A chilly morning brought on some keen citizens from Bathurst to take part in the Training Day: Wetland Citizen Science Programs on Tuesday 29th May 2018 at Macquarie River in Bicentennial Park. AUSMAP was there!
The day was run by the Western Rivers Environmental Education Network (WREEN) with an aim to provide fun and innovative research programs for the community.
The program included a number of activities such as 'Scum School' an algae monitoring workshop run by the University of Technology (UTS), waterbird tracking with the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), and of course measuring microplastics with AUSMAP.
AUSMAP's program involved working with Dr Scott Wilson. He taught people about what microplastics are and how they get into our water systems, including Macquarie River. Next they got stuck into finding microplastics along the banks of the river, which involved placing a quadrat down, and taking the top 2cm of sediment and sifting it to see the microplastics left behind.
After sieving, the crew tipped out what was left in their sieve into a tray to identify and pick out microplastics.
Even with a cold start, those who came did a terrific job in collecting valuable microplastic data for AUSMAP, were treated with a well deserved morning tea and lunch provided by WREEN. I'm sure everyone who attended had fun and learnt lots!
Written by: Naomi Huynh (volunteer of AUSMAP)
Photos: Dr Scott Wilson