January 2011 monitoring

The morning started out overcast – it had been raining for the last few days, about 1.25 inches – but before we finished it was sunny and beautiful. At 50 degrees it was within the normal temps for now, unlike last week when we hit the 20s for the low and 40s for the highs.

The water temp was just a degree or 2 higher than the air temp; the dissolved oxygen was an expected (and good) 9.8. Specific conductance was 390.

We did notice the survey paint for the future extension of the hike & bike trail (see the photos).

Other observations:

• we heard some battling blue jays while walking to the stream – a welcome distraction from all the traffic on the bridge
• with the recent rain the stream flow and depth was much improved from last month – the waterfall was strong and noisy (another welcome audible distraction)
• we saw a few minnows near the stream site, and the clumps of algae were only under the water – no surface algae
• upstream from the bridge we saw some twigs and other natural debris on the stream side rocks near the waterfall – presumably from a recent higher water level

We also did the annual stream survey – see the stream survey page for details.

site from north bank

south bank between bridge & site

south bank between bridge & site

site & downstream with survey paint for hike & bike trail extension

sample site and banks

survey paint by the site

view of under bridge from north bank

under bridge from north bank

under bridge from site

looking upstream under the bridge

above storm drain by the apartments

above storm drain by apts

downstream view to bridge

storm drain

storm drain just above sidewalk

plants by storm drain – always a bit of green

water & algae downstream from bridge

view of waterfall from drain

south bank upstream from under bridge

upstream from under bridge

upstream side of bridge

looking downstream to bridge with the south side bank by the waterfall

water & algae closeup

looking downstream to bridge

high water debris by waterfall

looking upstream from waterfall

view of waterfall – plenty of water!

looking upstream from the storm drain

closeup of stream above the waterfall

survey paint by the storm drain above the bridge

survey paint under bridge