Yes, it was raining on Sunday, April 19. Yes, our monitoring team was on site at the Little Falls Branch to do the spring census of macroinvertibrates. Frank Sanford, team leader, conceded that it might be a monitoring first! We don’t have any photographic evidence though.
Caddisflies Galore
Stream Rates Poor at Fall Monitoring
On Saturday, October 18, our stream team did the fall sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates in the Little Falls Creek. For the second time this year, planaria were the star of the show accounting for more than half of the organisms we found. Black fly larvae were also found in abundance - 26% of the total count.
Summer Sampling Shows Creek Health as Poor to Fair
On Saturday, July 6, our stream team did the summer sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates in the Little Falls Creek. Planaria were the star of the show accounting for more than a third of the organisms we found. Small Minnow mayflies were also found in abundance. We found nine different species in all, giving the creek BIBI score of 2.1 which puts it in the very low Fair category.
Ameletid minnow mayfly found in Spring monitoring
Winter Stream Monitoring Nets 8 Species
After cancelling once because of the bitter cold, the LFWA stream team was out monitoring the Little Falls Branch last week, 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.
Fall Macro Monitoring Finds Lots of Planeria
Summer Macroinvertebrate Count Shows Creek in Poor Health
Our summer macroinvertebrate survey of the Little Falls Creek discovered only 8 species which gives the creek a poor rating for its biological health. The Summer macroinvertebrate count is part of our water quality monitoring program. We survey the creek 4 times a year to learn about its biological health.
Two-Lined Salamander and More: Spring Stream Monitoring
Our stream monitoring team was thrilled to find a two-lined salamander at their spring monitoring session, April 21! This little salamander lays her eggs in the creek on the rocks and pebbles. While they are native to the area, we don’t see many in the creek because their habitat is frequently buried in the silt caused by eroding banks.