Want to Make an Environmental Difference in Your Community?

Amidst the chaos, we’re happy to invite our colleague Nicole Freidenfelds, coordinator of a UConn Natural Resources Conservation Academy Program, to tell our Ladybug readers about an exciting summer program that you won’t want to miss! Take it away Nicole.

-Abby Beissinger

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I am excited to have this opportunity to share with you a free statewide UConn program that is perfect for anyone who gardens or even simply enjoys spending time outdoors among nature. It’s also great for Master Gardeners looking to satisfy their volunteer hours.

The Conservation Training Partnerships (CTP) partners teens and adult community volunteers together and supports their conservation efforts by providing training during a two-day field workshop and guidance as they conduct any local conservation project they want to tackle.

The teams are paired prior to the workshop. During the workshop, each team learns how they can apply innovative, user-friendly mapping and web technology to address local conservation issues through hands-on fieldwork. We have workshops scheduled in Stamford, Waterbury and Eastford this June.

 

After the workshop, the team carries out a conservation project that addresses a local environmental issue in their hometown, using their new skillset. The projects are developed by the team at the workshop and CTP instructors provide support to help the team along the way.

Examples of past projects include planting pollinator gardens, cleaning up local parks, removing invasive plants, and installing rain gardens. Below I highlight a few specific projects.

This Glastonbury CTP team chose to install a monarch waystation at Wind Hill Community Farm. They planted native monarch-friendly plants in a small patch of earth on the farm property, but the plants got eaten by a pesky rabbit. After a second planting that included protective fencing, they were ecstatic to find a monarch caterpillar happily munching on a milkweed. I consider that a huge success!

This CTP team created an interactive map of Benjamin Wildflower Preserve, a property of Aspetuck Land Trust in Weston. They created a map that can be accessed by anyone and used to help identify a number of different wildflower species along the trail.  Check out their project poster and online map to get inspired by the possibilities for your town could be.

A multi-part project in Hebron involved both digitizing a nature trail and native planting for pollinators at the RHAM High School Memorial Garden. Their goal was to engage the local community and get more people into nature. They used technology to excite and make the public aware of a school trail, and planted a native garden in a school park to attract both local community members and pollinators.

CTP teams typically showcase their projects in the form of a poster or video at a conference in March, but unfortunately the conference has been postponed due to concerns about COVID-19.

The good news is that we’ve decided to host a virtual conference to highlight their hard work and you’re invited to attend! Come learn first-hand about the program and how you can help make a difference in your community. The virtual conference will take place this Saturday, 3/21. For more information and to learn how to attend, check out:  http://s.uconn.edu/fevcc.

If CTP sounds like the right program for you, check out our website for details on how to apply: http://nrca.uconn.edu/students-adults/index.htm . Feel free to contact me with any questions at nicole.freidenfelds@uconn.edu.

By Nicole Freidenfelds, 2020

 

 

August in the Connecticut Landscape

Groundnut flowers

“The brilliant poppy flaunts her head

Amidst the ripening grain,

And adds her voice to sell the song

That August’s here again.”

–  Helen Winslow

 

August means summer is heading for a subtle change. Evenings begin to get cooler, skies are less hazy, most birds are getting a break from chasing fledglings all over creation, and the sounds of crickets and katydids during the night have replaced the trilling of the tree frogs. Bats are seen more frequently now as many moths and other late summer night- flying insects are abundant. Trees and shrubs have ripening fruit, deer are eating acorns already and, to top it all off, we just had a solar eclipse. Now is a great time to get outside and see what is happening in the garden and in the wild.

Juvenile wood ducks are on their own now

The tiger bee fly, Xenox tigrinis is a very large fly that can be seen flying about now. About the size of a quarter, this fly may fly low over lawns and can be mistaken for a wasp. It has large white markings at the end of its abdomen and they really stand out against the black color of the rest of the abdomen, resembling a bald faced hornet somewhat as it flies around, , apart from its size. Female tiger flies lay eggs near carpenter bee tunnels, and its larvae will eat the bee larvae that are developing within.

