It has been a busy year for Earth Team Pinole as they prepared installation and maintenance of a second native plant garden meanwhile working on their first-ever GLOBE project.
In the months leading up to school district closures and stay-at-home orders, Pinole interns visited several sites along the Pinole Creek Watershed to collect water quality data along the creek. They followed GLOBE protocols when collecting data and were looking forward to presenting their research at the annual GLOBE Student Research Symposium in May. Unfortunately, the event had to be canceled this Spring due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but Earth Team students still held a mini-SRS and presented to projects partners and community members via Zoom.
The research objective for Pinole’s project was to assess trends in water quality along the stretch of Pinole Creek that ran through urban areas. They tested water samples collected behind the Pinole Public Library which is visited by students and community members almost daily. They tested water collected near the Pinole Valley Community Church–where the creek runs under a bridge designed to allow vehicles and pedestrians to cross over the creek. monitored any changes in dissolved oxygen levels, nitrates, pH, temperature, and turbidity. Lastly they tested water at the Pinole Fish Passage, located behind a shopping center where the creek flows through a culvert underneath highway I-80. Students monitored changes in dissolved oxygen, temperature, and pH.
On May 23rd, Antioch interns joined together with interns from Pinole and Skyline Earth Teams to present their research to project partners, local scientists, and faculty at their high schools. You can watch the full meeting here.