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Bagaduce River Stream Team Yearly Report December 2003

The Bagaduce Watershed Stream teams were formed early in July and
had their first workshop with Mark Whiting, Biologist DEP, on July 10.
Mark introduced the interested volunteers to the monitoring that they
would be doing and gave an overview of stream environment in Maine.

The Stream Team Program is part of the Department of Environmental
Protection. Teams are registered with the state and their data added to
the DEP database. These Teams can determine their stream's values and
problems and then plan to take remedial action if necessary.

The teams attended a training session with the Union River Coalition on
July 26 that was presented by Maine Stream Team coordinator, Jeff
Varricchione, Mark Whiting and a COA intern. The topic was Habitat
Assessment and after a slide presentation on assessment, the teams went
into the field to conduct an assessment with a biologist.

On August 16, Mark gave the 16 volunteer team members a
comprehensive overview of the work they would be doing . The teams
were given their equipment and all went to Winslow Stream to test out
equipment and become familiar with the routine of testing.. The teams
tested temperature, pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen and E. Coli. Nitrates
will only be done once a year as they are not common in Maine stream
waters, if warranted they will be tested more frequently. The teams also
learned to assess their surroundings, making note of anything of interest
and to be aware of non-point source pollution and safety precautions
they should use around water. They will be aware of storm events (over
and inch of rainfall) and do additional testing then.

The streams that will be tested are: Camp Stream, Bagaduce Stream, and
Black Brook in Sedgwick, Winslow Stream and Mill Brook in Penobscot,
Smelt Brook in Castine and Mill Stream in Brooksville. Tills Stream will be
done in the spring until it dries up. Each team is made up of two people
and they were each given a protocol to follow.

October brought a workshop on Habitat Assessment. After a slide
presentation the teams once again visited Winslow stream and spent a
morning gathering and identifying critters. Mark visited Bill McWeeny at
Adams School in Castine where he led a field trip presenting testing to the
8th grade. He also provided them with 4 temperature loggers which will
be used in Smelt Stream. He also presented them with the software that
can be used in their computers to record the data they collect..

October 18 was World Water Monitoring Day. The Clean Water
Foundation collects data from all over the world on this day. BWA Stream
Teams joined thousands of other volunteers across the globe to sample
water quality. They tested dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH and turbidity.
This information was forwarded to the International Water Association and
will be added to their data base.

The Teams had their last workshop on November 8th.. The teams braved
20 degree weather to do a Stream Assessment with Mark on Mill Brook. It
was a cold but productive morning with mapping and evaluation
completed.

In all it was a very productive year for these teams. The BWA wants to
thank all involved in this effort for their enthusiasm and hard work..
Preliminary evaluation shows our seven streams healthy.. We Look
forward to the resumption of data collection in April and appreciate the
leadership and education provided by Mark Whiting.

Nonny Ferriday
Stream Team Coordinator.