Tiger bee fly

One of our larger spiders is the black and yellow orb weaver, Argiope aurantia. Commonly known as garden spiders, orb weavers are frequently found in gardens, meadows and fields. Their web has a zig-zag pattern at the end of a  thickened strip of silk that and may signal birds so that they see it and avoid flying through the web, thus saving the spider from major repair work. Who knows? Other creatures seem to miss that cue and end up as little morsels in the food “web”.

yellow and black orb weaver

Another orb weaver, the arrow spider (Micrantha sagittata), is much smaller the black and yellow one, and is one of only three Micrantha species found in North America. It has an interesting web composed on a rather permanent frame structure and then the orb section is built inside the frame at dawn every day. In the evening, the spider will consume the orb part of its web and have to start anew the next morning. The whys and wherefores of this behavior is one to be marveled at, if not at all understood by mere mortals.

Arrow spider

Butterflies are having a banner year- even giant swallowtails are being seen in northern Connecticut as of late. I just peeked inside the old stinging nettles leaf shelter of a red admiral butterfly caterpillar and found its chrysalis inside. One way to avoid predators is certainly to make oneself scarce. Monarchs, spicebush and tiger swallowtails and American ladies are abundant in numbers this year. Good plants for late season butterflies, especially migrators, are boneset, Joe-pyes, goldenrods, mountain mint, lantana, petunias, impatiens and bluebeard (Caryopteris). Mints and bluebeard are excellent for late summer pollinators as well. My gardens are humming with bee and butterfly activity right now as I have most of these plants in flower.

Red admiral butterfly chrysalis inside a nettle leaf shelter

Venturing out where forbs and small shrubs abound, you may run across the groundnut, Apios americana a native perennial vine that right now is in flower. The sweet- scented flowers are wisteria- like in form, appearing in small clusters along the vine. Found climbing among small shrubs and perennials like dogwoods, goldenrods and ferns, this plant is sometimes only noticed because its flowers are so striking in both color and clustered among a green background form the plant derives its name from the edible tubers that were consumed by native Americans and early settlers.

Cardinal flowers are also in bloom along watercourses now, and their brilliant dark red blooms and rich nectar attract hummingbirds. Along with jewelweed, cardinal flower is a great source of food for these energetic little birds. If you wait long enough when these plants are flowering, a hummingbird or two should make an appearance.

cardinal flower

Giant silkworm moths are putting in a second appearance this year, meaning a second or partial second generation of caterpillars will soon hatch. Over the last three weeks, Polyphemus and Luna moths have been seen, and there are fourth instar Promethea caterpillars out. Since the giant silkworm caterpillars take so long to reach the pupal stage, they may run out of foliage as many of the trees they feed on may shed their leaves before they can form cocoons.

Polyphemus moth

And be careful out there! This past weekend I found two saddleback slug moth caterpillars in two different areas of the state, both on foliage not far off the ground. Though small, these caterpillars have many urticating spines that can cause a sensation like being stabbed with hundreds of tiny red-hot hypodermic needles.

Saddleback caterpillar

As we move into the end of summer, sunrises and sunsets should be more colorful as the skies get cooler and particles high in the atmosphere scatter the blue light to our west and east as the sun sets or rises. To the early bird, then, may you see a spectacular sunrise.  And to the observer at eventide, may you be rewarded with an equally breathtaking sunset.

August dawn

 

Pamm Cooper          August 2017

 

 

 

 

Outdoors in May

“ The world’s favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May.”

-Edwin Way Teale

Crabapples along a fence highlight a driveway on Route 85 – May 2017

 

May is usually the time of warmer weather and sunny days that brighten the landscape again with flushes of green leaves and splashes of color from flowers. We look forward to another season of gardening and other outdoor activities, and the encounters with nature that are unavoidable as one ventures outside.

