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From the Volunteer Coordinator
WHICH TWO CREEKS did I write about in the September eNewsletter? The first two volunteers to email me (and provide the correct response) will receive a vintage "Volunteer's Field Guide to Stream Fish of Oklahoma." This water-resistant guide is totally unavailable now - but you can get yours by clicking here and providing your full name and address, including the zip code.
One Last Blue Thumb Training...
Final Blue Thumb training of the year will be held at Rogers State University in Claremore on November 6 & 7, 2021. Remember, if you need a monitoring refresher, or you want to take advantage of training updates that have happened since you have come aboard, then maybe you will want to participate. While training now has a fee attached, if you are an existing volunteer, you get your refresher for FREE! Be in touch with your Blue Thumb contact person for the code that allows you to register at no charge.
Autumn 2021
There have been many activities focused on helping our pollinators over these last few weeks. Are you involved in any of these? Do you have some native plants coming up in your yard? Recently Blue Thumb was part of Monarchs on the Mountain, and you can find the panel discussion here. If you are interested in helping the world to be stronger, cleaner, and more functional, learn what steps you can take in your very own yard!!!
Autumn time is Calendar time.
The 2022 Blue Thumb Calendar is going to PRESS!!! Be sure that you attend your quality assurance and bug picking sessions this fall so that you do NOT miss getting your calendar, and maybe even an extra one or two for gifts. Handing a calendar to a friend or neighbor is a great way to let people know what Blue Thumb is all about, and what YOU are all about by volunteering with us!
Cheryl Cheadle
Volunteer Coordinator
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Greetings from the Director!
Each year, Kim reaches out to volunteers with new fish data and offers them the opportunity to write a data report or data interpretation. It takes a while to receive data from the taxonomist, and after data are received, they are processed by our Records Management Specialist, Karla Spinner. So this fall, Kim will reach out to volunteers whose streams were fished in 2019. If you completed a fish collection in 2019, I encourage you to develop a volunteer-written data report this fall (COVID upset this process a bit, so if your site was fished in 2018, you may also develop a data interpretation). This is your opportunity to tell the story of your stream to a wider audience. Kim will offer you a data package which contains fish, bug, habitat, and chemical data. You can stick to these data, or collect additional data of your own, such as landuse data, historical data about your stream, or geological data. Some of the data will already be analyzed. For example, you will receive information about how well your stream compares with reference streams in your ecoregion. You can, however, perform additional analyses yourself or you can simply interpret the data Kim provides. If you need help, Kim is available to assist. Completed volunteer-written interpretations that have been through a quality assurance review are posted on the Blue Thumb website, along with fish lists for the site. Anyone interested in the state (or beyond) can access these reports. Previous reports have been used to develop informational signage, create displays for water education events, and educate politicians about local water issues. You are the expert on your stream. Please share your knowledge by developing a volunteer data report!
You can read previously submitted data interpretations here; just click on the site of interest. If your site was previously monitored by another volunteer, there may even be a volunteer written data interpretation on your site.
Rebecca Bond
Blue Thumb Director
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To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
This will be a review of pointers that I have brought up before. You all have gotten noticeably better, but there is always room for improvement.
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Bacteria: if your count is over 300 colonies, please enter 300, and also select "yes" for the question just below.
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Observations: ONLY select "clean" if no other observation is true/present.
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Comments: please enter comments if you select habitat and/or flow alteration. This can just be a couple words. Complete sentences are not necessary. Also add comments about recent rain event(s) or lack of rain. Or any other significant weather event or site condition.
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Oxygen Saturation: use the water temperature and the LOWEST oxygen result to roughly calculate your oxygen saturation.
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Chloride: Your blank test (using DI water) should change a slight color on the first drop of silver nitrate. If it does not, please let us know and we will work with you on this. Maybe you need new DI water or reagents or one of us to show you the end point color we are after. The QA this fall will be the chloride test so please attend your local QA/bugpicking session(s) and let's get this worked out with you.
Thanks for monitoring. As always, please keep sending in your data. We hope you are enjoying the online data entry. If you have suggestions for edits to the online data entry, please let me know.
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
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 Make the world a better place!
Three cheers for the clothing and accessory store Altar'd States!! The shop manager from the Altar'd States in Woodland Hills Mall, Tulsa, provided a $6,664.04 check to Friends of Blue Thumb. Store leader Laura Cooper selected Friends of Blue Thumb because they like to "focus on nonprofit groups that might be overlooked by large donors." This is indeed the largest single donation that Friends of Blue Thumb has ever received.
Also, FBT is looking to fill two seats on the board of directors. Send an email to board chairman Dennis Wilson if you want more information.
WHEN IS FRIENDS OF BLUE THUMB Market Day going to be held? This information was in the eNewsletter and also on the Friends of Blue Thumb Facebook page! Plans are to hold it later this year the first week of December. The first five volunteers who email me (click here) will receive butterfly milkweed seed (2021 season) from my yard. Again, include your name and full address.
 
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 Claremore:
November 6 (Stream Ecology Education) November 7 (Stream Monitoring)
*Stream Ecology Education Training is a prerequisite to take this training*
Sign up here!
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- Why should we build for wildlife as well as people? You can find the answer by reading this article!
- Citizen Science strikes again! Using volunteers, we've been able to learn more about horseshoe crabs down in Florida. Check out the article!
- 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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