Streams as Habitat
When you think of a stream, what comes to mind? You probably think of water (obviously) or about the fish that swim in it. Maybe you think about aquatic insects that you find by turning over rocks. Maybe it makes you think about fishing or swimming with your friends. Talking about streams, a lot of things can come to mind, but what about the word “habitat”? Kalee Paxton, the stream ecology intern serving with the Forest Service in Marlinton, wanted to help make this connection with her final project. She chose to do this by developing an outreach event focusing on streams as habitat and expanding on what “habitat” even means. This outreach event discussed how stream habitat is more than the flowing water we generally think of and how a stream habitat could be broken up into three major micro-habitats: floodplains, riparian zones/banks, and river beds. The event was designed to explore these micro-habitats and some of the wildlife that depend upon them.
Kalee reached out to a local Girl Scout troop from the Marlinton area to participate in her event. As an alumni of Girl Scouts of America, Kalee knew how much events focused on the environment could impact young people and their connection to the natural world. She specifically chose to work with a Girl Scout troop to help expose girls to nature/science-based activities as they are generally overlooked for these types of experiences. She aimed to not only educated the troop about streams, but give them new ways to explore and think about these areas.
The event was broken into three parts, each focusing on one type of micro-habitat along with a group of wildlife associated with that space. For floodplains, they talked about floods being creators of life for amphibians and the importance of wetlands. The section on riparian zones had the group thinking about how all birds need streams with a bird walk. The girls got to explore the world of fish and macro invertebrates (aquatic insects) by putting on a pair of goggles and snorkeling the Greenbrier.
The event successfully occurred on July, 18th at Stillwell Park in Marlinton. The girls had a great time learning and discovering what makes each micro-habitat unique and important. Their favorite activity was obviously snorkeling and getting to see and learn the names of the different fish they saw. Kalee hopes in the future she will not only get to develop and run more outreach events, but find more ways to connect with the troop.
