By the end of the program, students understand the health of a creek through the lens of stream ecology, emphasizing the physical, chemical, and biological assessments performed on the creek. Photo courtesy of Solano Resource Conservation District

SOLANO COUNTY, CA (MPG) - Solano County high school students are evaluating the health of local creeks this spring as part of the Solano County Biomonitoring Program, led by Solano Resource Conservation District. From identifying hundreds of macroinvertebrates found in a creek’s substrate to measuring the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, students get a taste of authentic scientific field work while contributing to a sixteen-year-long data set recording biological and chemical data from the county’s waterways. 

By the end of May, seven hundred fifty students from fourteen different high schools around Solano County will have participated in the community science program, which includes three classroom lessons taught by Solano Resource Conservation District staff and a field trip to a local creek. Data they gather will be added to a data set maintained by Dr. Patrick Edwards, Senior Instructor in the Environmental Science and Management Department at Portland State University and Director of the Environmental Professional Program. 

By the end of the program, students understand the health of a creek through the lens of stream ecology, emphasizing the physical, chemical, and biological assessments performed on the creek. One classroom lesson before the field trip helps students practice skills, they will use to assess the physical environment in and around the creek, such as the tree canopy and stream discharge rate. A second pre-field trip lesson focuses on identifying macroinvertebrates and understanding their importance in evaluating creek health. Students also complete two online learning modules to learn more about the human impact on their watershed and the chemical assessment tests they will conduct. 

On field trips so far this year, students from Fairfield High School and Early College High School have visited Dunnell Nature Park and Education Center in Fairfield, where they assessed the health of Union Avenue Creek. They discussed how the chemical assessment data might explain the number and types of macroinvertebrates in the water there. Students from Vanden High School visited Laurel Creek in Fairfield, braving a few sudden rain showers, and had a spirited debate about the results of their turbidity test. 

Vanden High School students work with a probe evaluating the health of local creeks. Photo courtesy of Solano Resource Conservation District

Shea Kinser, Education Program Manager at Solano Resource Conservation District, noted that students are often surprised at how enjoyable they find the experience in the field.

“As students take quiet moments to search through their trays for macroinvertebrates or squint at their test tubes to read their phosphate test results, you can see their interest grow. Providing this unique experience in the field allows students to gain a greater appreciation of their local waterways and their role in protecting them,” Kinser said. 

In a lesson in their classroom after the field trip, students calculate the Index of Biotic Integrity using the macroinvertebrate data they collected on the field trip, which gives them another way to evaluate the creek’s health. Along with their observations about the creek’s habitat, and the chemical data they collected, Solano Resource Conservation District educators lead a discussion with students about the health of the creek.  

Students leave the program’s last lesson with an understanding of how they can help improve the health of the creek and how they can get more involved in being stewards of our water in Solano County, whether that’s through volunteering at a cleanup event or exploring careers in water. 

Solano Resource Conservation District’s Solano County Biomonitoring Program is free to participating schools and is made possible through funding from the Solano County Water Agency; Solano County Department of Resource Management; Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District; Fairfield-Suisun Sewer District; and the City of Benicia. Program partners include the City of Fairfield, City of Vacaville, City of Vallejo, and Greater Vallejo Recreation District.   

To learn more about the Solano County Biomonitoring Program and Solano Resource Conservation District’s other education programs, visit www.solanorcd.org or email [email protected].