us in telephone conversations so we can learn directly from you how best we can help. It is not too late for you to weigh in and make suggestions. Call or email me.
Cheryl Cheadle Volunteer Coordinator
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Happy August, Volunteers!
By the time you read this, we will have wrapped up our 2020 fishing season. For those of you who are not regular Facebook users, I would like to take the opportunity to share some of our favorite field photos from this summer. Thank you to Kim, Candice, and Becky for the great photos. And thank you to each volunteer who came out and fished with us this summer.
I'm already looking forward to fishing next year!
Rebecca Bond Blue Thumb Director
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To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
With hot outside temperatures, we really want you to take care of your reagents. Please store them at a temperature below 80°F. So perhaps you store your test kit in the garage or an out-building or storage area, but PLEASE keep your reagents in your house/office/classroom that is not hotter than 80°F. Also, don’t keep your reagents in a hot vehicle. If you are doing errands or visiting someone, etc. either before or after your do your on-site monitoring, then PLEASE take your reagents inside with you; don’t leave them in a hot vehicle. All of this being said, sometimes the reagents start out as being bad/discolored/not in good working order. Case in point, here are some photos of a bad lot # that a volunteer notified us about.
Please look at your reagents before you add them to your test tube/mixing bottle. Sometimes you don’t notice the reagent is bad until you add it, and sometimes you even need to do the test to see that it is not reacting properly. If the reagent looks discolored or wet or clumped or isn’t reacting as it normally does, anything out of the usual, discard that packet and try another one. Let us know the reagent name and lot # if you find some bad ones.
Here is a look at how nitrate strips can go bad.
Even if the nitrate strips are not expired, these ones were, they might even change color thus won't work properly. If your nitrate strips are discolored, let us know and we’ll get you a new bottle as quick as we can. Always check your expiration dates, especially on your liquid reagents. Your liquid reagents will expire before you completely use up the bottle. So look at the date, not how much liquid you have left.
And keep your reagents below 80°F.
Kim Shaw Blue Thumb QA Officer
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Blue Thumb Volunteer Trainings
Claremore: September 19 (Stream Ecology Education) September 20 (Stream Monitoring)*
McAlester: November 7 (Stream Ecology Education) November 8 (Stream Monitoring)*
*Stream Ecology Education Training is a prerequisite to take this training*
Sign up here!
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- Help collect beetles for science in the Citizen Science Backyard Beetles Program!
- Help eradicate litter and hold people accountable with the app Litterati, available for Android and iPhone!
- In the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, biodiversity could play a big role in preventing more pandemics in the future. You can read this article to find out more.
- Did you know that there is a whole association for Citizen Scientists? You can become a member and learn more about it here!
- Don't forget about the "Stream Selfie" project from the Izaak Walton League, the #trashtag movement, and tick testing!
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