Matadero Creek Data

Matadero Creek Data
Collected by Lucinda Surber’s 4^th Grade
Barron Park School, Palo Alto, California

2006-2007 Data

Our class collects monthly data about Matadero Creek, which runs behind our school. We measure the temperature of the creek water and the depth. We track how quickly the creek is flowing by timing how long it takes a stick to travel between two points. We use chemical testers to measure the amount of phosphates and dissolved oxygen in the creek.

Date	Creek Temp.	Depth	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
9/7/06	66° F	2.5 inches	no reading	0.4 mg/L	9 mg/L
The creek seemed to be moving quickly in spots, but the creek is shallow and the stick kept getting stuck on the rocks. We saw a hummingbird and found lots of ants on the bank. The blackberries are ripening.
10/4/06	62° F	2.5 inches	28.53 seconds	0.3 mg/L	9 mg/L
There are many plants growing in the creek so we were surprised when the first stick made it through. More leaves have fallen on the ground and the anise plant is leaning over the creek. There are a few blackberries.
11/7/06	64° F	2 inches	54.53 seconds	0.4 mg/L	9 mg/L
The long stems of the anise plants on the creek bank are drooping. There are long strands of moss in the creek.
12/7/06	51° F	2.5 inches	34.02 seconds	0.6 mg/L	11 mg/L
Many of the anise stems are now on the ground and starting to turn brown. New grass is beginning to grow. It is a very bight green color and very soft. The moss in the creek is gone.
1/5/07	50° F	1 inch	33.88 seconds	0.2 mg/L	11 mg/L
We saw several pairs of mallards feeding in the creek. The creek bank is covered with fallen leaves.
2/5/07	54° F	1 inch	30.65 seconds	0.4 mg/L	12 mg/L
The trees branches are bare; all the leaves have fallen. We saw a hummingbird.
3/8/07	60° F	7 inches	22.44 seconds	0.6 mg/L	11 mg/L
It has been raining and raining and raining! The creek is very high and very loud.
4/9/07	62° F	3 inches	no reading	0.8 mg/L	7 mg/L
The creek is still moving quickly, but there is a lot of debris in the water. Our stick kept getting stuck. We saw several damselflies and noticed that everything smells very fresh.
5/8/07	72° F	2.5 inches	no reading	0.7 mg/L	8 mg/L
Everything smells very fresh and minty. The anise has soft new growth. We saw many damselflies. There is moss growing in the water and some branches caught in the rocks. Our sticks never made it through.
6/4/07	65° F	1.5 inches	no reading	0.2 mg/L	12 mg/L
A pair of mallard ducks feeding in the creek flew away when they heard us arrive. The creek is very quiet and moving slowly. Our stick couldn’t make it through. We noticed that the wild blackberries have new blossoms and the new anise growth is as tall as some of us. We saw many damselflies and an egret flew over our heads. We are glad to leave the creek so healthy for the summer.

2005-2006 Data

Our class collected monthly data about Matadero Creek, which runs behind our school. We measured the temperature of the creek water and the depth. We tracked how quickly the creek is flowing by timing how long it takes a stick to travel between two points. We used chemical testers to measure the amount of phosphates and dissolved oxygen in the creek.

Date	Creek Temp.	Depth	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
9/1/05	71° F	3.5 inches	no reading	0.4 mg/L	9 mg/L
The creek seemed to be moving quickly in spots, but the creek is shallow and the stick kept getting stuck on the rocks. We found lots of ants on the bank!
11/2/05	60° F	3.5 inches	no reading	0.5 mg/L	11 mg/L
We were very busy in October and forgot to go to the creek. This month the first of us were lucky to see an egret which flew away when the whole class got down to the creek.
12/7/05	49° F	3.75 inches	no reading	0.35 mg/L	9 mg/L
There were lots of birds this month. Most of the leaves had fallen from the trees. The stick almost made it!
1/5/06	56° F	9.5 inches	14.11 seconds	0.5 mg/L	10 mg/L
It has been raining and the creek is full of water and running quickly. The bank was covered with silt; we saw raccoon and dog prints in the mud.
2/6/06	54° F	7 inches	28.81 seconds	0.4 mg/L	12 mg/L
The creek has fallen a bit since last month but is still high.
3/6/06	56° F	16.5 inches	10.42 seconds	0.2 mg/L	11 mg/L
The creek is so high that we couldn’t get out to our usual measuring spot. We estimate that the water is one inch below the highest rock. We will measure next month. It has been raining like crazy and new grass is growing everywhere. The anise is sending out new fluffy sprouts.
4/3/06	56° F	19.5 inches	8.23 seconds	0.35 mg/L	9 mg/L
It is still raining! We managed to make our observation in a short break between storms. Our lower observation bank is underwater and the creek is higher than we have ever seen it. We estimate that the water is two inches above the highest rock. The noise of the water crashing over the rocks made it hard to hear anything else!
5/8/06	66° F	8.5 inches	23.72 seconds	0.4 mg/L	8 mg/L
It is has finally stopped raining! We used our notes to calculate the depth of the creek for the last two months. There were many damselflies and the anise is taller. There are long strands of algae in the creek.
6/5/06	65° F	5 inches	22.54 seconds	0.5 mg/L	9 mg/L
The creek is much lower but still moving quickly. We saw many water striders and one tadpole. The anise is as tall as Ms. Surber!

