Last week, our Waterloo Mills Preserve in Devon played host to seventh graders from Radnor Middle School. 

Radnor students have visited the Preserve every year for the last six years as part of the "Watershed" Integrated Learning Program. Through this program, science and math concepts are applied via a comprehensive study of a local watershed involving both classroom activities and site visits.  Over the years, students in the program have participated in a number of projects at Waterloo Mills including planting a riparian corridor, installing a butterfly garden, erecting deer exclosures, constructing and mounting wood duck and bluebird nesting boxes, planting a warm-season grass meadow, and measuring the density of amphibian eggs in wetlands.

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Every year on their visit to the Preserve, the Radnor students also conduct biological and chemical sampling of Darby Creek.  Darby Creek bisects Waterloo Mills Preserve and is classified by the state as a cold water fishery system.  On their visit last week, students measured the pH, dissolved oxygen, phosphate, nitrate, alkalinity, and suspended solid levels of the Creek. They also tested stream velocity and turbidity, and collected and analyzed benthic macroinvertebrates (aquatic insects) to determine the overall health of the Creek.  But perhaps the most exciting part of this year's visit was the release of trout fry into the pond and Darby Creek.  With the help of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the students raised the fry in their classroom throughout the school year.   Releasing the fry into the wild was the culmination of the project and the students were thrilled to send the young fish on their way.