Get Ready for Creek Week 2023!

CWEP partners have been meeting and planning this year’s Creek Week diligently for months, and now the time is almost upon us. This year is going to be CWEP’s biggest Creek Week yet with events going on across the region including storm drain markings, litter cleanups, library activities, hikes, paddles, workshops, educational lecture series, and more. You can find something to participate in that is happening near you by looking at the list of events on the Creek Week Webpage.

Find Creek Week Events

Do you want to participate, but are looking for something that you can do on your own? Look no further than the GSI Oh My Scavenger Hunt! This virtual scavenger hunt will be held on social media through Instagram and Facebook.

How to play:

•Read our posts on social media and our GSI webpage to learn more about Green Stormwater Infrastructure and its relationship with our waterways and community.

•Go explore and find an example of GSI, snap a picture and post on Instagram or Facebook!

•Tag cwep_nc on Instagram or NC Clean Water Education Partnership on Facebook to be entered in a prize drawing that will be held on the 21^st and 25^th. Feel free to also tag your local government.

•There will be a total of 3 winners. There can be a maximum of 3 entries per person to be entered in the prize drawing, but feel free to post as many pictures of GSI as you would like.

•If your account is not PUBLIC, please direct message your picture.

•Pictures submitted will be saved and added to a GSI photo album on our website!

Need more information on Green Stormwater Infrastructure to help you on your search? Check out this Green Stormwater Infrastructure Website to see examples.

Learn more about “GSI!”

Learn more about these Green Stormwater Infrastructure examples on our **GSI webpage**!

Learn about amazing amphibians this spring!

May 26, 2022June 15, 2022Leave a comment

Amphibians spend part of their lives on land and part in the water, which means they are essential for both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Juvenile amphibians cycle nutrients in aquatic environments by consuming plant matter and small invertebrates. Adults provide natural pest control and are important food sources for larger critters as well. Learn about some of the #amazingamphibians native to North Carolina on CWEP’s social media:

@CWEP_NC

Did you know that many amphibians breathe through their skin? (Imagine if you could do that!) This makes amphibians more sensitive to changes in their environment than many other animals, so scientists can use changes in amphibian populations to assess environmental impacts. This is just one of many reasons we want to keep stormwater clean. Stormwater washes anything on the ground into our waterways, where it can affect amphibians and other critters.

If you want to learn to identify amphibians (and other animals, plus plants and fungi), try using the free iNaturalist mobile app! Just take a photo, and iNaturalist will identify the organism in front of you, and geo-tag the location for other app users to identify. You can even upload sound recordings, and fellow naturalists can identify the species for you! For a step-by-step guide to iNaturalist, click here or see below.

Check out wildlife observed in your area in the Explore tab!

Keep track of all your observations in the Me tab!

Join ongoing wildlife surveys near you in the More tab, whererver you are!

Take a photo, upload a photo, record sounds, or enter sightings manually in the Observe tab!

You can add multiple photos, adjust location & oter settings as desired. Click view suggestions to see ID

iNaturalist will come up with a species ID! Once shared, other naturalists can suggest IDs as well!

Happy exploring, and remember to keep stormwater clean for the critters downstream!

Discover Aquatic Life in Winter

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021Leave a comment

Winter in North Carolina means shorter days and colder nights, a time when you might be spending more time indoors or bundling up to brave the drop in temperature. But what does winter mean for our aquatic animal neighbors? You might be surprised to discover that the winter is still an active time for many critters.

Macroinvertebrates

Water gets cold more slowly than air, which means fish, macroinvertebrates, and other aquatic creatures remain active even as the air temperature drops. You may still find mayfly, dragonfly, stonefly and other macroinvertebrates when sampling in the winter. Some people even prefer to look for these tiny animals in this season because they move slower and spend more time hiding under leaves and rocks.

Stoneflies overwinter as aquatic nymphs and continue growing even as water temperatures approach freezing. (photo courtesy of thecatchandthehatch.com)

Get involved: Macroinvertebrates are important water quality indicators and can help us assess stream health. Join or create an NC Stream Watch group to collect and submit macroinvertebrate data to a statewide citizen science effort! To learn more about the importance of clean water for macroinvertebrates, check out this video by the town of Chapel Hill’s stormwater department that talks about macroinvertebrates and dissolved oxygen.

Salamanders

Many salamander species are still active during North Carolina winters. You can spot red-back salamanders, lead-back salamanders, and maybe even the notoriously elusive marbled salamanders under logs in wet woodland areas. They are especially active during warm and rainy winter nights. Marbled salamanders breed in the winter, laying their eggs in ephemeral (temporary) woodland ponds.

The beautiful Marbled Salamander is the state salamander of North Carolina.

Get Involved: Interested in going winter herping? Check out The Wild Report’s video on going winter salamander hunting in the Piedmont. download the iNaturalist app to help with species ID and track the salamanders and other animals that you find along the way! If you are a new iNaturalist user, you can reference this previous blog post for some helpful tips and tricks.

Water Birds

Winter is a time that many birds migrate to North Carolina to overwinter. Buffleheads, pied-billed grebes, coots, ring-necked ducks and hooded mergansers are some of the inland waterfowl you might spot on a nearby pond or lake. If you live on the coast, you might spot gannets, loons and wrens near the shore. Some bird species even mate and lay eggs in the winter! If you listen closely, you might be able to hear the nasal sounding mating call of a male woodcock on a mild January night. Woodcocks live in shrubby forests and grasslands near water.

Male buffleheads are easily identified by their large white crown. (photo courtesy of allaboutbirds.org)

Get Involved: Ready to do some winter birding? Be sure to download the E-Bird app before you go. E-bird allows you to easily track, record, and ID the birds you find. To read more about winter birding in North Carolina, check out this page on the Bird Watcher’s Digest.

These animals need clean water to survive or thrive (like us!) Help protect critters by doing your part to keep stormwater clean.

Stream Stewardship Opportunity: Join NC Stream Watch!

February 10, 2020June 15, 2020Leave a comment

Are you looking for a local stewardship opportunity? Do you enjoy picking up trash or water quality monitoring? If so, you should join NC Stream Watch!

NC Stream Watch is a state-wide community science engagement program created by North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ). NC Stream Watch showcases the wide diversity of watersheds across the Mountains, Piedmont and Coastal Plains regions of the state and gives folks an opportunity to engage with their local waterways. Any interested group can participate in Stream Watch, including scout troops, church volunteers, key clubs, or school programs. The minimum requirements are to do two trash cleanups per year and take a photo and GPS location of your stream site.

This spring, CWEP is launching an NC Stream Watch Train-the Trainer series. Community groups in member local governments can contact CWEP to be trained as a Stream Watch leader and we will join you for your first event. CWEP will train leaders how to fill out the online monitoring surveys and choose a safe site. We will also provide materials such as macroinvertebrate sampling equipment and chemical water quality testing kits to enhance the environmental education opportunities at the first event.

Please contact the CWEP AmeriCorps member at cwep@tjcog.org if you are interested in a training and visit the NC DEQ Stream Watch site for more information about the program.