Mt. Hope Biology Students Study Salt Marshes, Marine Life on Prudence Island

Recently, 20 biology students and their teacher, Susan Costa, joined Mary Ann Horrigan, a Save The Bay Educator, and several volunteers from Save Bristol Harbor (Bob Aldrich, Bruce Carlsten and Keith Maloney) aboard the Alletta Morris (Save The Bay’s Research Vessel) for an excursion to Prudence Island.

The visit to Prudence was the culmination of a 10 session field study of Bristol’s Silver Creek, a joint educational program funded and supported through the Town of Bristol, Save The Bay and Save Bristol Harbor.  During these weeks the students (all juniors and seniors enrolled in the Marine Biology class at MHHS) monitored the vegetation, water fowl, invertebrates, vertebrates and water quality in Silver Creek.  This is the second year of the program which engages students in the hands-on learning experience of the restoration of Silver Creek, initiated in 2009 by the Bristol Parks and Recreation Department.

Beginning last October these students, teachers/educators and volunteers worked in the Silver Creek salt marsh every two weeks to measure the quality of the water, i.e., dissolved oxygen, salinity and water temperature. In addition they tracked the health of the vegetation, bird and fish life, as well as the human impact on the health of the marsh. When the students went to Prudence Island they visited Jenny’s Creek, a healthy and vibrant salt marsh that is the goal for the future and a model for Silver Creek.

Also during the excursion, the students did two trawls of Narragansett Bay’s bottom to capture, examine and release the animals living there. What they found was lion’s mane jellyfish, shore shrimp, hermit crabs, silversides, tomcod, mud snails and sea stars.

The program will end on May 10, when the students return to Silver Creek to plant spartina alternifora (eel grass) they’ve raised from seedlings over the winter in their classroom laboratory. All these efforts are focused on building the students’ understanding and appreciation of a healthy Silver Creek and its importance as a food factory, nesting site, nursery, filter and buffer zone that has real value to Bristol and to the long term health of our local environment.

Submitted by Keith Maloney, Save Bristol Harbor Board Member