Fishy research at Baird Creek UW-Milwaukee students Chemine Jackels, left, and Liz Miller use an "electrofish'' which draws the fish to the electric current and temporarily stuns them for identification (photo by Tina Gohr). Researchers begin first phase of Lower Fox River Watershed Monitoring Program By Monique Balas News-Chronicle Baird Creek fish got a bit of a tickle Wednesday morning as researchers began a Fox River Watershed monitoring program by testing the fish with an electrofish device. The device works by sending out a direct current into the stream, which causes the fish muscles to move. They swim toward the current, where they are stunned briefly enough for researchers to scoop them up for identification and send them back into the water. The testing was one way for local teachers, university students and professors to continuously monitor the health the Lower Fox River Watershed over the course of five years. The project is funded through a $1.5 million grant from Arjo Wiggins Appleton, the former owner of Appleton Papers. "Students in high schools are going to be learning about watershed science and stream ecology," said Kevin Fermanich, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and director of the watershed program. The research will "get a better understanding of the resources and the amount of sediment and nutrients getting into the Fox River and bay ultimately," he said. The group is learning similar testing methods and using similar equipment to produce consistent data, which will ultimately be posted on a Web site. Development, poor stormwater management and farm runoff are all ways human behavior has affected the Baird Creek, Fermanich said. Information about the creek's fish population is a good way to determine the stream's ecological health. "The stream changes a lot during the day," said Tim Ehlinger, who directs the conservation and environmental sciences program at UW-Milwaukee and is helping conduct the watershed monitoring program. "It's a good indication of how healthy the stream is because they're in there 24/7, 365. They see it all." Certain types of fish are more sensitive to pollution than others. Knowing which species survive and which don't can indicate the general health of the stream, Ehlinger said. For example, fantail darters used to live in the stream but are no longer found there. The fish can only survive in clear water, and erosion from the creek's banks have made the water too silt-rich, Ehlinger said. Researchers will also test Apple, Baird, Duck and Ashwaubenon creeks. "Water quality assessment has been going on in the Green Bay area for a number of years," said Rick Berken, a biology teacher at Southwest High School, "but this project's a little different because of the scope and quality control and assessments." He said he is happy to have a hands-on way to get his students involved in the scientific method. "It will illustrate that, to kids, these problems we're addressing are not just in little boxes. You don't have to live at the edge of the stream to have an impact on the stream," he said. Colleague Lynn Hudock appreciates the chance to teach her students how to produce useful information. "It's just cool to have kids out there and say, 'I'm making a difference,'" she said. But Rebecca Katers, who directs Clean Water Action Council of Northeast Wisconsin, had a different perspective on the project. Although she supports the research itself, she expressed concern that Arjo Wiggins Appleton is taking attention away from the problem of polychlorinated biphenyls in the Fox River by focusing on the watershed monitoring project. The company was one of the major contributors of PCB deposits in the river. "Nonpoint research and control is important, this project is valuable, but we shouldn't be praising Arjo Wiggins for it," she said. "They owe it to us." The $1.5 million grant, she said, is a "pittance" compared to the hundreds of millions they owe for sediment cleanup, damage compensation and restoration projects involving the Fox River. In addition, she said, industry influence could sway university professors into being silent on controversial issues. "We need to have our professors at the university be able to speak out publicly and be objective," Katers said. "They can't be objective when getting $1.5 million from the polluters."