Crooked Run Receives Perfect Score for Second Season in a Row

After a short trek through a forested area dotted with mature Skunk Cabbages and Jack-in-the-pulpits, a small group of Stream Team members made their way to the Crooked Run monitoring site outside of Lincoln on a warm May afternoon. They were greeted by a Belted Kingfisher, and a nest of “toadpoles” swimming in a shallow section of the stream.

A single 90-second collection net yielded nearly 400 macros, with a wide diversity of 10 different categories including a large number of pollution-tolerant midges and pollution-sensitive mayflies, along with a good number of beetles, black flies, caddisflies and stoneflies. Several water mites were also identified.

Thanks to this diversity of macros with a range of pollution sensitivities, the stream scored a perfect 12 (indicating acceptable ecological conditions) for the second season in a row. You can see more data on the individual site page.

We are grateful to Phil Daley, who has monitored this site for over a quarter of a century, and to landowner Kassie Kingsley, who has allowed Loudoun Wildlife to continue surveying this site. The property is in a conservation easement with the Land Trust of Virginia.

Thanks to team members Susan Schuler, Chris Henke and Helen de Groot for assisting with this survey.