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Scioto Brush Creek
Day - 2009
Northwest Elementary participates in 11th
Annual Field Day
May 15, 2009
Friends of Scioto
Brush Creek President, Martin McAllister, challenges students to
teach their parents something they learned at Scioto Brush Creek
Day.
Members of the
community joined over 120 Northwest Elementary School Students
on May 8 at the Otway Covered Bridge to participate in the
Eleventh Annual Scioto Brush Creek Day. Sponsored by the Friends
of Scioto Brush Creek, Scioto Brush Creek Day was established to
stimulate interest and educate the community about this superb
natural habitat. Professionals from the Ohio Division of
Wildlife, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, Adams and
Scioto Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD), Shawnee
State Park and the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek spent the day
teaching students about Scioto Brush Creek’s water quality and
diverse stream habitat.
 Despite
high water, students were able to experience the stream’s
biodiversity through activities and demonstrations. Mike
Greenlee, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio Division of
Wildlife, exhibited some of the many fish that can be found in
Scioto Brush Creek through a fish shocking demonstration.
Studies of the stream have found sixty-nine different species of
fish inhabiting the waters of Scioto Brush Creek. Native Ohio
Muskellunge, the Popeye Shiner, American Eel, and Rosyside Dace
are among the rare and interesting species found in Scioto Brush
Creek. Whereas many streams in Ohio have lost much of there
original fish fauna over the past 100 years, Scioto Brush Creek
has managed to maintain conditions that are necessary for many
of the species to survive.
 Students
also learned about many of the small critters that make their
homes in the rock and sediment at the bottom of the stream. With
the help of Jeff Ginger, a Scientist with Potesta & Associates,
based in Charleston, WV and volunteers Jody Newton-McAllister of
the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek and Jeff Montavon of the
Scioto SWCD, students sampled macroinvertebrates – tiny
organisms with no backbones, from Scioto Brush Creek.
Macroinvertebrate sampling is a great way to determine water
quality as some species are sensitive to pollution and will
disappear from the stream with the presence of any
contamination. Samples of Scioto Brush Creek’s macroinvertebrate
species show an abundance of pollution sensitive organisms
living in the stream, a sign of Scioto Brush Creek’s excellent
water quality.
 Students
at Scioto Brush Creek Day learned about food chains and
competition through an activity called “Muskies and Minnows.” By
simulating a stream habitat similar to that of Scioto Brush
Creek, Marcheta Ferguson of the Scioto SWCD and Shawnee State
Park Naturalist Jenny Richards, demonstrated why clean water,
food, and shelter are important to stream biodiversity and how
human activities on land can affect aquatic habitat. Through the
activity, students experienced the effects of siltation from
soil erosion and better comprehended how pollutants can destroy
food sources, cause habitat loss, and significantly harm stream
ecosystems.
At the conclusion of Scioto Brush Creek Day, awards were
presented to students who participated in the Scioto Brush Creek
Bulletin Board contest. Prior to the event, students were
invited to use resources to answer questions about Scioto Brush
Creek. Katlynn Slone, Sierra Woodard, and Bryce Farmer were
recognized for earning the highest scores.
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