 As we close out 2025, we want to shine a spotlight on every one of our incredible Blue Thumb volunteers. Your commitment to monitoring our waterways and educating the public about water quality is the heart of our mission. The impact you make is felt across communities and ecosystems alike. Thank you for an extraordinary year—your passion and dedication made it all possible. We can’t wait to see what 2026 brings for this inspiring team of water stewards!
The Blue Thumb Team
Creek Monitoring
We are closing out another calendar and thus will be starting a new calendar year. Speaking of calendars, if you haven’t received the 2026 Blue Thumb calendar yet, please let your field person know.
So, let’s see who has monitored every month this year so far. Since it is early December and perhaps some have not submitted their Nov monitoring yet, I am looking at January-October 2025.
- Bishop Creek: Constitution
- Black Bear Creek
- Chisholm Creek: Western
- Coal Creek: Morris Park
- Crow Creek: Discovery Lab
- Crutcho Creek: First Southern Baptist Church
- Dave Blue Creek
- Little Deep Creek: Weatherford
- Nickel Creek: 91st St
- Salt Fork of the Arkansas River
- Spring Creek: Rocky Ford
- Turkey Creek (Bartlesville)
For the sites above, I encourage you to submit your November data if you haven’t already and to monitor in December if you haven’t already!!!
For those of you that just started monitoring this year, you have something to strive towards for next year.
I know you all volunteer your time to monitor for Blue Thumb and sometime things happen where you can’t monitor, and that is totally fine to not monitor every month. We thank you much for the monitoring that you do and the data that you gather; it’s all valuable. But I just wanted to recognize those that have managed to monitor every month.
Blue Thumb Conference – Thank You’s
If you attended any part of the Friday afternoon WET/WILD Training, Friday evening Social, Saturday Conference – Thank You!! Friday evening and Saturday were to recognize Blue Thumb volunteers and say “Thank you!” for all you do to help our precious natural resource of water.
To Hunter, the head organizer of this, WELL DONE!!!!! Thank you! You did a TERIFFIC job and it all ran very smoothly!
To all Blue Thumb Staff and Friends of Blue Thumb Board Members, thank you for all your help in organizing and helping during the conference/social. It took us all to make it happen.
To the FANTASTIC speakers!! Thanks for giving us your Saturday to speak to us about your knowledge. I thoroughly enjoyed every talk!
Thank you to Shanon Phillips and Greg Kloxin for coming and representing the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, meeting some of our volunteers and learning more about the Blue Thumb Program.
If you attended any part of the conference, please fill out the survey if you haven’t already, so the next Blue Thumb Conference can benefit even more volunteers.
QA Safety Tips for Winter
Now on to some QA/safety talk. With colder temps, it’s important to stay safe while you’re at the creek. If the ground is covered in snow be extra careful where you park and how you walk down to the creek. Take a towel out with you. If you don’t have waterproof gloves to aid you with your water sample collecting, then at least dry off your hands. Dry hands are easier and faster to warm up than wet hands. If your creek is frozen over, please break through the ice if you can and feel safe to, so you can monitor. If the ice is too thick, then fill out the front page of the datasheet and submit that data. Please store your reagents above freezing temperatures. When it snows again, even if it’s not your monitoring day/time, please go out if you have the time and take some snowy pictures of your creek and send them to us. Your photo could possibly be featured in the next calendar.
Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer
The 2026 Oklahoma Environmental Education Expo will take place on February 5–6, 2026, at the Nigh University Center at the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. Blue Thumb is pleased to offer five volunteers the opportunity to attend the conference. Interested volunteers may apply using the button below. Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on January 5, 2026. Selected applicants will be notified no later than January 9, 2026.
Sign up to assist with the Project WET, Project WILD, Project WILD, and Project Learning Tree booths during the EE Expo!
Fish Kill on Coal Creek, Tulsa County (Part 3)
On October 2, 2025, I received an email from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality that a fish kill had taken place on Coal Creek in Tulsa County, where I monitor with Jeffrey Jenkins, Blue Thumb volunteer. At this point I have written two articles about the fish kill, in the October and November editions of From the Water’s Edge. If you have not read those articles, I hope that you will. Either dig into old emails or look on the Blue Thumb website for past editions of our e-newsletters.
November chemical monitoring (11/17) found the stream water to be back to normal. The stream appeared to be thoroughly flushed out – we had two rains, several days apart, with a total of about five inches. I was surprised and happy to see a small fish close to the bank.
This month (December) a brand-new volunteer, employed by the City of Glenpool, is going to become my monitoring partner on Coal Creek. Jeffrey is still in the mix of the Coal Creek team as well. We are going to also try to include Glenpool’s stormwater manager. He has not been through the training, but getting him out to the creek once a month has many benefits.
As far as I know, a responsible party has been identified in connection with the fish kill. Jeffrey and I have stayed in touch with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, which is currently working through its complaint resolution process regarding this incident. Exactly what this means will be revealed in another article, because it is a long process from dead fish to holding an entity responsible. So, enjoy the holidays and remain vigilant about caring for your stream. If you are not an active monitor, take time to visit a stream and soak in a little nature, maybe the sounds of water movement, birds, or rustling leaves. Maybe I will have new information about the Coal Creek fish kill for the January 2026 newsletter!
Cheryl Cheadle
Blue Thumb Volunteer Coordinator
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