| My 2005 Summer Journal
Bridges to Success Internship This was an internship position as a research assistant working on the Cheyenne River Habitat Assessment. I assisted with collecting data including physical habitat characterization of the watershed area. I assisted with over twenty five sites. Some of my tasks included gathering data for physiochemical water quality, stream flow gauging, substrate sampling, stream bank and riparian features, vegetation data and horizontal and vertical measurements. Some of the instruments and gauges I used included, The Marsh-McBirney Flo-Mate flow meter, YSI Sonde, GPS-Photo Link Ricoh camera, laser and level surveying equipment. The sites that were used had already been picked out on a map. Some sites had to be found, and land owner permission needed to be gained to access some of the sites. Some of the site locations were determined due to the real time data gauges at the sites. Others were picked to diversify the characteristics throughout the whole watershed. Once the site was found and permission granted to access private land, a stretch that would be appropriate for the data collection was determined. If the area was not appropriate, we would start over finding other property in the area to collect the data. The reach could only exhibit one type of land use outside of the riparian zone. Minimal influence due to bridges, culverts, and dams was another critical factor in determining if a site was appropriate. If the site was appropriate, the real work started. Water quality and discharge data was collected. Then the average width had to be determined so we could calculate the length of the stretch and the transect spacing distance. Each stretch was made up of eleven transects. Transects were marked out with flags, GPS coordinates and pictures taken. Depending on the number of members we had on a particular day, tasks were divided to accomplish all data collections efficiently. For stream flow gauging, discharge, we used three different techniques. For the majority of the data collected, we used a Flo-Mate flow meter. Another technique was to set up a flume and measure the water through the flume. The third technique was the natural point floating method. For the collection of physiochemical water quality data we used the YSI Sonde. Data collected included water temperature, air temperature, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity. Data was collected at each site prior to the water being disturbed. For substrate sampling we used a modified Wolman “pebble count”. Five samples were taken across each transect with the percent embeddedness being recorded. At each mid-transect, five more samples were taken but embeddedness was not recorded. During the collection of data for stream bank and riparian features and vegetation data, much information was gathered pertaining to the area in and around the waterway. Large woody debris within the wetted width of the stream or river was recorded. Canopy cover data was collected using a Convex Spherical Densiometer. A Brunton compass and clinometer were used for bank slope and bearing downstream at all transects. Other data included bank characterization, vegetation types, land use, bank substrate, and the stream dominant macrohabitat type. Transect data and depth velocity data was collected through surveying. Measurements included vertical measurements from top bank to channel bottom. Water depth was recorded for each vertical measurement A horizontal station number was also recorded for each vertical measurement. A tape stretched across the transect with the left top bank starting at zero was the transect station measurement device. Eleven vertical measurements were recorded at each transect. These included, top bank, bank full, waters edge, channel bottom on each side, and ¼, ½, and ¾ within the wetted width. A special project that I worked on was a focus on Battle Creek. This project was part of the Bridges to Success program that I participated in this summer. I use to fish a portion of Battle Creek during the 70's and 80's. I became very disturbed and concerned while doing an assessment on a site near Hermosa and decided this would be an area for some personal research. Battle Creek is a tributary to the Cheyenne River. I researched how land use and nature have affected the condition of the creek during the last 20 years . I looked at the how the effects of farming, ranching may have contributed to the degradation of the creek. The dumping of manure into the creek, natural surface water runoff carying sediments, fertilizer perching into ground water supply, all have had their effects. I did some examinations of fish populations, and also researched the impact of fires in the area. I will continue my personal research on this creek, and hope to examine and contribute to practices that have helped and will help in the future, to minimize impact on the creek. A poster for this special project can be seen here. Special thanks to Jolisa Whiteface, School of Mines staff and students, South Dakota GF&P, RESPEC, SD DENR, and Bridges to Success, for a great and rewarding summer. I learned a lot this summer, and believe that the experience will be beneficial for my education and career. |
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| The picture to the left is Battle Creek at Hayword, about 15 miles above Hermosa. The pictures below and to the right are Battle Creek at Hermosa. |