NCAMN Stream Team - Arkansas Master Naturalists

HomeNCAMN Stream Team

NCAMN Stream Team

Stream Team provides a valuable service to the communities in north central Arkansas by monitoring streams within the White River watershed. The monitoring provides the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission the data necessary to establish trends used to determine changes in stream health and the need to investigate potential pollution sources upstream.

Team members check both:

the quality of the water, by using various chemicals to determine oxygen, nitrogen and phosphate levels, and

the health of the stream, by collecting, identifying and counting the small creatures living in the stream (macro-invertebrates).

The team looks forward to meeting once a month at different stream-side locations. Please join the team as we enjoy splashing in the water and seeing what interesting creatures can be found and/or enjoy staying out of the water by playing chemist with the stream water.

For more information, please click this link for the team's most recent annual report: 2024 NCAMN Stream Team Annual Report

Contact: Karen Woods, Rob Piorkowski
ncamn.contact@gmail.com

Assessing water quality

Volunteers evaluate water quality by estimating macroinvertebrate populations found in a stream and by testing the water chemistry. The following text and photos illustrate the process.

Macroinvertebrate population estimates. In the following photos, volunteers work to find, temporarily capture, identify, and then release macroinvertebrates—bugs, insects, larvae, and other critters. They kick gravel into pole nets to collect critters, place them in plastic ice tray cells, identify them using aquatic field guides, and estimate populations using special formulas. Their estimates help indicate the quality of stream water.

Evaluating water chemistry. Volunteers collect water from each creek they assess and run a series of chemical tests that indicates the presence of dissolved oxygen, phosphates, nitrates, and e coli. The following photos illustrate that process.

Here’s Pam Phillips adding a chemical to creek water to determine dissolved solids.

If you look closely, you can see particles growing.

Looks yucky doesn’t it?

Then, drip by drip, she adds a different chemical. Each drip changes the color of the water.

A few more drops, it gets lighter.

Until, finally, the water is clear. We see how much of the chemical is needed until the water is clear. The more drips, the dirtier the water. It’s fun to watch the changing color of the water.

Arkansas Master Naturalists

State and National Agency Partners

Need more information?

Organizational contacts

Links of Interest