At this learning station the elementary students sampled the macroinvertebrates (insect larvae, crayfish, clams, etc.) in Lawson's Fork. Collecting and quantifying the types and abundance of these "critters" can give you an indication of the health of the stream, which appears to be "fair to good."

The Wofford team at this station had extra help and equipment from Clemson professor Rockie English and two of his graduate students, Jeremy Pike (who has helped us before), and Kirsten Young. We owe the three of you BIG TIME! Thanks!!

It was chilly when the first group got ready to enter the creek, so the teachers brought bags to tie around the legs of elementary students in hopes of keeping them dry. Here Shiel Wood skeptically ties up the legs of one student. We quickly discovered that the method didn't work well, but the students had fun trying to walk with bagged legs!		Let's see what insects and other animals we got and pick them out of the leaves and sand! Larval mayflies, dragonflies, dobson flies, and caddis flies were common in the stream, as were small clams, crayfish, and snails.
Margaret Meyer gives some encouragement to these young collectors.		After tying her shoe, this young lady was right in the creek collecting critters!
"Cool, I see something moving in there!"		Oops! This soggy young man kept his sense of humor despite losing his footing in the creek!