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The Ripple: Engaging as Citizen Scientists Along the River

Last week an energetic group of Hilltown Families citizen scientists and Kurt Heidinger, Executive Director of Biocitizen, conducted our fourth annual rapid biotic assessment of the Westfield River in West Chesterfield. This month in Kurt’s post, “The Ripple,” hear all about it, what we found and images from the afternoon…

Category: Citizen Scientist, Community Based Education, Contributing Writer, Ecology, Kurt Heidinger, Nature Based Education Tags: Adopt a River, Benthic Invertebrates, Citizen Scientists, community engagement, Connecticut River, Ecology, Environment, Environmental Steward, Massachusetts, Nature, outdoors, Pioneer Valley, Rapid Biotic Assessments, rba, Rivers, rivers and streams, Watershed, western massachusetts, Westfield River

The Ripple: Families Work as Citizen Scientists for the Westfield River

Families Learn about the Relationship Between Benthic Invertebrates and River Ecology with Hilltown Families & Biocitizen Halloween’s upon us and the leaves are almost down—and for river lovers that means it’s time to do Rapid Biotic Assessments (RBA), which involves capturing and cataloging the bugs—benthic invertebrates —that live on the riverbed. Certain bugs like stonefly-nymphs need lots of oxygen to survive, and when you find a bunch of them, it’s a sign… Read More