AWW Staffer Sydney Zinner was joined by AWWesome Volunteer Trainers Hana Berres, Anne Krichten and new Trainer Intern Dr. Cindy Tant at the Birmingham Zoo for a series of Water Chemistry, Bacteriological, and Stream Biomonitoring Trainings.
We had a great group of educators, homeowners, returning volunteers, and water enthusiasts attend the trainings – some folks stayed for all three to receive their certifications on ALL AWW Monitoring types!
Rain in the forecast didn’t stop us! While we weren’t able to go to our intended stream site due to the potential for storms, we were able to take advantage of the reflection fountain at the Zoo’s entrance to practice water chemistry tests. Hana and Anne did an excellent job leading workshop participants through each test.
On Saturday we gathered again to practice Stream Biomonitoring and search for critters at the Zoo’s retention pond. We kicked of the training by learning to identify and categorize stream critters using the MacroMania game.
Although we had to change sampling locations at the last minute, we were not disappointed by what we found! The retention pond offered a diversity of critters to explore.
We were glad to have Anne and Dr. Cindy Tant, a Professor at University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB), as Trainer Interns for the session, as they both of have extensive experience with identifying macroinvertebrates. In fact, they are our FIRST Stream Biomonitoring Trainer Interns in over a decade!
Trainers and workshop participants alike had a great time exploring the pond critters and finding that the water quality of the pond was pretty good!