|
Bitter Cold Mid-February
The bitter cold of mid-February plus the length of the cold snap spelled problems for many streams across the state. In several communities, fish kills were an unfortunate result of chlorinated water from water line breaks flowing into streams where fish were already stressed from the extreme cold. The City of Tulsa stormwater employees worked closely with Blue Thumb staff and volunteers to ensure that fish kills in the Tulsa area were reported to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality. We are grateful for prompt communications from the City of Tulsa and to Blue Thumb volunteers for diligently monitoring the condition of their streams.
Little Earth Day Exhibit
The little dynamic earth day exhibit drawing attracted a good number of volunteer entries! Many thanks to: Tanya Chapman, Debbie Adams, Beth Walker, Makenna Paniel, Brooe Selby, Greg Mayberry, Kim Watson, Brenda Wilson, and Cheyanne Olson. The winner is Brenda Wilson - Jenks Middle School STEM specialist and monitor of Adams Creek in Tulsa County! Because of the interest in this exhibit, a 2nd mini-exhibit has been created and will be loaned to whichever Blue Thumb volunteer contacts me first! Also consider: this can be an interchangeable exhibit, and I will help you rearrange it to fit a watershed education effort, Yard by Yard in your community, any kind of conservation education theme that you like, but always with a nod to Blue Thumb.
In fact, Blue Thumb has a medium size exhibit board to loan. Help is available to you to get information out. With more of us receiving COVID vaccinations, there is a good chance that people will be getting out more, so start planning now to borrow an exhibit, and you can help plan it! Email me!
For the first 3 volunteers who get in touch with me: You will receive a Friends of Blue Thumb reusable bag. When the grocer says paper or plastic, say "my own plastic bag made out of pop bottles." By carrying bags in and out of stores, you take some extra steps to make our earth a healthier, stronger planet. It is easy to do, and these FBT bags are amazingly strong.
Spring Time is Stream Time (or, have nets will travel)
Unless you see a tornado, a downpour, or lightning, spring is the perfect time to visit your creek. Stream time meet-ups are starting again. Invite the Volunteer Coordinator to your stream, and maybe invite a few family members and friends to come along, too. Let’s keep the numbers under eight for now. We will visit and have a mini-education event right there at your stream. We can monitor together or simply spend some time looking under rocks. Maybe we will pull a seine! This kind of informal education is fun and fast. Let’s get together! Contact me please!
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
|
Greetings from the Director!
During a recent meeting, a professor asked me about Blue Thumb's quality assurance process. The question prompted a conversation that may be of interest to some of you.
Blue Thumb's quality assurance guidelines are outlined in a document called a Quality Assurance Project Plan, or QAPP. The Blue Thumb Program is funded with Clean Water Act, Section 319 funding. The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency. Any project that uses EPA funds to collect environmental data must have an EPA-approved QAPP. Kim and I review and update the Blue Thumb QAPP annually.
The biological data (bugs, fish, and habitat data) collected by Blue Thumb staff and volunteers fall under the Rotating Basin QAPP. The biological data are used for assessment and listing decisions, so these data are collected under more rigorous Q/A guidelines.
If you are interested in learning more about Blue Thumb's quality assurance processes, please reach out. Kim or I would be happy to send you a link to the Blue Thumb QAPP or to the Rotating Basin QAPP. Both of these documents help ensure our program collects sound data that is appropriate for the intended uses. Thank you for being a part of our QA program.
Rebecca Bond
Blue Thumb Director
Yard by Yard
If you live in Tulsa or Oklahoma County, and if you have nature-friendly practices in your yard, how about joining the Yard by Yard community resiliency Project! Get a wonderful sign that will acknowledge your yard as being certified, and you can learn about certification. There many ways to help our earth. Through Yard by Yard practices you can build healthy soil, reduce flooding, feed pollinators, and much more.
If you live in the communities of Stillwater, Muskogee, Grove, Sulphur, Shawnee, or Walters, you also have access to the Yard by Yard project. Just get out your Blue Thumb calendar and look up the phone numbers of these conservation districts. Phone and ask them about Yard by Yard. If you have any problems reaching them, please call Cheryl Cheadle.
|
|
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
Winter 2021 QA meetings at your creek site have just finished. Let’s do a little bit of recap: the QA this time was showing/informing our creek monitors about the new App/Link for data entry and the new front page of the datasheet. We then asked volunteers to complete the revised first page of the datasheet. Please take a step back (literally and figuratively!) and carefully consider your Site Observations. Take a bit more time when you fill out this section; look around, see what you see. Don’t just circle items you usually circle because ‘they are always there’. Maybe there are other things going on. Site Observations include the stream’s riparian area and banks, not just what is in the creek. The health of the riparian area and banks will impact the creek. Site Observations include the banks and stream you can see from your sampling location, NOT just the small area where you fill your bottles. If you look off the bridge on either or both sides, what do you see? Include this information in your Site Observations. Enjoy the creek, enjoy being outside, take an extra minute to really look at your creek and see what Site Observations are different from the last time you monitored.
Each mark on the secchi cording is 0.1meters. If the water crosses at the 5th mark, you’d write down “0.5” on the datasheet. Please adjust where you measure secchi depth as the creek substrate changes. If the usual deep spot is filling in with sediment, move to the new deeper spot in the creek. With our recent ice/snowstorms, there are likely new piles of woody debris in the creek (maybe not where you can see them) that may have changed flow patterns and deep and shallow places in your creek. Please move your secchi measuring spot as the creek and banks move and change.
Keep up your great work, creek monitors. And don’t forget to check out the App Map to see where data has been submitted so far into the App/Link. Some volunteers have been submitting great photos as well!
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
|
|
 
-
Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen
-
The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen
-
Wild Horse Country by David Philipps
-
Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin
---
National parks are a popular (and relatively safe) way to spend some much needed time outdoors for physical health and mental wellbeing during the pandemic. And with a record number of visitors in 2020, minimizing the impact on national parks whilst preventing the spread of COVID-19 is more crucial than ever.
So I wanted to share this in-depth resource called “An Essential Guide To Enjoying National Parks Responsibly.” The guide shares useful information such as:
- How to enjoy the great outdoors more ‘responsibly’ by practicing the principles of ‘leave no trace’, camping and wildlife safety, and fire prevention awareness.
- The many physical and mental health benefits of spending time in nature such as reducing stress and anxiety, all helpful after enduring months of lockdowns and travel restrictions.
- The guide includes an interactive map showing highlights and useful insights into the top national parks in the US.
Plenty of useful tips, practical advice, and other resources to stay safe in parks and recreate outdoors responsibly.
|
|
|
|
|
