![]() ![]() Gabriel Bourgeois, an FLBS intern in the Freshwater Research Lab, collects samples from the Bio Station sites. Today, monitoring sites include: Riverside, Boettcher and Salish Point Parks in Polson Wolf Point, Elmo and Blue Bay Tribal Parks Volunteer Park in Lakeside Somers Park the City Dock in Bigfork Flathead Lake State Park – Wayfarers, Woods Bay, Finley Point, Big Arm, West Shore and Yellow Bay Units and the Bio Station’s shoreline.Įach week, a Citizen Scientist volunteer from the Flathead Lakers takes a lap around Flathead Lake and collects a majority of the Swim Guide samples. When the Swim Guide first began, it monitored the water quality of three public beaches. The results of these analyses are then sent to the Flathead Lakers, which uploads the results to the Swim Guide website and app for public use. These samples are then brought to the Freshwater Research Lab at the Bio Station, where E. Through the Swim Guide Project, Citizen Scientists collect samples weekly from public swimming areas around Flathead Lake. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ threshold for Flathead Lake is more conservative, at 32 E. Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s threshold for safe swimming is 235 E. ![]() Coli can be in otherwise clean swimming areas, especially on hot, stagnant days or after periods of heavy rainfall. But all animal waste, including that of geese and humans, contains bacteria known as Escherichia Coli. The geese are not to blame for this-they are, after all, just doing what geese do. This is why you often see large gaggles of geese loitering around waterfront parks, and geese-much like myself, on the rare occasion-tend to go to the bathroom in less than convenient places. The factors that make an area attractive for humans also apply to local wildlife. What determines whether or not water is safe, you ask? That’s where the geese come in. This helps people find nearby public swimming areas and know at a glance if those areas are safe for swimming. This water quality data can be found on the Swim Guide website () and Smartphone app along with over 8,000 beaches, lakes, rivers, and swimming holes all over the world. Originally started by Polson resident and FLOW founder Mark Johnston, this community organized and funded program is now overseen by the Flathead Lakers, and delivers free, real-time water quality information about Flathead Lake samples analyzed at the Bio Station. Grabbing a cooler housing several sterilized water sample bottles, I gather as much of courage as I can muster, and defiantly make my way to the public swimming dock.įor over half a decade, the Bio Station has played a collaborative role alongside the Flathead Lakers, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, and Flathead Lake Open Water Swimmers (FLOW) to support a public swimming area monitoring program called the Swim Guide Project. I’ve come to Boettcher Park on this early morning for a reason, and these geese (combined with forecasted hot temperatures on the horizon) are very much involved. There must be fifty, no sixty of them, and my reaction to their presence is something akin to Doctor Grant’s when he first bears witness to that Brachiosaurus in the film Jurassic Park.īut I can’t stand in awe for too long. Rising from the shadowed grass, an overwhelming number of Canada Geese honking, sleeping, flapping their wings. I most certainly am not alone.Īs I climb out of my car in Boettcher Park, they emerge. Hundreds of black marble eyes peer at me through the early morning haze. Despite my car being the only vehicle in the entire parking lot, and not another human soul in sight, a large area of the park off to my left is alive with movement. You might believe this to be a beautiful moment, and by nearly all accounts it is. On one side of the beach, a dock extends out into Polson Bay, where it will serve as the jumping off point for cannonballs and amateur diving competitions when the morning breeze fades away and the day’s temperatures begin to climb. A gentle breeze stirs the air, carrying with it the fresh and slightly sweet aromas of the cottonwoods nearby.Īcross the park, some thirty yards away on the far side of playground equipment, early morning Flathead Lake waves lap gently against a gravel erosion control beach that runs along Boettcher Park’s public swimming area. The sky is an array of pastel pinks and ashy blues. It’s predawn in Polson, the sun still tucked behind the towering Mission Mountains as I ease my car into the unpaved parking lot of Boettcher Park. ![]()
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