After cancelling once because of the bitter cold, the LFWA stream team was out monitoring the Little Falls Branch last Saturday, February 22. The weather cooperated - sunny and 41 degrees - and the team was able to complete the task. They were excited to find a crane fly larva and a narrow winged damsel fly larva along with 6 other species despite the high salt levels seen this winter. The final score was 2.1 - just a shade above poor. This is the same score as winter 2024.
From the field, team leader Frank Sanford sends this:
Despite the "salt poisoning," we did manage to collect over 100 macros. Although our salt watch data showed 231 PPM, levels higher than 1000 have been recorded a few weeks before. Special thanks to Maria, our newest monitor, and to Averill for training her and finding the one and only damselfly larvae.
Total organisms: 113
Aquatic worm - 1
Planaria - 1
Aquatic sowbug - 19
Chironomidae (midges) - 34
Black fly - 26
Crane fly - 3 (all anocha - we usually find tipula)
Common netspinner - 28
Narrow winged damsel - 1
Thank you to everyone for coming out. Please visit HERE to find out more about our stream monitoring program and to see data from previous seasons.
This program is done in partnership with Nature Forward who monitors over 25 streams in Maryland and Washington DC. They provide water quality findings to government agencies, watershed and community groups, the Chesapeake Monitoring Cooperative, and others. You can see our results and that of the other sites on their interactive map.
If you are interested in learning more about our team, please contact us at info@LFWA.org. We are always looking for new team members. Members must take training from Nature Forward and make a one year commitment.
