Bishop Creek, Cleveland CountyBeginning in April 2022, Blue Thumb worked with a group of stakeholders in the Bishop Creek watershed to develop a watershed based plan (WBP). The WBP was accepted by EPA on April 14, 2023. In 2024, the City of Norman and engaged stakeholders developed a StoryMap to educate residents about the WBP and what they can do to protect and improve Bishop Creek. The StoryMap includes a link to the WBP. If you have questions about the WBP, please contact Michelle Chao, the City of Norman Environmental Programs Supervisor, at [email protected].
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Rogers State University Student Projects
During the Spring 2024 semester, Dr. Olson's Limnology Class at Rogers State University worked with Blue Thumb to develop data projects for six creeks. In the fall of 2023, Kim prepared data packets for Boomer Creek in Payne County; Crow Creek, Mingo Creek and Owasso Creek in Tulsa County; and Cat Creek and Dog Creek in Rogers County. The data packets included chemical, biological (bugs and fish) and habitat data for each creek. In January, Cheryl met with the class, gave each group a data packet for their creek and provided a crash course in interpreting stream data. In February, Kim and Briant took the students through a Blue Thumb Mini-Academy for Monitoring so the students would have a deeper understanding of the chemical data. For the rest of the semester, students visited their creeks and developed their projects. The purpose of the projects was to learn about their creek by exploring the data and visiting the creek, and to develop a project to educate the local community about water quality and actions watershed residents could take to protect and improve stream health. In May, the students presented their projects to Dr. Olson and to the Blue Thumb staff. It was great fun to see their projects and to witness their excitement and enthusiasm!
Boomer Creek, Payne County
The Boomer Creek group developed a flyer and a brochure about Boomer Creek that were distributed at Oklahoma State University. They also met with the Stillwater City Council and proposed educational signage for Boomer Creek.
Crow Creek, Tulsa County
The Crow Creek group hosted an event at the RSU Library. They led visitors through Water Quality? Ask the Bugs! and Incredible Journey (image below). They also created a poster describing the aquatic macroinvertebrates they found at Crow Creek.
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Mingo Creek, Tulsa County
The Mingo Creek group created a Facebook page to educate watershed residents about the stream. They shared a QR code to the page with groups in the watershed. Their hope is the FB page will be maintained by the next Blue Thumb volunteer to monitor Mingo Creek.
Owasso Creek, Tulsa County
The Owasso Creek group created a series of short YouTube videos, each highlighting a different aspect of creek health. They distributed a link to the YouTube Channel to groups in the watershed.
Cat Creek, Rogers County
The Cat Creek group developed designs for educational signage along the creek at Muskogee Park in Claremore. One sign focused on life in the creek and the other focused on principles of stream ecology (below). This group met with the Stormwater Manager for the City of Claremore, proposed the signage project and outlined funding. The City expressed interested in moving forward with the project.
Dog Creek, Rogers County
The Dog Creek group created a poster depicting some of the fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates found in the stream. The poster also provided an overview of key components of stream health. They communicated with the City Manager of Claremore and suggested effective locations for the poster to be displayed. A digital copy of the poster was provided to the City Council. A physical copy of the poster was displayed at Loshbaugh Hall on the campus of RSU. The group plans to deliver additional physical copies to local libraries and public schools.
