Preparing For The Bio Blitz

Tomorrow's the Bio Blitz at the Walls of Jericho on the AL/TN border. I've packed my old Kelty backpack for the day hike in and out. This includes one of my copies of Scott Mettee's Fishes of Alabama for ID purposes, my GPS transponder, pH and TDS meters, field notebook, water shoes in a bag, towel and clean t-shirt. The lower compartment of the pack is entirely Nalgene jars each half- full of phosphate-buffered 10% formalin for any fish I decide to keep for further examination. I hope that the students going with me bring enough with them to get through the day.

I think we'll only be working Hurricane Creek, a tributary of Estill Fork of the Paint Rock River to the southwest of this site. I've reviewed the ID's for palezone, Tennessee, mountain and sawfin shiners, which are only found in this corner of Alabama. I'm not entirely sure what to expect at this site, I've been to lower stretches of Hurricane Creek where it's fairly large but this site will be about 6 km upstream. Hopefully it won't rain heavily tomorrow, or even better, at all. I guess that's a hazard of the business.