We gathered outside the High School at around 7:30
a.m. and prepared to board the bus. Mrs. lewis then told us to board
Bus #2 (that was the chemistry bus). We began our journey to Lock 29
of the Cuyahoga River Valley. After about 45 min. we arrived there.
We unloaded of the bus and split into two groups.
Each
group then met up with a person from the national park service, Park
Ranger Pam Barns or Rob Ahearn. We went with Rob Ahearn. He got us
together and explained that he was going to give us a tour, and what
we should look for. He told us about the locks and about some of the
near-by wildlife and plants.
We
started off and walked the trails. He showed and named trees and
insects for us. We were able to get some real good pictures of the
river. We collected living samples using nets and such, to
identify the benthic macro-invertebrates living in the water. The
Cuyahoga seemed to be in pretty good shape, most of the organisms we
found were pollution intolerant. We put them all back in the
water.
After a morning of biological study, we returned
to the bus,thanked Pam Barns and Rob Ahearn and said our
good-byes,then sat down for lunch. Lunch ended and we started off to
the test site, began our assigned chemical test. Every group gathered
water samples and went about their test. My group tested for the
Nitrates. We recorded results in a data sheet. When everyone
completed their test, we packed up, got on the bus and headed back to
Strongsville High, but not before we stopped to see a rookery of
great blue herons. the tour we stop and took our break. We
returned to the bus and sat down for lunch. Lunch ended and we
started off to the test site. Here we started by collecting living
samples using nets and such. 
We finished collecting specimens and then went to
analyze them. From a biological standpoint, the Cuyahoga seemed to be
in pretty good shape. Most of the organisms we found were pollution
intolerant and showed that the river is clean. We put them all back
in the water and began our assigned chemistry test. 
My group's test was Nitrates. Every group gathered water samples and went about their tests. After we finished, we recorded our results in a data sheet.
When everyone completed their test, we packed up and headed back. We got on the bus and started back to Strongsville High, but not before we stopped to see a rookery of great blue herons.
