{"id":2657,"date":"2026-02-01T16:57:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T00:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/?p=2657"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T15:58:08","slug":"the-joys-of-stream-sampling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/the-joys-of-stream-sampling\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joys of Stream Sampling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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BWS doesn\u2019t have an office. We do our indoor stuff, like meetings and such, at each other\u2019s houses. Our monthly meetings, thanks to the kind support of SPID (Ships Point Improvement District) are at the firefighters training hall. Many meetings are on Zoom and we sometimes meet at the FBI. But if we DID have an office, it would have a big sign out front, for all to see, saying, \u201cStream Samplers Wanted. Apply within\u201d. For those who have followed our adventures over the years, this request for samplers may seem odd. We have occasionally put out a call for volunteers to help with things like data management or grant writing. Finding folks who want to play in the creeks has never been a problem. Though having said that, I should note that the Royston Pod might disagree.
A \u2018pod\u2019 by the way, is our whimsical term for a team. As we expanded from our original three creeks, we separated the territory we now cover (Bowser to Royston) into three areas so we could be finished before dark! We sample on Tuesdays to align with the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) Community Watershed Monitoring protocols. And even though we refer to it as \u2018sampling\u2019 we don\u2019t bring samples back for analysis. We measure the Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Specific Conductivity, Temperature, and Turbidity of each creek right alongside the babbling brook itself (or crashing torrent, depending on the time of year) and record the data in a logbook.
The Royston Pod has been doing more streams, spread over a wider territory, with fewer people than the rest of us for a long time. Mostly due to the heroic commitment of Marie Purcell and Mark Lake, we have gathered unbroken reams of data from our northern realms with a skeleton crew. But things are looking up in Royston. There are now a few new bodies to share the load. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bowser Pod, the new kids on the block, who relied heavily on the Winter family, have recently attracted a few new folks as well. It\u2019s here in the center, in the Fanny Bay area, where we\u2019re getting thin. This is not to say we can\u2019t still get the job done. But, jeez, it seems unfair for just a few of us to hog all the fun!
So, this is your big opportunity. You may have seen our sign on the roads on most Tuesdays when the sun is shining and the birds are singing (or when it\u2019s pouring rain and the birds are home reading books by the fire). You\u2019ve probably wondered what kind of fun we\u2019re having out there and how you could join in on it. Now\u2019s your chance to find out. You too can learn to wield a YSI probe and measure the Nephelometric Turbidity Units of local creeks. And learn where the Dippers do their dance and where delicate lady ferns grace exposed shale banks dripping with spring water year-round.
It really is beautiful out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n


For more info, call Mike at 250.702.5900, Pam at 250.335.1831, or send us an email at info@beaufortwater.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BWS doesn\u2019t have an office. We do our indoor stuff, like meetings and such, at each other\u2019s houses. Our monthly meetings, thanks to the kind support of SPID (Ships Point Improvement District) are at the firefighters training hall. Many meetings are on Zoom and we sometimes meet at the FBI. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[157,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-157","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beaufortwater.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}