Summer Fun!

Well June was packed full with fun summertime events. The weather was fine & the highlights are many. My favorite ed event was with hundred's of cub scouts at our local city park, Stephens Lake. Groups of 20 would come through our booth every hour on the hour, for 8 hours! It was such a pleasure to work and play with these kids, they were so intelligent & well behaved! Ann Koenig (Forrester for MDC) plays the Macro-Mayem game with the scouts

Many of them were definitely "gifted" and sometimes my lecture on water quality and Stream Teams would get turned around into Q & A's, ranging from scientists studying parasitic twins to why old people shrink, after that last one, I quickly saw that we were getting way off track & returned to our discussion on macro-invertebrates! The next day, Steve & I were off to celebrate Stream Team's 20th anniversary down in Waynesville! We participated in a float on the Big Piney, mingled with fellow stream teamers, listened to old time bluegrass, ate BBQ & together shared our fondest memories during a heartwarming documentary on the program and it's success'. Here's a link to watch the 20th anniversary documentary: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=02D5F418F1519949 Steve & I on our float (top)

A beautiful mayfly I rescued out of the water and set to dry on my paddle (bottom)

On Sunday, I attended some really great workshops on terrestrial insects and fly fishing. It was a blast!

Lastly, Missouri River Relief ended June with a big splash in Sioux City, IA. For the second year in a row, we helped local Siouxlanders clean-up their stretch of river. There wasn't all that much trash to be had, but the experience of working with the "Sioux Crew" was priceless. We even got to take a tour of a wastewater treatment plant! Check out over a hundred photos we are posting of this event on our Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/8478409@N03/. What a great month it has been, Missouri's streams & rivers have once again left me full, yet ready for more.

Melanie Cheney
Americorps Stream Team Assistant
Missouri River Relief

Invasive Species Removal at Kiwanis Park

(Photo: Pam Venable showing off some recently pulled up Japanese Honeysuckle, photographed by Katrina Thomas)

Much of February was spent staying out of the cold, but there were a few days that great for getting out. On February 7, we worked with TreeKeepers to do another Japanese Honeysuckle removal at Kiwanis Park. [We had done one previously in October 2008] The chipper was filled up in about 2 hours, but there was another chipper load or two that were left as "rabbit habitat" out in the park. There was so much honeysuckle left where it was cut that many people, including myself, would make their way to cut down a nearby plant only to find that the plant was already cut. The best part of the

event was at the end when I was walking through the park back towards the parking lot and seeing the area clear of honeysuckle, and the pile of honeysuckle that had been put in place in the parking lot.

Welcome

2008-2009 Missouri Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistants

(from left to right) Row 1: Steve Johnson, Katrina Thomas, Bev Longnecker, Mary Denney, and Melanie Cheney. Row 2: Johanna Morehouse, Barbra Maynard, Lea Langdon, and Pam Venable. Not Pictured: Stacy Arnold

Welcome to the new Missouri Stream Team Blog! Once a month our Stream Team AmeriCorps Assistants (shown above) will blog about an activity that they have done with a stream team. This blog will also be available for Stream Teams to read and blog about their own activities.

If you would like to be a contributor, i.e. post a blog, just send an email to missouririver@gmail.com and we will send you an invitation to become a contributor.