Bryant Creek Assessment Project 2012

Thanks to an extremely dedicated group of volunteers–Janet Arth, Tom Arth, Becky Estes, Lorri Oslowski, Carolyn Pickering, Sue Roberts, John Rothgeb and George Sims–we’ve just completed sampling all forty-nine sites, covering EVERY mile of Bryant Creek.

In 2012, water levels allowed us to collect almost three times the data from preveious years–not only water chemistry, but a visual survey of each site, and macroinvertebrate sampling at most of them.

The project, initiated in 2010 by members of the Ozark Chapter of Missouri Master Naturalists, is one of the most ambitious water quality monitoring projects in the state of Missouri.

All data is submitted to the Missouri Stream Team program, and a separate, 158-page local document is maintained, which shows all data collected to date.

A copy of that document is linked below:

BCAP Ongoing Report

My most sincere thanks to everyone who traveled, paddled, conducting sampling, spent time identifying tiny bug larva, and made this project such a success.  You are good folks to run the river with.

Bugeyes

Okay, Folks. I gure that, if you’re wasting your time reading this drivel, you probably have some interests in some, if not all, types of insects, so the following question wouldn’t apply to you.

Walk up to your spouse, significant other, mamma, daddy, brother, sister, or even some poor moke on the street, and ask, “How many bugs have you seen today?”

They will, of course, look at you strangely.  They will, almost certainly, reply, “None” (or at least a VERY small number).  That, Gentle Reader, was ME, back in the day, before I became a rabid Bug Hunter.  I rarely saw bugs, even though they were all around me.  (One exception was the time I saw a cricket crawling across the kitchen floor while my wife was washing dishes at the sink.  I quickly scooped it up, sneaked across the room, and stuffed it down the back of her underwear.  Maybe that’s part of the reason why she’s my ex-wife?!)  But I digress.

I enjoy sitting out in my 20-acre “yard”, comfortably ensconced in a canvas chair, adult beverage in hand, and bugnet conveniently at hand.  It only takes me a few minutes to “put my bugeyes on”.  They’re EVERYWHERE!!!

If you, like me, grew up in the sixties and seventies, you might prefer calling this state “becoming one with the bugs”.  Chemical enhancement of this condition is NOT recommended.  I’ve noticed that after several hours of Anheuser-Busch Electrolyte Replacement Fluid, my bugeyes suffer greatly.

My loves are dragonflies, and I like butterflies a bit.  My wife (not the aforementioned lady) gets a bit frustrated that I cannot keep my eyes on her during a conversation, with my eyeballs darting here and there.  “Oooooooh, cool bug!”  “Oooooooh, that’s a Great spangled fritillary.  I just learned that one today!”  “Harrumph, boring old hymenopteran!”  “Get your buggy butt away from me, Loathsome Dipteran!!!” 

“Ahhhhh.  Dragonfly.  Here, Buggy, Buggy, Buggy!!!  Come to Poppa!”

I think we, as Bug Nerds, owe it to the Youth of Today to encourage them to keep their Bugeyes on as much of the time as possible.  There’s an awful lot going on out there that most folks never see.  There are worse ways to spend your time.

“Oooooh.  An ant.  I wonder if he’s got his Peopleeyes on?!?”

Dragonfly Enthusiasts of the Midwest United States (DEMUS)

After last weekend’s most successful combination of odonate hunting, collecting and photographing, Jon Rapp, Anthony Zukoff and I were sitting around the kitchen table, talking bugs.

“This has been a lot of fun.  It’d be great if we had an active, INFORMAL organization of other dragonfly nerds, just so we could know who else is out there, and maybe get together occasionally for a day of collecting and visiting.”  We knew that a Missouri group had been formed a few years ago, but the outfit seemed to be inactive, and we’d tried, and failed, to “kick-start” the society back into action.

We began to list the folks we knew in Missouri,  but kept coming up with additional names of “hobby” dragonfliers in adjoining states.  “There’s Berlin Heck and Jim Arterburn in Oklahoma.  Steve Hummel in Iowa is a GREAT source, and he’s been president of the DSA (Dragonfly Society of the Americas).  George Harp down in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Skyler McLean down near the Louisiana line.”  Jon knew some guys in Kansas, and the area began to grow.

“Let’s aim at folks in Missouri and all the ‘contiguous’ states.  We won’t turn away anyone who’s interested from outside those nine states, but we could make this a sorta ‘central midwest’ group.  People would be close enough to get together if we came up with a really interesting reason for them to travel.  We’d mainly be aiming at the amateur, or hobbyist, collector, rather than the ‘Big Guys’–the professional entomologists and authors of the literature–although we WILL beg them to sign up and provide us with some guidance and adult supervision.”

So….

We sent out several e-mails, posted the information on a couple of “dragonfly sites” (there ARE such things, you know!), and, within three days, had half-a-hundred folks expressing interest.  We were especially proud to have a few of the “Big Guys” respond affirmatively and encouragingly–Dr. Nick Donnelly in New York, one of the nation’s most prominent odonotologistsk, and Christine Goforth, writer of the fantastic “Dragonfly Woman” blog are both on the roster.

In addition to them, we arbitrarily added several prominent names in the dragonfly/damselfly field.  I wrote them, and told them that they were members, whether they liked it or not, and that we’d be keeping them apprised of our activities and INUNDATING them with endless questions.  If they felt that affiliation with “the likes of us” was TOO shameful and damaging to their reputations, we will (reluctantly) drop them from the rolls.

So…..

The Dragonfly Enthusiasts of the Midwest United States (“DEMUS”) has been launched.  If you’re reading this blog, you are probably: 1) interested in bugs, 2) interested in Booger (Douglas) County, Missouri, or 3) completely bored out of your skull.  If the first applies, you are most welcome to join us.  Just shoot me an e-mail (georgesims@hotmail.com), so we can have your name, city and state, and e-mail address.

Once the initial onslaught of membership abates, we’ll send out a message to each of you, giving the names, locations and e-mails of like-minded Bug Nerds.  We’d love to have you.