This past Monday was my first day out in the field. Field days are an especially exciting aspect of this internship. I am thrilled to have to opportunity to get an inside look at the research and programs going on at Acadia, meet park staff and interns, and contribute what help I can in the field, all the while enjoying Acadia’s natural splendor (although I am beginning to question how splendid mosquitoes and black flies are). Monday, I ventured with Bill Gawley and Meg Goff across Mount Desert Island as they began the stream monitoring season.
Around 8:30, Bill led me down to a small room that served as a miniature chemistry lab and storage closet to meet Meg Goff, a biological technician for the water program with whom we would be working. I spent the next hour and a half learning about the instruments we would be using to monitor water quality at various stream sites. She explained in detail the calibrating process. Being a good scientist requires so many checklists and much careful repetition! By the time we were done stuffing backpacks with supplies and gear, I was ready to get out in the field and see all the gadgets in action.
Our first stop was Hadlock Brook. We drove along the carriage roads and then hiked up a trail a short distance until we came to the monitoring site, a section of the brook below a small waterfall and about 500 feet above the carriage road. Here we constructed a stream discharge gage out of PVC pipe, cables, a PDA, zip ties and tape. Scientists are very resourceful. Bill used the impressive rock drill to easily carve holes for bolts in the granite bedrock and we shifted heavy boulders to secure the pipe in place. Again, it is important to follow diagrams and instructions to the letter, so that the data generated by these instruments are reliable and reproducible.
Meg took me through the water quality monitoring step-by-step. I was glad that she was able to easily and effectively explain the process and the importance of each metric that we monitored. NETN stream monitoring in Acadia NP began in 2006. Three sites are monitored every year (Cadillac Brook, Hadlock Brook, Otter Creek), while 17 other sites are monitored every other year. Sites are carefully selected according and subsets of park streams represent a range of conditions (e.g. developed/undeveloped, headwater source/stream order, burned/unburned by major fire) that are likely to influence stream water quality and biological integrity. Park staff measure physical and in-situ parameters- stream discharge, pH, specific conductance, temperature, and DO- each month from May through October in the field. Monthly water chemistry measures are determined with a YSI 600XL water-quality probes. Water samples are taken in May (a low productivity month) and August (a high productivity month) to test for acid neutralizing capacity, color, nitrogen, and phosphorous. Stream discharge records exist for three streams served by USGS continuous-recorded streamflow gaging-stations. Established in 1997 as part of the PrimeNet program, Cadillac and Hadlock Brook each have eight years of data, however, these stations were discontinued in 2006 as they were not representative of most streams in the park and funding was limited.
Next, we took the scenic route to Otter Creek. As we walked down a steep slope from the roadside and came upon an example of an operating gage station, Bill discussed the history and usefulness of the USGS gages. It’s quite impressive that the station generates a report every five minutes. We then traipsed further down the steep hill to the creek to measure the YSI probe values- conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen content and water temperature. Just as we were beginning to go through our checklists, Meg let out an excited squeal. She had spotted a fish- a large brook trout! Fish aren’t frequently spotted in Acadia’s streams because there are so many natural (such as beaver dams, waterfalls, steep grades, debris) and man-made barriers (such as culverts, roads, and other engineering features) to passage.
After finishing the monitoring at the Otter Creek site, we drove back to headquarters for a quick lunch break, which I enjoyed on the picnic benches outside. The lawn was alive with black flies and busy park staff. It’s strange to see so many people milling about after being so separated from the hustle bustle during the rest of my week at Schoodic. I talked to Adrianna, a member of the interpretive team. She was really friendly and seemed to be excited about the work I was doing. What a great feeling when someone is interested in or appreciates the work you are doing! Days out in the field are a great opportunity to make connections and learn about the park and it’s natural resources. I doubt there will ever be a boring moment.
After lunch, Meg and I went out to take YSI measurements and do the discharge, flow and velocity measurements by hand at the new Eagle Lake Outlet site. It was a lengthy procedure, but I got to enter data into the PDA, so I felt helpful (and itch since my hands, or mosquito swatters, were tied up punching in data on the PDA).
We ended our stream monitoring work around 4:30. The time had passed by surprisingly quickly, a true sign that it was a productive and interesting day. Bill and Meg provided a pleasant introduction to the field work component of the job. Hannah also had an excellent time in the field, although she and her clothes were covered with noxious invasive plant residue. She had been tackling giant hogweed all day. I’m glad I was monitoring streams! With my first day of field work complete, it has really sunk in how truly saccarhine it is to be paid to explore, learn, and write.
What is YSI monitoring? What does it stand for and what does it involve?
Good catch. I edited the post so that it now includes a brief explanation. YSI is a company that makes environmental monitoring products. In the field when a researcher says, “I’m taking the YSI measurements now”, it implies that the researcher is recording the water quality readings provided by a YSI instrument’s probes. In our case, these readings were pH, water temperature, dissolved oxygen content, and conductivity values.