Snapshot Day is a state-wide event which brings people together to search for aquatic invasive species (AIS).
The Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance helps host locations throughout the watershed, including a site in Green Bay. This was the second time that Fox-Wolf hosted a site in Green Bay.
The training was held at the Green Bay Wildlife Sanctuary with six volunteers signing up. Four of our six volunteers were from the Door County area and the other two were from Green Bay. We went through the standard protocols for the sites and then discussed the different invasives we may run across while out sampling.
Our team then headed out to the Wildlife Sanctuary’s pond and practiced the protocols. After all four rake throws, the only things we pulled in were coontail, forked duckweed, watermeal, and some filamentous algae. Everyone talked about how helpful this on-site training was before heading out in groups.
Our Door County volunteers headed out to a couple sites in East Green Bay while our Green Bay residents headed over to some sites near Howard.
The East Green Bay sites were focused on Baird’s Creek and the East River near Joannes Park. During their monitoring, the volunteers came across purple loosestrife and snail we were unable to identify but thought might be a faucet snail. They also ran into a lot of mosquitoes.
The Howard/West Green Bay sites focused on Beaver Dam Creek and Thornberry Creek. Volunteers for these sites were looking for round gobies and purple loosestrife. At both sites’ purple loosestrife and Phragmites were found. The Beaver Dam Creek site was an active construction site and no AIS were observed in the water.
At the end of the event, everyone was interested in a follow up about the snail that we were unable to ID in the field. Turns out the snail is a native to Wisconsin, so there are, currently, not faucet snails found in the East River.
We look forward to repeating the event in Green Bay in 2020!
