March 2019

March 16 – cloudy and delightfully cool today. The surface algae is somewhat less than last month, though the substream algae is still extensive.

We saw a turtle slide into the water by the sample site, and a few small fish but no other life… except the bridge cat. It was again (still?) sitting atop one of the upper bridge supports. I’d still love to know how it gets there!

There’s good flow from the culvert and over part of the waterfall. Around the edge of the waterfall there’s what appears as a rope of dying algae. The stream is low enough that it’s possible to cross to the south bank with mostly dry feet on the upstream side of the bridge, though not downstream by the trail crossing. And the 4 columns are mostly dry. They’re now out of the main stream area (which moved during construction of the hike and bike trail) so they’re usually dry.

It rained about 4 days ago and there’s still some standing water under the bridge.

Observations:

air temp 16 C
water temp 15 C
dissolved oxygen 11.65
specific conductance 510
pH 7.0
transparency > 1.2 meters
nitrates 0.3

 

sample site from north bank

streamside view of sample site and downstream

trail crossing area

stream to sample site from north bank

stream under bridge from north bank

gravel bar to trail crossing

downstream view from under bridge

stream under bridge

standing water under bridge

tiny moth under bridge

upstream view of culvert and stream from under bridge

upstream view from under bridge

stream from above culvert

stream around waterfall

closeup of waterfall

algae above waterfall

stream by dry inlet

algae near inlet above waterfall

downstream view from above inlet

low stream above inlet

sometime island rocks visible

dissolved oxygen 11-6