First Day of Water Monitoring

Monitoring for fish eggs in a tributary of the Mattawoman Creek
Monitoring for fish eggs in a tributary of the Mattawoman Creek

Tina Wilson, PTRC’s new water monitoring coordinator, joined Jim Long and others from the Mattawoman Watershed Society on Sunday in sampling for anadromous fish eggs at five locations in the Mattawoman Creek watershed. Anadromous fish are those, like yellow perch and herring, that migrate from the sea to fresh water to spawn. The team also measured water temperature, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen levels.

It was a bracing day to be outdoors, with gusts of wind high in the trees and swift currents in the creek and its tributaries. There were vernal pools at almost every site and many contained clusters of frog and salamander eggs. The spring peepers and wood frogs could be heard in the surrounding woods.

PTRC will be participating in the Stream Waters program sponsored by Maryland DNR this year, beginning in the next couple weeks. We will be sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates. These insect larvae, worms, crustaceans, and other small critters live in stream sediments and are indicator species of stream health. Contact ptrc@porttobaccoriver.org if you would like to help out.