Marion Kyde: It’s Science Making a little do a lot

Six different and worthy projects, six groups of hard working and enthusiastic volunteers, six wonderful additions and improvements to our Lower Delaware watershed: The Wild and Scenic Management Council received project-end reports from all six of its 2021 Mini-grant recipients at its final meeting in December.
From the Water Gap to Trenton, our river is one of a select group of partnership rivers named by Act of Congress as a Wild and Scenic River, deserving of national support and protection. Management Council members are appointed representatives from communities and organizations along the corridor which have signed on to the Management Plan goals for protection and augmentation of the qualities that make the Delaware so special. As part of this responsibility, the council administers a highly competitive small grants program funded through federal dollars, which it receives and oversees annually.
This year:
1) The Aquetong Watershed Association added an additional downstream water quality testing station to Aquetong Creek. This will allow regular monitoring of important water quality parameters and provide early warning of possible pollution. With the removal of the old dam, the creek is expected to be added to the state’s official cold water trout stream list.
2) Bucks County Audubon Society, aided by members of a teen conservation corps, removed invasive vegetation from a lengthy section of Honey Hollow Creek, and restored native trees and shrubs to the cleared area. The project also attracted adult Audubon members and volunteers
3) Delaware Riverkeeper Network produced an educational video describing how mandated cold water releases from Nockamixon Dam would benefit the habitat and biota of Tohickon Creek. This video is posted on Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic River website.

4) Greater Lambertville Chamber of Commerce led 7th-12th grade students and adult volunteers in a project to remove invasive plants such as wineberry, multiflora rose and garlic mustard and use them, along with native rock pigments, to make two distinct maps of the Alexauken Creek watershed. Copies of the eye-catching maps were displayed in local businesses for the purpose of elevating community awareness about the importance of the creek and the river.
5) New Jersey Audubon Society purchased water dataloggers to monitor the water quality of Merrill Creek, and trained New Jersey Youth Corps staff and students to install and monitor the loggers and interpret the data they return. Training included macroinvertebrate identification, and instruction as to the importance of these small organisms to the health of the creek and the river.
6) Splash River Steamboat Classroom staff developed curricula that allow students to collect, process, and examine microscopic algae from the river, and learn about their importance in the food web. The purchase of cell phone adaptors that attach to microscopes allowed the students to zoom in on the tiny phytoplankton, and photograph or videotape them to form a permanent library of species. Some had never been previously reported from the sampled river section.
Not one of these grants amounted to as much as $5,000. This is truly doing a lot, with very little. The Wild and Scenic Management Council salutes all of this year’s grant winners.
Marion M. Kyde Ph.D. is vice chair of the Steering Committee for the Lower Delaware Wild and Scenic Partnership River. She lives in Tinicum Township, not very far from the river.

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