This past weekend, the Flathead Lake Biological Station welcomed in a group of 16 incoming freshman from the University of Montana to Yellow Bay. The group was able to get out and enjoy one of Montana’s last Saturdays before school starts, while also learning about the Flathead Watershed.  

The Monitoring Montana Waters (MMW) team engaged students in stream macroinvertebrate sampling at Yellow Bay Creek. The group received hands on experience in collection of macroinvertebrates and identification. Dr. Rachel Malison, program leader of MMW and assistant research professor, demonstrated kick netting technique for macroinvertebrate collection. A kick net consists of a mesh net with a pole handle that is used to collect aquatic macroinvertebrates in a stream. The stream bed upstream of the net is disturbed using a kicking motion to dislodge organisms that will float into the net. The samples collected were taken back to the Bio Station for further classification using microscopes and dichotomous keys. 

The students spent the afternoon learning about Monitoring Montana Waters and the importance of volunteer water quality monitoring in the state of Montana. Many of the students are new to the state and don’t know how water is protected in Montana, what issues our waters face, and how we protect our waters. It was a great chance for them to hear about the work citizens put into keeping their waters clean. They then had the chance to learn how to collect unfiltered and filtered grab samples and operate a multi-parameter probe just as our volunteers do. We hope the students have a great time attending the University of Montana and have a chance to participate in some water quality monitoring in the future!