A Healthy Bug Equals A Healthy River

Kim Shaw, Blue Thumb Quality Assurance Officer (left) and-Beckey Smith, former Teacher Ranger Teacher, collected creek bugs in the Washita River last March.

NPS Photo

News Release Date: April 21, 2015

Contact: Kevin Bowles Mohr, [phone]

 On Wednesday, May 6 @ 2:00 pm., Washita Battlefield National Historic Site invited the public to help count some benthic macro invertebrates (aka "creek bugs") collected on March 13 along a section of the Washita River flowing through the park. This biological monitoring effort was sponsored by Blue Thumb, a state wide environmental conservation program supported by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Water Quality Division. Blue Thumb's volunteers monitor the health of Oklahoma's streams and rivers.

The creek bugs were collected by: Kim Shaw, Blue Thumb Quality Assurance Officer, Beckey Smith, Cheyenne Elementary teacher, Washita Battlefield NHS's 2014 Teacher-Ranger-Teacher, and longtime Blue Thumb Volunteer, and Barbara Ford, Park Guide. On May 6, the "bug picking" will involve cleaning up the bug sample and picking out critters to be sent off for identification by a taxonomist. It promises to be an "out of the ordinary," but educational afternoon!

What: Counting of benthic macro invertebrates

When: Wednesday, May 6, 2015, 2:00 p.m.

Where: Washita Battlefield National Historic Site Visitor Center