Registration is Open for the 2026 Blue Thumb Volunteer Conference

We’re excited to announce that registration is officially open for the 2026 Blue Thumb Volunteer Conference, happening Saturday, December 5, 2026, at Chandler Park in Tulsa! This event is all about connecting, learning, and celebrating the incredible work of our volunteers who protect and care for Oklahoma’s waters.

The weekend kicks off on Friday, December 4, with two optional pre-conference events. Participants can take part in a Nature Journaling Workshop at the Chandler Park Nature Center. The afternoon will include journal cover painting with Kendra Wise and journal making with Kaitlin Bacon. Tickets for the nature journaling workshop are $10. Later that evening, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m., volunteers are invited to a relaxed social gathering featuring networking and informal conversations.

Saturday’s conference day begins with an optional guided hike from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., followed by registration, coffee, and donuts. After a welcome address and overview of the day, Priscilla Crawford will deliver the keynote presentation. The morning will also feature guest speakers Patrick Hayes and Andrew Fleet, along with time to explore exhibits and participate in the Friends of Blue Thumb silent auction and other activities.

Lunch will be provided and will offer additional time for networking and visiting exhibits. The afternoon will feature a Blue Thumb staff presentation on “Fishing in the Tulsa Area,” followed by some friendly competition! The conference will conclude with closing remarks, announcements about future opportunities for involvement, silent auction results, and door prizes.

Registration for the conference is $20 per person, and refunds are available up to seven days before the event. Lodging options are available in nearby Sand Springs and Tulsa for those traveling from out of town.

Join us for a weekend of learning, connection, creativity, and celebration with the Blue Thumb community!

Click the button above to register today and secure your spot at the 2025 Blue Thumb Volunteer Conference.

Hunter Hodson
Blue Thumb Field Education Coordinator

Friends of Blue Thumb Fun-raisers

Silent Auction

Although Oklahoma is in the midst of the dogdays of summer, Friends of Blue Thumb has already turned to thoughts to December, and the 2026 Blue Thumb Volunteer Conference. Plans for the conference are underway, including another silent auction. Now is the time to get your creative juices flowing and begin working on a master work for the auction.

Again, FBT is calling on all artists, hobbyists, and other aficionados to share their art and passion by donating an item (or more) to the auction. Artistic, home crafted, and hobby/collectible/, and naturalist items all contributed to the success of last year’s auction. Items auctioned included books, rocks, fossils, paintings, pottery, jewelry, blankets, quilts, and bread.

Please consider sharing your art, collectibles, talent, and naturalist interests with your Blue Thumb peers all while helping raise funds for the good work that Blue Thumb volunteers do.

Purchase Blue Thumb Logo Merch

Another exciting opportunity to purchase Blue Thumb merchandise. You can now order Tee Shirts, Pullover Hoodies, Classic Long Sleeve Tees, Caps, Bucket Hats, and Reusable Cotton Tote Bags with the Blue Thumb logo.

Check out the website:

Terrie Becerra
Friends of Blue Thumb Chairperson

Most of the Southwestern Tablelands (ST) Ecoregion occurs in Colorado and New Mexico, but parts of this ecoregion extend into northern Texas and western Oklahoma. This ecoregion is dry and cool, with an annual average precipitation of 21" and an average annual temperature of 58 degrees Fahrenheit. This area of the state is mostly flat and includes mixed grass prairie, shortgrass prairie, sand dunes, cottonwood bottomland forest, clumps of sandsage, thickets of sumac, and shinnery oak mottes (dense, circular clumps of shrubs or trees). Black Mesa, located in the northwestern corner of the panhandle, is also part of the ST Ecoregion, but is distinct from the rest of Oklahoma's ST. The area is characterized by rugged, flat-topped mesas capped with black basaltic lava. Black Mesa is the highest elevation in the state at 4,973' above sea level. Streams in the ST drain to the North Canadian (Beaver) or the Canadian River. Creeks tend to be slow moving and muddy and many smaller streams go dry during the summer.

