Creek Critters....

Thursday, September 16 11am
Park Program: Creek Critters
Sycamore Park in Batavia
Organizer: Laura Riesenberg
Get your feet wet as we explore the waters of the East Fork of the Little Miami River. Using a seine net, you'll discover the many macroinvertebrates making their home in the water. We'll collect samples and identify them as we learn what they tell us about out water quality. We will be getting into the river and the small creek so wear boots or water shoes. The program material is geared for those 3rd grade and up, but younger siblings are welcome. We plan to picnic and play following the hike.

What an absolutely WONDERFUL program. Keith, the naturalist at the Clermont County Park District, along with 2 volunteers led our group in probably the best park program I have every attended. He started out by explaining to the kids how we would be doing a water study and how studying the macroinvertibrates in the water tells you about the quality of the water. He divided the kids into 3 groups and each group work a different area of the river for about 20 minutes and then moved onto another area. I was amazed that we found so many macroinvertibrates that you only find in areas with excellent water quality. The kids had a ball and when we got back to the picnic shelter they all compared what they had in their collection buckets. The icing on the cake...perfect weather! My kids are really eager to head back!

One of the neatest things today happened quite by accident. Will, in the way that all 2 months olds can, filled his diaper quite violently when we were down by the river. It was one of those things that had to be taken care of immediately. Brett was too far up river to hear me, so I looked at Grant and told him that he needed to watch Sophie, that he was responsible for her. Now mind you, plenty of adults were around and I told a few I was heading to the van to change Will. As I was heading back to the river to meet everyone, they were heading back to the shelter and low and behold, there at the end of the line was Grant holding Sophie's hand. I was so proud of him. He handled the responsibility of watching his little sister far better than I expected!