What Stream Teams Do

Missouri Stream Teams are all about promoting citizen awareness and involvement in river and stream conservation. Some of the activities that Stream Team No. 2945 will be doing at the LaRussell Access Point include: completing visual stream survey data sheets, biological monitoring, and picking up litter on the access and along the riverbank.

The Visual Stream Survey is used to determine if there are any obvious pollution problems on the river and to characterize the riparian environment through which the river flows, like (1) floodplain land use, (2) riparian cover, (3) riverbank cover, (4) bed composition of riffle, (5) percent embeddedness of cobble structure, (6) signs of human use, (7) algae, (8) water color, and (9) water odor.

The Biological Monitoring includes completing a Macro invertebrate data sheet. We'll be looking for specific Macro invertebrates that are (1) sensitive, (2) somewhat sensitive or (3) tolerant of water quality. They include: Caddis Fly Larvae, Hellgrammites, Mayfly Nymphs, Gilled Snails, Riffle Beetles, Stonefly Nymphs, Water Penny Larvae, other Beetle Larvae, Clams/Mussels, Crane Fly Larvae, Crayfish, Dragonfly Nymphs, Damselfly Nymphs, Scuds, Sow bugs, Fish fly Larvae, Alderfly Larvae, Water snipe Fly, Aquatic Worms, Black Fly Larvae, Leeches, Midge Larvae, Pouch Snails, and other Snails.

If this sounds like fun or you are interested in learning more about Missouri Stream Teams, you are welcome to join us.

Come and Join Us

The LaRussell access is located approximately 1 mile north of LaRussell, on Highway U, Jasper County, Missouri.
Highway U is also the Jasper County-Lawrence County line road, located approximately 13 miles east of Carthage on US Highway 96. The LaRussell access point on Spring River is approximately 2.5 miles south of Hiway 96 on Highway U. The access is on the south end of the Spring River bridge, and west side of Highway U. The site is also accessable from Interstate 44, Exit 29, by taking Highway U north (approximately 8.5 miles).

Photographs at the LaRussell access point site

Here are photographs of the LaRussell access point, looking upstream (above) and downstream (below).

Adopt-An-Access

Missouri Stream Team No. 2945 has recently completed Adoption of the LaRussell access to the Spring River in Jasper County, Missouri. The LaRussell (MO) access point is referenced by the Missouri Department of Conservation as Access No. 6812. We hope that this is the beginning on a long term relationship and that together, we will all gain an appreciation for the relationship between the environment, the water quality and the opportunity to enjoy it. We hope that this blog will serve as both a chronology of this Stream Team project and an inspiration to others. There are other Missouri access points available for adoption as well as opportunies to join us as we care for, learn about, and enjoy the LaRussell access point, together.