From the Volunteer Coordinator

If you attended the 2025 Blue Thumb Volunteer Conference, you may remember Dr. Edie Marsh-Matthews' presentation about the fishes of Oklahoma and the book she and her husband, Dr. William Matthews were working on. Exciting news - the book will be out this fall and can be ordered NOW!

Click the button below and use the coupon code OKFISHES to get 30% off!

Cheryl Cheadle
Blue Thumb Volunteer Coordinator

From the QA Officer

It has been an interesting summer. Most of the state started out really wet in June. (Do you remember that? It seems like years ago to me since I’ve seen rain in the OKC area.) Seemed like it rained every 3rd-7th day and enough so we couldn’t do bug collections due to too much flow. There were a couple weeks in July that were perfect for bug collecting but we couldn’t schedule every site in the state during those couple weeks for bug collections, plus we were fishing then, too. For a while now I’ve been seeing some areas in creeks go dry that I’ve never ever seen go dry before. This is just a different kind of drought because it happened so late in the summer. We’ve had hot summers before with longer stretches of continuous 100F+ days, but this late in the summer just seems to have a harsher impact. Many trees look like fall with their leaves turning yellows/browns, but that is because they are starving for water; pretty because I can’t wait for fall, but sad because these trees need a drink!

Even if we can’t kick up a bug collection due to little or no flow, we are still conducting QA sessions. This has been a very informative/educational summer QA due to these extreme water events: very wet/flooding to trace flow/dry – you can still monitor. My answer for both is at least take site photos!

In the case of flooding or high or fast flow where you don’t feel safe to properly fill your bottles with creek water, take photos to document the situation. Fill out the front of the datasheet as best you can: date, time, weather, stream stage, stage qualifier, air temp, stream site observations, and then describe the situation of your site in the comments. Case in point: Black Bear Creek photo, below.

In the case of trace flow, no flow, pools only: yes, you can still monitor. Take photos! If there is a pool within walking distance that is deep enough for you to properly fill your bottles with creek water, then do so. It is important to note in the comments that you monitored in a pool. Someone looking at this data would want this information because the results will potentially be out of the ‘norm’ and seeing the comment that this sample was from a pool because that is all there was, will give the user a lot of insightful information. If there is not a deep enough pool, then fill out the front of the datasheet as best you can and certainly make comments about the situation of your site, this is still viable data.

Summer streamside QA has been a good opportunity to discuss how to monitor during really wet and really dry periods at your site. Each creek site is different, and some have had flowing water all summer, while others have had very little to no flow. It’s impossible to teach for every situation that can occur. This is one of the reasons why a Blue Thumb staff person will meet with you at your creek site twice a year to go over the specifics of dealing with your site.

We thank you all for monitoring and the data that you accrue! Keep up the good work!

Black Bear Creek (Pawnee County) - June 30th

Dave Blue Creek (SE of Norman) - August 13th

Crutcho Creek (SE OKC) - August 24th

Kim Shaw
Blue Thumb QA Officer

H₂Oklahoma dates for 2027 have been announced! This interactive event allows students and their teachers to explore a series of curriculum-based, interactive activities with water and conservation themes. Since 1995, various agencies have partnered together to offer this opportunity to local schools, and we look forward to giving learners this opportunity in 2027. 

If you know of a school who would like to participate, please share the below corresponding registration link with them!

Stillwater (March 24, 2027)

Norman (April 1, 2027)

Tulsa (April 9 & 14, 2027)

OKC (April 21 & 22, 2027)

Keep an eye on From the Water's Edge for the call for volunteers in the near future!

FBT is a small nonprofit organization that was formed primarily for the benefit of helping Blue Thumb volunteers effectively monitor and educate the public about protecting streams, rivers, and lakes. FBT does this primarily by providing small grants. If you would like more information, please reach out to Board president, Terrie Becerra.

• One of our speakers from last year's Volunteer Conference was featured on Outdoor Oklahoma! Click here to watch Edie and Bill Matthews' interview.
• 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," a project from the Izaak Walton League.

Oklahoma Conservation Commission

Oklahoma Conservation Districts

Project WET

Friends of Blue Thumb

Soil Health Program

Department of Environmental Quality

Macroinvertebrate ID Website