A mini-BioBlitz event was held on September 20, 2018 at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. Approximately 55 Environmental Science students from Woodstock High School participated. CWDD Technician Janel Roberge served as a macroinvertebrate specialist in partnership with the Place-Based Education Coordinator in Woodstock, VT providing instruction on the use of benthic macroinverebrates to determine water quality at the study site. Students collected, sorted, and identified stream bugs as water quality indicators. This experience was the first time that many of the students wore waders!
BioBlitz is a term that refers to the intense period of biological surveying in a specific area. In this case, the mini-BioBlitz focused specifically in the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.
The Benthic Macroinvertebrate Station
Students search for and sort macroinvertebrates
Students keep a tally of the benthic macroinvertebrates they collected in order to determine the health of their stream
Students use microscopes provided by VT EPSCoR in order to identify the benthic macroinvertebrates from their study site