Field+Classes

Type in the content of your page here//.// //Camp Costanoan// //By Madeleine Klein// //March 17th, 2010// //Throughout my science camp experience, this activity was the most disgusting. It was a sunny, Thursday morning at Walden West Science Camp. My field class went on a short hike to the creek with our instructor, Falcon. The teachers met us there.// //Falcon assigned us a special experiment to see if the creek water was polluted (the water was muddy). The plan was to look for pollution intolerant insects in the river to prove the water was clean. My group was to collect the insects by holding a net in the water and moving rocks upstream to stir up the bugs. Falcon also passed out small workbooks that showed which insects were pollution intolerant. Everyone in my group set out to catch insects.// //Many pollution intolerant insects were found. This proves that the water was clean. If the water was polluted, pollution intolerant bugs could not survive. Among the insects found were Dobson Fly Larvae, Stonefly Larvae, grubs, and worms. The horrifying part is that, when put in a big tub with the other insects, the carnivorous Dobson Fly Larvae tried to eat its fellow insects! All I could say was, “Ew, that’s life.”// //In just a few sunny, Thursday morning hours, I learned all about river insects and had lots of fun (despite the disgusting Dobson Fly Larvae).//