February 2016 monitoring

February 14, 2016 – Happy Valentine’s Day! Another beautiful day, if a bit overcast. For the last few days we’ve been in the mid 70’s, over 10 degrees warmer than normal. We’ve had no rain in a month, and almost none this year so far – we are over 2.5″ below what is expected so far. Doesn’t bode well for the summer; this was supposed to be a cold and el nino rainy winter, followed by a drier la nina…. time for the rain dances!

At they very top of the storm culvert by the parking lot, we were able to look down into the culvert area, from where it flows from somewhere; there’s a bit of a pool, as the photo shows. No idea of that source.

As expected, my first reaction when seeing the stream was “yuk!”. No rain and very low flow means extensive algae. And it almost completely covered the stream bed. Don’t recall having seen it this extensive in quite some time. The waterfall area is completely covered by algae, looks like it’s covered by a green carpet. It’s going to take a heavy rain to clear it. (are you listening, Ma Nature?)

The hike and bike trail is nearly complete; the guard railing is in place, though still held by temporary wooden braces. And people are walking on it – will have to explore it at some future time to see how far it extends.

The remaining work on the trail won’t directly impact the stream. The company building the trail used the stream’s gravel bar, along with their own barriers, to divert the stream away from their work area while they were building the footings. That part of their work is now complete, and the stream is flowing normally again.

The gravel bar is big enough that the stream splits into two to flow – or attempt to flow – around it. The south side is the main current; the north side is mostly blocked (as the photos show), so the algae is more extensive in this stagnant water. The stream surface around the sample site is covered with scum. Not very pleasant, though the water itself is a beautiful emerald green – lots of underwater algae, and the water is clear enough (very few dissolved solids floating) to allow enough light for the algae’s growth.

The water is low enough that the inlet above the waterfall is completely dry. I was also able to easily walk to Sometime Island above the waterfall; it was hard to identify because it was completely covered with algae. We didn’t see any fish (maybe they are hiding below the algae?); we did hear but not see pigeons.

Observations:
air temp – 17.5 C
water temp – 16
dissolved oxygen 7.6
conductance 610
pH 7.0
nitrate 1.0
transparency > 1.2 meters

top of culvert by condos

sample site-very green

sample site from north bank

sample site from streamside

sample site area scum and algae

closeup-near sample site w algae

gravel bar with openings for stream

closeup of gravel bar w algae

bridge to trail crossing

under bridge and gravel bar from north bank

downstream view under bridge

trail crossing area and south bank w new trail

under bridge 3 cols in water

stream from above culvert

stream across culvert-closeup

waterfall to bridge

stream around and above waterfall

waterfall-total algae

closeup of algae above waterfall

above waterfall near sometime island

above waterfall inlet

sometime island algae

south bank near sometime island

downstream view from sometime island

dissolved oxygen 7.6