Another Day in the River

While large numbers of volunteers cleaned the upper AuSable River of bottles, trash carelessly left behind from a summer of use, Gahagan Preserve members did their September data collection of macro invertebrates today. The species and quantity collected provide a measure of the water quality. 

We now have a number of years of data giving a baseline. A negative change in the future can alert us of possible new pollution sources in the watershed. 

Sue Huffman and Tom Dale pick bugs from logs. 

Diane Lippert uses a net find bugs from the river bottom. 

Tracy Bosworth picks the invertebrates from the collected samples. In the coming weeks, the species will be identified under the microscopes at Kirtland College labs.