This May has been colder than I would prefer, but at least it has seen more rainfall than last spring. The reason this is especially good news is that the gypsy moth caterpillars have recently hatched, and the rains bring hope that the fungal pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga, will help diminish populations of this pest. Last year they went unchecked for most of their caterpillar stage as drought conditions kept fungal spores from germinating.

A Wilson’s warbler stopped by on its way north

Ferns are opening up now and their graceful forms are a welcome decoration wherever they appear. My personal favorites are the scented fern, cinnamon fern and the diminutive polypody which are often found growing together on rocks with mosses. Polypody work well in dish gardens coupled with moss and partridgeberry, and can be brought indoors for the winter, or left outside if that works better.

Sensitive ferns in a wetland area

 

Most trees have leafed out by now, with the pokey sycamores and hickories lagging behind, as usual. With the flush of leaves come the migrating warblers. Caterpillars are now found eating leaves in the tree canopies, and this is where many of the warblers find some protein for their return to northern breeding grounds. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, scarlet tanagers, orioles, and thrushes are all back and they have transformed the woodlands to a symphony of birdsong. Also, barred and great horned owls born in late winter and early spring have left their nests, and parents can often be heard calling to their young. Many robins have already hatched their first brood as of two weeks ago, so it must be true that the early bird gets the worm…

These young great horned owls left the nest days after this picture was taken.

 

Dogwoods have had spectacular blooms this year, and crabapples and viburnums as well. Yellow water lilies, Nuphar lutea, are beginning to bloom. This plant closes its flower late in the day, trapping beetles or flies overnight who will pollinate it as they try to escape.

Limber honeysuckle, Lonicera dioica, a native vine-like shrub that is infrequently encountered, is also starting to bloom. The tubular red flowers have distinctive yellow stamens and attract hummingbirds and native bumblebees. Fringed polygala, a small, pink native wildflower with flowers that make me think of Mickey Mouse with an airplane propeller, are just beginning to bloom and are often found together with stands of the native Canada Mayflower. Native columbine are also blooming now and native Pinxter azalea should be following shortly.

limber honeysuckle

Fringed polygala

Interesting galls are forming on the young leaves on wild cherry. Spindle galls, caused by the mite Eriophyes emarginatae, are red spindle-like structures of leaf materialcaused by the mites feeding within. These tiny mites begin feeding as soon as cherry leaves expand in the spring. Although they can occur in large numbers, the galls will not stop leaves from photosynthesizing, and the trees will put out new leaves after mites are inactive.

Spindle galls on a small black cherry

Giant silkworm moths such as Cecropia, Polyphemus and Luna have been overwintering in cocoons and should be eclosing any time from mid- May to June. These spectacular moths usually fly during the night, but are often attracted to lights. Since they cannot feed, if you find any lingering about in the daytime, don’t worry about what to feed them- just enjoy their company!

Female Cecropia moth

Swallowtail, Painted Lady, American coppers, Juvenal’s duskywing and many other butterflies are out and about. Wherever you see them, check out larval host plants for caterpillars. Sometimes they are as close as your own backyard.

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Here’s hoping for timely rains during the summer, warmer days to get our blood moving and an abundance of fruits, flowers and birds that to follow May’s fore-running to summer.

 

Pamm Cooper

 

UConn Bug Week Event

 

 I love insects. They are amazing.”  Andrea Arnold  

Two little girls enjoying the butterfly garden

The UConn Bug Week programs were held over the last week of July this year and for our particular Bug Week event on July 30, we started early on in the season acquainting ourselves with the world of insects and searching high and low for specimens we could find and then bring home with us to raise. While rearing insects, you learn a lot about what they do, what they eat, how they behave and what their life cycles are.

Some of our Master Gardener Volunteers- Amy Estabrook photo

We had several bug hunts from early June on and went to specific areas searching for specific insects and any surprises that might turn up. Volunteers from the Master Gardener program spent two months looking for and raising insects in the hope that they would be available as live specimens for our event on July 30. Of course, many pupated and that was that. But we still had a lot of wonderful specimens to show all the people that attended our program. We had display boards that our volunteers made for their particular insects, and with the live specimens, people got to see insects up close and personal.

