Congrats to the Director!
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission does not have an Employee of the Month... but we do have an Employee of the Quarter, and this quarter, our very own Blue Thumb Director, Rebecca Bond, was chosen! This is what was said about Rebecca on the Oklahoma Conservation Commission Facebook Page:
"Rebecca has recently been working with the Soil Health team to create educational documents, presentations, and displays that can serve as templates for municipalities, volunteers, and other groups.
These educational tools will be a leg up for any and all people who are in need of helping others learn about sustainable land uses and pollution prevention.
Rebecca’s many outstanding characteristics, include her kindness, dedication to conservation and excellent communication skills.
She brings so much to the agency including the ability to strengthen relationships within the Blue Thumb group and sharpen the focus of our efforts; taking the volunteer monitoring program to another step to consider what comes after gaining data, and recognizing her staff members individual strengths and encouraging them in that direction and helping them to grow.
Congratulations Rebecca!"
cFrom the Volunteer Coordinator
The end of the year/beginning of a new year always has an impact on me. If you read the December “From the Water’s Edge” you saw my article asking about what we can do together in 2022 for the good of Oklahoma’s environment, with emphasis on our wonderful streams and rivers. Rereading that article made me think of something – I want to pay more attention to encouraging “water conservation” when I talk with citizens, young and old.
When there seems to be plenty of water, why be a conservationist? To get to the bottom of this, I ask “how long do you spend in the shower?” Keep in mind that while I work with all ages, lots of my time is spent with students from ten to 18 years old.
The responses are interesting, and sometimes funny. Young kids will say something like ten minutes, then add they only shower twice a week. Teenagers tend to say up to an hour, which is like a punch to the stomach for me. This sets the stage for a discussion.
The average American uses around 100 gallons of water a day, many people use much more. This is for showering, laundry, flushing a toilet, etc. I like to have a bucket of water handy when we discuss this, or at least a gallon milk jug so that I can show everyone just what a gallon looks like, and how heavy it is. Sometimes I even put into action a great activity from Project WET called “The Long Haul.” Students get a feel for what it is like to have to carry water, because even today, many countries are so poor that most of their residents do not have indoor plumbing.
For those of us with access to all the water we want, the conversation of why to conserve gets a little more complicated. We have a growing population, and not necessarily a growing water supply. Development changes the land and the way water moves over and through the land, and it can change what enters the runoff. Changes in Oklahoma’s weather patterns have resulted in more flooding and more drought – both bringing challenges to water supplies.
Another question I like to ask students is this: Who pays for the water you use? Younger children often think water is free, or is a gift from the government. When I add a little math to the question, about how much water per minute comes through the shower head, some of them can see the value of a shorter shower so their parents have a more reasonable water bill at the end of the month.
At home conservation measures include: shorter showers, smart appliances, updated plumbing fixtures, and conservation minded landscaping, to name a few. I urge you to keep water conservation in the conversations you have with friends. Know where your drinking water comes from, and where it goes. Help people to understand that the stream flowing through the park down the street will empty into a larger stream that will flow through a lake (maybe somebody’s drinking water) before moving on toward the mighty Mississippi.
A very special aquatic mammal!
River otters and minks love Oklahoma streams and rivers. Otters embrace them fully, and minks too are known to prefer living close to waterways. North America’s largest rodent, the beaver always counts on waterways of some sort to make a living. Swamp rabbits are very deserving of discussion concerning their relationship with rivers and wetlands. But today our attention turns to the American Water Shrew.
Oklahoma is home to swamp rabbits, otters, etc. but the American water shrew (Sorex palustris) likes the northern part of our continent and some central areas but always in the mountains. This wee shrew (an insectivore) loves the watery environment and has adaptations to make life underwater quite comfortable, including fur that helps them retain body heat.
Water shrews dive, float, and swim, frequently eating benthic macroinvertebrates from the bottom of rocks. They will enjoy the delicacy of a frog or fish, and are known to snag a meal from on the land if the situation allows. Although not frequently witnessed, water shrews have the tricky ability to use surface tension to “run” across small lengths of water.
Like other shrews, water shrews eat much and eat frequently. They have up to four litters per year, and the young are hairless at birth. Enjoy a little extra fun on the computer and look up water shrews!
Cheryl Cheadle Volunteer Coordinator
To our Monthly Monitors:
Howdy Howdy from your QA Officer,
I hope you all had happy holidays and a good start to 2022!!!
Just a couple safety reminders about monitoring in winter months. Keep your reagents in a place that is above freezing (and since we live in Oklahoma, keep your reagents below 80F in the winter as well). If you don’t have waterproof insulated gloves when filling your bottles in the creek, at least keep your hands dry by using something like dish washing gloves. It is much easier and faster to warm dry hands than wet hands. Frostbite also comes on faster in wet conditions than dry conditions. Dress in layers. If it snows, mind your footing when walking down to your site. If your creek freezes over, break through the ice if you are able to and then do your monitoring as usual. If you are not able to break through the ice, fill out the front page of the datasheet and make a note about the situation in the comments.
Keep taking photos of your creek and post them when you submit your data. Remember, these can be seen by anyone that looks at your data on the App Map.
Kim Shaw Blue Thumb QA Officer
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