This is a fantastic chance for a two-for-one learning opportunity that combines a little classroom time in a college lab and some field work with the National Park College Stream Team. Dr. Alex Barnard will be sampling the water of Bull Bayou on Saturday, Aug. 17. DLAMN will be serving as her NPC team, since classes haven't started yet.
If you would like, you can join Alex in Room 123 of the NPC Lab Science Building on Rockerfeller Dr.at 9am. If you are using a navigation app, use these coordinates as your destination: 34.51300, -93.11799. Here we will have an hour of preliminary macroinvertebrate ID training using preserved samples and microscopes. This part is optional but should be fun. Otherwise meet us at the Bull Bayou picnic area. You can find it on Google Maps or use these coordinates on a navigation app:34.5296498, -93.0960664.
Around 10:15 we will converge at the Bull Bayou picnic area and follow the trail approx., 250 ft. to the water. We will then conduct chemical tests of the water and do a biological survey of the river. If you wish to wade in the river, wear appropriate footwear, but it is not necessary to get wet to participate. Dr. Alex will provide all the needed equipment. Sampling should take about 2 hours. NITS can count all 3 hours as NIT training while Master Naturalists can count 1 hour of continuing ed and 2 hours of community service.