Debbi Wright’s fabulous display for the Virginia Creeper sphinx moth- Suzi Zitser photo

Our event was held at the Tolland County Agricultural Center, home to the Tolland County UConn Extension Office. There are over 35 acres of woodland, wetland and open environments, plus pollinator and butterfly- friendly plantings all over the property, so we were able to go outdoors and take advantage of all the gardens and wood lines to search for insects.

Volunteers show visitors our insects. Photo by Earl Parent

Among the insects we had for specimens and displays caterpillars of the clear dagger moth, mottled prominent, Virginia creeper sphinx, milkweed tussock moth, Monarch butterfly, stink bugs of all kinds, Imperial moth caterpillars (just hatching that day), tobacco hornworms on their favorite tomato host, beetles, John Suhr’s moth and butterfly collection plus the UConn Natural History Museum brought some specimens from their fabulous collection. Other specimens included red-lined panapoda caterpillars and orange-striped oak worm caterpillars. We also had two walking sticks which were found in early June when they were the size of a thumbnail.

One of our walking sticks out for a walk- Earl Parent photo

Amy Estabrook took this photo of Leslie showing our walking stick to two small guests

We had three bug walks as well, and found interesting insects of all kinds- a Buffalo treehopper, leaf-footed bug nymph, silver-spotted skipper caterpillar, an apple maggot fly, a salt marsh tiger moth and a chickweed geometer moth just to name just a few. Many butterflies were also floating by  as we did our walks and we ended up seeing them again  when we got to the butterfly garden.

Jean Laughman finds some good insects on her beating sheet

 

The TAC Center has one of the best butterfly gardens going, and has been well maintained by Tina Forsberg and Jean Laughman. It has a spicebush in the center of one side and on it we found 6 spicebush swallowtail butterfly caterpillars, one of which was only a couple of days old. Hummingbird moths, swallowtail, crescent, skipper and, brush foot butterflies were there, and we even found a tiger swallowtail egg on a small black cherry.

Chickweed geometer moth Pamm Cooper photo

looking for bugs in the butterfly garden

Salt Marsh Tiger moth found in the butterfly garden- Pamm Cooper photo

Thanks are in order for all our Master Gardeners and Master Gardener interns for a job well done. Without your efforts, this would not have been a success, nor as interesting an event as it was. Also, thank you Joan Allen, for your talk on vegetable insect pests, and Dave Colbert for bringing terrific specimens from the UConn Museum of Natural History.

Leaf- footed bug nymph found on a bug walk- Pamm Cooper photo

 

After all our hard work raising insects and running around finding host plant material to feed them, and after many long insect hunts in 90 degree weather, I guess we were all happy, in a way, to see Bug Week draw to a close. My dining room table is no longer a laboratory and that is how it should be. And yet, I do miss the pitter-patter of tiny little feet…

 

Pamm Cooper

 

 

 

 

 

Sphinx Moth Caterpillars

The sphinx, or hawk, moths are relatively heavy- bodied and are strong fliers. Some are important pollinators of trees and shrubs, especially those having white or light- colored flowers. Most sphinx moths fly at night, so we may not see them except as they are attracting to lights outside the home. The clearwing moths, such as the snowberry and hummingbird, do fly during the day and are common visitors to home gardens.

Below left: Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth  Below Right  Hog Sphinx ( Virginia Creeper ) Caterpillar

Just as the adults are large- bodied and heavy set, the sphinx caterpillars can also become quite the behemoths when compared to other caterpillars common to New England. They usually have a conspicuous horn on the hind end, but some species start off with a horn and end up with a “ button “ ornament instead. Most of these caterpillars feed on trees and shrubs, but some, such as the tobacco and tomato hornworms and the hermit sphinx feed on nightshades or basil respectively. Because of their size, damage to host plants can be substantial as they approach the final instars.

