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Santa Cruz, CA 95060 [email protected] 3. Title: Benthic macroinvertebrates in the upper reaches of the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed:

establishing baseline data and educating citizens 4. Amount of Funds Requested: $2500 plus $500 for public outreach 5. Project Description & Summary Who is living in, on and under the gravel and silt of streams in the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed?

In this project, a researcher and team of undergraduate interns will assess the abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates, small organisms that live at the bottom of rivers and streams, in wadeable streams in the upper reaches of the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed. Three sites will be sampled three times (once in summer, once at the onset of winter rains, and once late in the winter rains), following a standardized California protocol. The invertebrates will be identified with assistance from experts in the state, providing baseline data and generating local expertise in these organisms, which can then be used for future water quality assessments and for monitoring changes in the watershed. We will document both the organisms found and our methods of finding them and publish two videos of our work on the web. We will also share our findings and generate citizen interest in the topic at a half-day field event in spring.

6. Project Justification What can these tiny organisms tell us about the health of the watershed? Plenty, actually. The abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates are used as indicators of water quality in freshwater streams and rivers. Because some species or groups of benthic macroinvertebrates are sensitive to parameters such as chemical pollution, nutrient enrichment, sedimentation, dissolved oxygen, and temperature, their presence or absence can reflect the health of the water body, integrating these multiple parameters over time. Both the EPA and the California Department of Fish and Game use benthic macroinvertebrate surveys or “bioassessments” as cost-effective water quality tools. Establishing baseline benthic macroinvertebrate data for a few sites in the watershed will give a measure of environmental health that can be easily compared with other streams both within and outside of the watershed, as well as in the future.

In addition to providing benefits for the SLV Watershed, the project will provide Environmental Studies undergraduates with field experience in water quality measures, and will strengthen relations between the SLV Watershed and the university.

7. Overall Goals & Primary Objectives Overall goal:

To establish baseline benthic macroinvertebrate data for wadeable streams at three sites in the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed and to share information on those organisms and what they mean for water quality with citizens in the watershed.

K. Monsen, Benthic Macroinvertebrates page 1 Primary objectives:

1. Develop and coordinate a team of one researcher, one museum scientist/curator and four undergraduate students to collect benthic macroinvertebrates at three sites in the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed three times during one year using standardized methods as described in the California Stream Bioassessment Procedure (a regional adaptation of the Rapid Bioassessment Protocols developed by the US EPA). The sites we will sample will be upstream of the creek diversions on District holdings (upstream of Peavine, Silver, Foreman, Harmon, Clear or Sweetwater Creek Diversions).

2. Identify benthic macroinvertebrates collected during sampling and analyze the resulting data for organism abundance, taxonomic diversity, and functional diversity. Compare the data to data for other water bodies to obtain a relative measure of water quality.

3. Share our methods and findings with watershed citizens through press releases, videos and a field event (see #16 below).

8. Demonstrating Achievement of Goals & Objectives The products that will demonstrate achievement of our goals and objectives will be:

 A digital database of photos of the most common benthic macroinvertebrates from the three sites.

 A report listing all taxonomic groups found at the three sites and the overall abundance, taxonomic diversity and functional diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates. The report will show how these measures differ by sampling period.

 The report will also describe how these measures compare to those of other water bodies and what they mean for water quality of the three sites in the study.

 Press releases, videos, and a half-day event for public outreach (see #16 below).

9. Qualifications Dr. Katie Monsen, project leader, earned her PhD in Environmental Studies at the University of California Santa Cruz, and also has an MS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Iowa State University. She taught the upper division Freshwater and Wetland Ecology course at UCSC in 2009. She also earned a minor in Publishing and Printing Arts as part of her BA from Pacific Lutheran University. There she worked as a writer, photographer and editor for the weekly campus newspaper as a student and then as a full-time staff member in the university's Office of Public Information, where she wrote and disseminated press releases and prepared articles for the alumni magazine. Chris Lay, the museum scientist and curator for the UCSC Museum of Natural History Collections, will assist the project. He has wide-ranging natural history knowledge of the Central Coast as well as access to the freshwater invertebrate collections housed at the museum. He also works with the Natural History Club, a team of undergraduates dedicated to learning about and preserving plant and animal specimens from the Central Coast. Dr. Monsen and Mr.

Lay have the knowledge, field experience, connections with students, and enthusiasm necessary to carry out the project.

10. Key Participants In addition to Dr. Monsen and Mr. Lay, the key participants will be four undergraduate interns from Environmental Studies and one undergraduate intern from Film and Digital Media at UCSC. Christopher Krohn, internship director for Environmental Studies, will help with publicizing and coordinating the undergraduate internships.

K. Monsen, Benthic Macroinvertebrates page 2 11. Work Plan First, we will recruit the undergraduate interns, borrow and purchase necessary field and lab equipment, and obtain state scientific sampling permits. We will visit the sites above the six creek diversions listed in #7 and work with SLV Water District staff to determine which three of the six will be used for sampling.