2004-2005 Data

Date	Creek Temp.	Depth	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
9/10/04	64° F	5.5 inches	no reading	0.3 mg/L	9 mg/L
The creek seemed to be moving quickly in spots, but there were so many plants growing in the creek bed that the stick kept getting stuck. We found lots of ants on the bank!
10/6/04	60° F	4 inches	no reading	0.5 mg/L	9 mg/L
The licorice scent of anise was very strong this month. There are still many ants and we found several very large pine cones in the creek. The creek is lower and the stick kept getting stuck in the plants or among the rocks.
11/5/04	58° F	5 inches	33.68 seconds	0.9 mg/L	9 mg/L
It has been raining so the creek is higher and the stick finally made it through! The moss and plants in the creek bed are almost gone.
12/6/04	53° F	3.75 inches	no reading	0.5 mg/L	10 mg/L
The moss and plants in the creek are completely gone and the little pool has dried up. The stick kept getting stuck in the rocks.
1/4/05	45° F	9 inches	21.28 seconds	0.4 mg/L	9.5 mg/L
2/3/05	53° F	6.25 inches	30.78 seconds	0.9 mg/L	12 mg/L
3/1/05	56° F	8.25 inches	17.91 seconds	0.35 mg/L	11 mg/L
5/2/05	65° F	6.5 inches	23.84 seconds	0.9 mg/L	9 mg/L
6/7/05	60° F	5.5 inches	stuck	0.4 mg/L	9.5 mg/L

2003-2004 Data

Our class collected monthly data about Matadero Creek, which runs behind our school. We measured the temperature of the creek water and the depth. We tracked how quickly the creek is flowing by timing how long it took a stick to travel between two points. We used chemical testers to measure the amount of phosphates and dissolved oxygen in the creek.

Date	Creek Temp.	Depth	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
9/5/03	70° F	4 inches	54.17 seconds	0.8 mg/L	8 mg/L
The creek didn’t seem very deep, but the stick moved fairly quickly in the current. We found lots of ants on the bank!
10/3/03	62° F	3.5 inches	5 minutes 1.17 seconds	0.8 mg/L	9 mg/L
There are still many many ants on the bank! There are more plants growing in the creek and the stick kept getting stuck. The third stick finally made it through, though we had almost given up waiting for it.
11/4/03	52° F	3.5 inches	2 minutes 35 seconds	0.5 mg/L	11 mg/L
It has been raining so the water seemed to be moving quickly but our stick kept getting stuck on the rocks. Finally the fourth stick made it through.
12/8/03	51° F	5 inches	32 seconds	0.6 mg/L	11 mg/L
It has been raining so the creek is moving very quickly. The bank is damp and there is lots of moss. Part of a branch is caught on the rocks and blocking part of the creek. The scent of anise is very strong.
1/5/04	47° F	8 inches	19.53 seconds	0.5 mg/L	11 mg/L
The creek is the deepest we have seen this year and moving really fast. The sound of water crashing over the rocks is very loud.
2/5/04	53° F	8.25 inches	20.03 seconds	0.35 mg/L	12 mg/L
It was raining really hard earlier this week, so the creek is high and flowing very quickly. One of the bushes had budded and is about ready to bloom.
3/5/04	54° F	7.5 inches	18.78 seconds	0.7 mg/L	11 mg/L
It has been raining most of the last week so the creek is flowing very quickly, the fastest we have recorded so far this year. Our bush is now covered with shiny new leaves and little flower buds that look like fat green caterpillars. The anise has new feathery growth from the base of the plants.
4/13/04	61° F	6.5 inches	20.91 seconds	0.8 mg/L	9 mg/L
There is a lot of algae growing in the creek and a few tiny fish.
5/4/04	69° F	7 inches	30.69 seconds	0.8 mg/L	9 mg/L
There is even more algae this month. We saw many tiny fish, many damselflies, and a pair of mallards.
6/7/04	67° F	4 inches	1 minute 21.83 seconds	0.6 mg/L	11 mg/L
The creek was much shallower and the stick kept getting stuck—the third stick finally made it through!