Snowberry Clearwing Caterpillar is found on honeysuckle

If you want to find hornworms, knowing the host plants is the first step. Many species can be found on grape and Virginia creeper. These include the hog ( or Virginia Creeper Sphinx ), the Pandorus sphinx, Abbot’ sphinx and the Achemon sphinx. Look underneath leaves where feeding is evident, then look for leaf stems left behind as caterpillars get larger and move toward inward leaves. If tomato leaves are disappearing, the Tobacco hornworm may be lurking nearby. Although this caterpillar gets huge, it can be surprisingly difficult to see as its color blends in with tomato foliage and stems. The final instar can eat you out of house and home in no time. I once raised one from an egg found on nightshade and it grew to the size of an Oscar Mayer hot dog. Fecal pellets are another indicator of caterpillar feeding, and the sphinx variety are elongate and have six deep grooves and may be quite large as caterpillars approach the penultimate and final instars. Eggs are usually laid on the undersides of leaves and are large and spherical. A large, green spherical egg found on a tomato leaf is most likely that of the tobacco hornworm. If you are not interested in raising this caterpillar, crush the egg and future feeding damage can be avoided.

Blueberry or huckleberry are the host plants of the fabulous Huckleberry Sphinx. When small, its horn is striped with lemon yellow and raspberry red ( one color short of Trix™ ). Its body is granulose, looking like it has been sprinkled with large crystals of sugar. As it matures, raspberry markings develop on its sides and back. Last year I found several of these on both host plants and at various locations. Each year is different, though, and abundance or apparent scarcity of species fluctuates accordingly.

Huckleberry Sphinx Caterpillar on blueberry

When at rest or when disturbed, sphinx caterpillars position themselves in a posture that reminds me of a seahorse. Some thrash from side to side and some may regurgitate a green fluid as well. Some actually will nip, and Abbot’s sphinx and Walnut sphinx caterpillars make sounds when threatened. All these means are probably very effective at dissuading birds, but predatory wasps seem to be able to get past all that behavior. When you find a caterpillar with cocoons all over it, the internal feeding of cotesia or braconid wasps has been completed and the caterpillar is doomed to die a slow death. It is unfortunate that many introduced parasites that were meant to control pest caterpillars are now decimating benign native species, but that is just a sad story of good intensions backfiring.

Pandorus Sphinx Caterpillar

Paw Paw Sphinx found on winterberry

If you raise sphinx caterpillars, make sure that final instars have a suitable pupating medium, such as abundant mulch, plant litter or soil. Or simply release onto a host plant and let nature take its course. Caterpillars tend to be sedentary more than mobile and they have a good gripping ability which makes them easy to transfer to fresh food material. Keep pupa moist over winter and provide air to containers to keep from developing mold. Be vigilant and release as they eclose. Moths emerging in small containers may not be able to expand wings fully, and will be doomed as wings will harden deformed.

4- Horned or Elm Sphinx

Sphinx caterpillars are very commonly seen in the fall as they travel over lawns, driveways and paths on their way to pupate. If you see them, just remove them to a safer spot and they will find their way to a good spot to pupate for the winter.

Pamm Cooper All Photos© 2014 Pamm Cooper

 

Cloud Watching

I am amazed at just how often I check the sky to see what the weather will be for next while. I know some people check the weather channel or local news channels to see what the weather people are forecasting, but I look to the sky. After so many decades of turning my eyes to the skies to see what is happening overhead, the observations have taught me what ‘reading the sky’ really means.
Blue sky with not a cloud in sight foretells a beautiful day with no rain. Gray sky usually means rain. Hazy sky says hot, humid weather and possibly thunderstorms. Dark sky brings a much higher chances of precipitation. Clouds are condensation which is the process of a gas or vapor changing to a liquid, water in this case. They contain minute water droplets floating in large congregations through the atmosphere. If the temperatures are below freezing higher up, the water freezes to become snow or sleet.
When clouds do appear, they can take different forms. There are four main categories of clouds:
Cumulus, which in Latin means heap. These are the big fluffy, white clouds that usually mean fair weather. These are the lowest clouds floating from the surface of the earth to about 6,500 feet high. If cumulus clouds grow vertically, they can turn into thunderstorm clouds.

