September 2012

Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division Logo

Parrish Elementary School Sixth Graders Become Creek Kids
September 20, 2012

Mrs. Morrison gave a PowerPoint presentation about the water cycle and nonpoint source pollution at the Cane Creek School in Tannehill State Park.

Spraying water represents rain.	Green Kool-aid represents fertilizer that can runoff land into water.
Fences keep cows out of the stream. Animals in the stream that will add nutrients and bacteria to the stream.	Chocolate represents silt/mud and is sprinkled on the watershed model. Sprayed water represents rain washing pollutants into local waters.
Watershed models are used to show how pollution enters the aquatic environment.	Parrish Elementary School students know a lot about the environment.
Parrish Elementary School students model the Alabama hog sucker tattoo.	The Alabama hog sucker is the mascot of the Creek Kids program.
Students find out that groundwater is cold.	Where groundwater comes to the surface, it is called a spring.
Alabama Power Company donated the Renew Our Rivers tee shirts.	Some pretty flower like moist soil, like this cardinal flower.
Mr. Moss explains groundwater.	Springs are cold. The water has been in the ground a while.
	Mills were important to help settlers convert their grains into meal.
	Train rides are fun, and they are a way to explore watersheds.
Dams change habitat and block fish passage. They also produce power for mills and turbines.	A green anole was seen at the sluice. He was brown when Mr. Darr caught him.
These are native snails.	This Asiatic clam is an exotic species.
This student found the most mussels.	Looks like an Asiatic clam.
Parrish Elementary School students look for invertebrates on rocks. They found caddisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, and a water penny. All were larval forms.	Students used a seine to collect fish, but no fish were caught.
Students seined in a creek in Tannehill.	Parrish Elementary Sixth Grade students looked for invertebrates.
What turtle did we find? Hint: look at the Emydidae.	Banded sculpin are found in Tannehill waters. Banded sculpins eat insects. Larger banded sculpins can even eat crayfish, see other Tannehill fish.