2002-2003 Data

In October 2002, the 2002-2003 4th grade class began collecting monthly data about Matadero Creek, which runs behind our school.

Date	Creek Temp.	Depth	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
10/2/02	62° F	2 inches	stuck	0.8 mg/L	9 mg/L
There were so many plants growing in the creek that the stick kept getting stuck and we could not measure the rate of flow.
11/1/02	52° F	2.5 inches	stuck	0.7 mg/L	9 mg/L
Four mallard ducks were in the creek when we arrived, three males and one female. We were very quiet and didn’t scare them away. We watched them paddling and feeding from the bottom of the creek. The plants are even thicker than last month.
12/2/02	55° F	4.25 inches	46 seconds	0.8 mg/L	10 mg/L
Almost all of the plants that were growing in the creek are gone! The water was moving quickly and was much deeper than last month. We think the plants died or were washed away by the rain.
1/6/03	54° F	8 inches	24 seconds	0.35 mg/L	11 mg/L
The water in the creek was about twice as deep and twice as fast. The bank was really muddy.
2/7/03	50° F	6 inches	29 seconds	0.35 mg/L	10 mg/L
The bank was still a bit damp. We saw a hummingbird in the oak tree and about eight mallards.
3/7/03	53° F	6.5 inches	20.65 seconds	0.9 mg/L	11 mg/L
We saw eight mallards (four females and four males) and a painted lady butterfly. The butterfly stayed near us for some time, but the ducks paddled around the bend and hid until we left. The creek was really moving quickly this time! We noticed more moss growing in the creek than last month.
4/8/03	59° F	6.5 inches	23.09 seconds	0.6 mg/L	8 mg/L
The moss is starting to grow again. The first two sticks we tried got stuck. We saw one male mallard and lots of bright blue damsel flies.
5/03	We were taking the STAR tests and forgot to go to the creek!
6/9/03	61° F	4.75 inches	1 minute 37.45 seconds	1.0 mg/L	7.5 mg/L
The creek is getting shallower so the stick kept running into the rocks. No ducks this time.

2001-2002 Data

In March 2002, the 2001-2002 4th grade class began collecting monthly data about Matadero Creek, which runs behind our school. Stuart Rojstaczer, a hydrologist working with Stanford and Duke Universities, helped us figure out how phosphates and dissolved oxygen get into the creek water and what levels indicate a healthy creek. We learned that 0.2 or 0.25 mg/L of phosphates indicates a healthy creek, and that most fish need 3 mg/L dissolved oxygen. We also learned about the connection between a high phosphate level (more plant and algae growth) and a lowered dissolved oxygen level (since the decaying plants consume more oxygen than the living ones produce). Mr. Rojstaczer also told us about the relationship between temperature and dissolved oxygen (at higher temperature more oxygen escapes into the air), so we decided to begin measuring temperature as well. To measure the flow rate, we time how long it takes a stick to float between two points.

Date	Creek Temp.	Stick Time	Phosphates	Dissolved Oxygen
3/4/02		28.12 seconds	0.7 mg/L	11 mg/L
4/1/02	62° F	30.38 seconds	0.9 mg/L	9 mg/L
5/1/02	54° F	29.42 seconds	1.0 mg/L	9 mg/L
6/3/02	60° F	1 minute 25.12 seconds	1.0 mg/L	9 mg/L

We were happy to see that our creek is maintaining a high dissolved oxygen level and that the phosphate level isn’t increasing. The creek was still flowing swiftly in June, but the lower water level caused the stick to get caught on more rocks. Next year’s class should also measure the depth of the water.