Cumulus Cloud, by Pamm Cooper

Cirrus, means curl of hair in Latin. These are the high, wispy clouds above 18,000 feet.

Stratus means layer in Latin. Stratus clouds are layer, appearing from the ground up to 20,000 feet. Stratus clouds make the sky look gray causing steady rain or snow fall.

Stratus Cloud, http://www.msstate.edu

Nimbus are rain or snow clouds in Latin.

Nimbus Cloud, ellerbruch.nmu.edu

Fog is a cloud that forms on the ground, reducing visibility and raising humidity levels.

Fog Cloud, msstate.edu

And then there are the fun games you can play just watching clouds, and seeing pictures in the shapes. When is the last time you laid in grass on your back and saw a bunny in the sky?

-Carol Quish

 

UConn Master Gardener Program receives the 2012 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Public Engagement

On November 13, 2012 the UConn Master Gardener Program was awarded the  Provost’s Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement at a ceremony and reception held at the in the Great Hall of the Alumni Center in Storrs.  The awards and congratulations were presented to the 2012 winners by Interim Provost Mun Choi and Dean and Vice Provost Robert McCarthy.

Master Gardener group receiving congratulations

The awards were created to recognize and emphasize the critical role of outreach and public engagement in the land grant mission, and to foster engagement across the entire University community.

The criteria the award committee consider include: sustained leadership in working with the public and/or with external organizations; innovative ways of working for the well being of citizens and communities; documented excellence in extending University knowledge; evidence of the impact on a target audience; demonstrated intellectual, professional, and/or career growth as a result of the experience.

The UConn Extension Master Gardener Program is entering its 35^th year of educating Connecticut citizens, forming a network of trained “citizen horticulturists” whose outreach efforts instruct and promote research-based horticultural and environmental education to Connecticut communities.

As part of the program Master Gardeners volunteer in an extensive variety of community outreach projects, contributing over 35,000 volunteer hours annually working with municipalities, museums, schools, hospitals, environmental groups, community gardens and garden clubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leslie Alexander

Photos-  Ellen Bender Master Gardener

 

 

The Wasp Watchers and EAB in Connecticut~ Using a native wasp to find Emerald Ash Borer

On July 20^th a press release was issued by the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announcing that the Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) was found in Prospect and Naugatuck, Connecticut by staff members at CAES.

Cerceris fumipennis -left              Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) -right
Photo-Philip Careless

Emerald Ash Borer

The emerald ash borer (“EAB”) has been responsible for the death and decline of tens of millions of ash trees, from the mid-west to New York State and south to Tennessee.  Connecticut now becomes the 16th state known to have EAB within its borders.

Cerceris with EAB
Photo Phillip Careless

The Connecticut discovery was made as part of a program that closely monitors a native, ground-nesting, and non-aggressive wasp (Cerceris fumipennis) that hunts the emerald ash borer as well as other beetles in the Buprestidae family. The wasp catches beetles in often inconspicuous locations such as tree canopies and brings the paralyzed beetle back to its ground nest to feed to its larva.   “Wasp Watchers” is a biosurveillance program made up of trained observers (many of them volunteers from the UConn Master Gardener Program) who watch over these native wasps and collect the prey they bring back to their ground nests. Cerceris caught the emerald ash borer in New Haven County and a Wasp Watcher found the EAB as it was brought back to the wasp’s nest.

The nests are often found in large colonies of independent burrows, the active wasps are capable of presenting the human observer with many buprestid beetles in a single day. These colonies are frequently found in areas disturbed by human activity and are easily accessed for surveys. Sandy soil along the edges of playgrounds and baseball fields located near forested land often shelter the wasps’ nests. Fortunately, Cerceris fumipennis is an easy going wasp and it appears that association with the Wasp Watchers is not detrimental to the wasp.  Cerceris fumipennis show no inclination to sting humans even when their just caught prey is taken.