We will conduct sampling events in early August 2009, mid-November 2009, and mid-March 2009, according to standardized protocols as presented in the California Stream Bioassessment Procedure and clarified for this region by the Bay Area Macroinvertebrate Bioassessment Information Network (BAMBI). The protocols outline how sampling zones are established, what type of equipment is used, how long each sample takes, how samples are transported to the lab for identification, and what site data are collected. Following the first two sampling events, the project leader and one or two student interns will make a day trip to the offices of Friends of Deer Creek in Nevada City, CA. This non-profit has a well-established bioassessment program and can provide assistance with identification of the macroinvertebrates. We will also contact BAMBI members as needed for help with identifying organisms.

After the first sampling event we will begin developing our digital photo database and our spreadsheet detailing which organisms are present at each site. We will run statistical analyses according to the standardized protocols. After the third sampling event and subsequent organism identification we will write a report detailing our findings and comparing them to rivers and streams in other parts of California and the United States. We will also use the findings to describe the water quality in these stream reaches.

Throughout the project we will be developing our public outreach component, as described in #16.

12. Timelines & Milestones Jul. 1-30 Purchase and borrow equipment, obtain scientific sampling permit Interview and select interns, set up internships Determine which creeks will be used for sampling Aug. 1-15 First sampling event at all three sites; all organisms identified by Nov. 1 First press release sent out by Sept. 1 Nov. 15-30 Second sampling event at all three sites; all organisms identified by Mar. 1 Second press release sent out and first video posted by Dec. 1 Mar. 15-30 Third sampling event at all three sites; all organisms identified by May 1 Third press release sent out by Apr. 1 Apr. 15 – May 15 Host half-day field event for media, citizens Second video posted by May 1 May 15-30 Prepare final narrative and financial reports K. Monsen, Benthic Macroinvertebrates page 3 13. Project Monitoring Program Dr. Monsen, the project manager, will be directly involved with site sampling so will adapt Quality Assurance Project Protocols to the sampling. She will also adapt the California Stream Bioassessment Procedures QAPP to the identification process, checking her own and the interns' work regularly throughout the project. She will work closely with the Film and Digital Media intern to check the quality of that intern's work throughout the project.

14. Relation to and Support of the Education Program Mission Statement Obtaining baseline data of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities in these studies will enhance the understanding of the ecology and water quality of the watershed, and publicly sharing information about how to observe and what invertebrates are present in the ecosystem and why they are important indicators will enhance that understanding for consumers in the watershed. The baseline data are also important for assessing the watershed's health and the impacts of projects to improve water quality.

15. Other Sources of Funding  Nalgene bottles for transporting specimens and waders will be borrowed from the water quality research lab of Dr. Carol Shennan at UCSC.

 Dissecting scopes and field measuring tapes will be borrowed from the UCSC Museum of Natural History Collections, which will also provide access to a collection of preserved aquatic invertebrates for comparison.

 The support services of Chris Lay and Christopher Krohn will be provided through their employer, the Environmental Studies department at UCSC. Katie Monsen will be volunteering part of her time.

 We will also draw on the expertise provided by the Friends of Deer Creek staff and volunteers and by members of BAMBI .

16. Public Outreach Components Our public outreach has three main components:

1. We will send press releases to local media outlets (e.g., newspaper, radio, television) detailing our project's plan, fieldwork, and findings. Press releases will be sent every three months and will include photos of our interns, field sites, and the organisms we find.

2. We will hire an undergraduate intern from the Film and Digital Media department to document our work on film and post two videos through a social networking site such as Vimeo or YouTube. The web addresses for the videos will be sent to local media outlets for publication.

3. We will host one half-day field event for journalists and interested citizens (including children) to visit an easily accessible stream reach (e.g., in Big Basin State Park or Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park) to learn how to identify benthic macroinvertebrates and why they are important in assessing watershed health. We will work with park officials to determine the location and other logistics of the event. We will highlight the event in local media, developing a fun event title to generate interest in these varied and important organisms.

Thomas Huxley said, “To a person uninstructed in natural history, his country or seaside stroll is a walk through a gallery filled with wonderful works of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned to the wall.” Our goal is to turn around a few of those paintings for citizens in the watershed.

K. Monsen, Benthic Macroinvertebrates page 4 17. Budget Summary Budget Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling and Identification Two D-frame aquatic dip nets, 500 micrometer mesh $300 #35 mesh soil sieve $80 Waterproof labels for sample containers, pencils, datasheets $50 Two hand lenses $75 Two copies of A guide to common freshwater invertebrates of North America $80 Two sampling quadrats $30 Two trips in own car to Nevada City, CA, for assistance with identification (207 miles x $0.55/mile federal reimbursement rate x 2 roundtrips) $455 Four stipends ($200 each) for Environmental Studies interns $800 Stipend for project leader (25.2 hrs at $25/hr) $630 Total $2500 Public Outreach Stipend for Film and Digital Media intern $200 Film supplies (e.g., videography equipment rental) $100 Event supplies (e.g., press release mailing, handouts at event, park use fees) $200 Total $500 Respectfully submitted, Katie L. Monsen, PhD May 1, 2009 K. Monsen, Benthic Macroinvertebrates page 5