Members of the community joined over 120 Northwest Elementary School Students on May 5 at the Otway Covered Bridge to participate in the Eighth Annual Scioto Brush Creek Day.  Sponsored by the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek, Scioto Brush Creek Day was established to stimulate interest and educate the community about this superb natural habitat.  Professionals from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves, Scioto Soil and Water Conservation District, Shawnee State Park and the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek spent the day teaching participants about Scioto Brush Creek’s water quality and diverse stream habitat.

Participants in the field day were able to experience Scioto Brush Creek’s biodiversity through the activities and demonstrations that the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek had planned for the day.  Mike Greenlee, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife exhibited some of the many fish that can be found in Scioto Brush Creek through a fish shocking demonstration.  Studies of the stream have found sixty-nine different species of fish inhabiting the waters of Scioto Brush Creek.  Native Ohio Muskellunge, the Popeye Shiner, American Eel, and Rosyside Dace are among the rare and interesting species found in Scioto Brush Creek.  Whereas many streams in Ohio have lost much of there original fish fauna over the past 100 years, Scioto Brush Creek has managed to maintain conditions that are necessary for many of the species to survive.

Scioto Brush Creek Day participants also learned about many of the small critters that make their homes in the rock and sediment at the bottom of the stream.  With the help of Frank DiMarco a Coordinator for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves Scenic Rivers Services, students and residents sampled macroinvertebrates, tiny organisms with no backbones, from Scioto Brush Creek.  Macroinvertebrate sampling is a great way of determining water quality as some species are sensitive to pollution and will disappear from the stream with the presence of any contamination.  Samples of Scioto Brush Creek’s macroinvertebrate species show an abundance of pollution sensitive organisms living in the stream – a sign of Scioto Brush Creek’s excellent water quality.

Students who were present at Scioto Brush Creek Day learned about food chains and competition through an activity called “Muskies and Minnows.”  By simulating a stream habitat similar to that of Scioto Brush Creek, Jody Newton-McAllister, a Naturalist with the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek, with the assistance of Jenny Richards, Shawnee State Park Naturalist, discussed the importance of food and shelter to stream biodiversity and how human activities on land can affect aquatic habitat.  Through the activity, students experienced the effects of siltation from soil erosion and better comprehended how pollutants can destroy food sources, cause habitat loss, and significantly harm stream ecosystems.

At the conclusion of both the morning and afternoon portions of Scioto Brush Creek Day, awards were presented to students who participated in the Scioto Brush Creek Bulletin Board contest.  Prior to the event, students were invited to use resources to answer questions about Scioto Brush Creek.  The top three scoring students from the Fifth Grade Class were given exciting prizes and a free membership to the Friends of Scioto Brush Creek.