Cerceris nest entrance
Photo-Philip Careless

 

Harvesting beetle from Cerceris

No one is sure how EAB entered Prospect or Naugatuck, but the movement of infested firewood has been previously linked to the spread of this invasive pest into other states. To prevent further spread of this and other invasive species, do not move firewood long distances, find local suppliers or purchase kiln-dried wood that is certified to have been treated to destroy insects and pathogens.

Comprehensive information on the beetle, its life cycle, what to do if you think you found an EAB and what can be done to prevent further infestations and more can be found at:

http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2697&Q=464598#Connecticut

L Alexander

 

Connecticut Streams Bioassessment Volunteer Monitors

 

Stream with riffle photo CT DEP

 

 

 

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection has been directed to develop standards to protect the nearly 4,000 lakes and ponds, nearly 6,000 miles of rivers and streams, and more than 200 miles of coastline along Long Island Sound.  DEPs new Stream Flow Standards and Regulations are meant to promote better, more efficient management of our water resources and supplies.

Good water quality is essential for life.  It is well documented that increases in impervious surfaces, roads, parking lots, roof tops and so on that occur with urban growth are directly related to increases in the amount of storm water runoff which is responsible for decreasing the quality of water in our streams, rivers, wetlands and wells.   Urbanization increases impervious surfaces, which by definition are unable to allow pollutants carried in storm water to percolate and filter through soil.  Runoff water conveys these storm water pollutants into streams and waterways.  Urbanization in Connecticut is detrimental to the ecology of many of our rivers and streams.

One determinant of water quality is the ecological assessment of a water body. Connecticut’s approximately 5,484 miles of rivers and perennial streams are monitored and their quality assessed by staff assigned to the CT DEP’s Bureau of Water Protection & Land Reuse, Planning and Standards Division (WPLR).

 

Photo CT DEP

 

 

Monitoring thousands of miles of rivers and streams is a huge undertaking.  In 1999 CT DEP developed a volunteer based Rapid Bioassessment in Wadeable Streams and Rivers program (RBV) as a citizen based screening tool to assist them in identifying high quality streams.  Through this program stream quality is assessed by the presence or absence of aquatic macro-invertebrates, in particular riffle-dwelling benthic macro-invertebrate communities. A riffle: is a section of a stream or river characterized by rapid turbulent flow, a stable rocky substrate, and is wadeable most of the year. Benthic refers to living in or on the substrate (bottom) of an aquatic environment. Macro- invertebrate are animals without a backbone that are large enough to be seen with the unaided eye. The macro-invertebrate community in a stream or river is very sensitive to stress and thus its characteristics serve as a useful tool for detecting environmental disturbance resulting from introduced pollution.

Benthic macro- invertebrate

More information can be found at

http://dep.state.ct.us/wtr/volunmon/rbvpt1.pdf

and

http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/water/volunteer_monitoring/rbvpt2.pdf

Specimen collection Bolton stream November 7, 2010

In late October the UConn Master Gardener Program sponsored a training session on Rapid Bioassessment in Streams at the Tolland County Extension Center.  The class was taught by DEP’s Michael Beauchene who designed the program.  In early November class participants carried out assessment of four streams in Bolton CT.  Master Gardeners Deb and Ron Beaudoin sponsored the stream collection part of the program. They have been running these assessments with the Bolton Conservation Commission since the late 1990s.  The bio-assessment field study was attended by twenty participants fourteen of them were UConn Master Gardeners.  The groups split up into teams and went out to the streams for collection.  After sorting their finds following DEP’s protocol, reports which include a data sheet and vials of voucher organisms were sent to DEP.

Master Gardeners and other interested citizens can participate in these studies. The UConn Master Gardener Program will sponsor more classes next fall.  If you are interested in participating in future training classes please contact my office, the Master Gardener Coordinator in your nearest County Extension office or at the Bartlett Arboretum.

Leslie.alexander@uconn.edu

http://www.extension.uconn.edu/pages/department/index.html

Mastergardener@bartlettarboretum.org

Specimens photo CT DEP

Sorting specimens RBV class