By Sheila Leary
Friends of Cherokee Marsh

The Friends of Cherokee Marsh and Wild Warner will join other volunteers Saturday, Aug. 15, for the annual statewide Aquatic Invasive Species Snapshot Day.

Armed with rakes, nets, waders, plastic bags and cameras, volunteers will search for problem plants and invertebrates at up to 10 sites. Last year’s survey of Northside waters included sampling at the Cherokee neighborhood park canoe launch, School Road boat launch, Cherokee Marsh North Unit boathouse pier, Governor’s Island shore, Token Creek boat launch and boardwalk, Governor Nelson State Park beach and boat launch, Yahara Heights canoe launch and Dorn Creek at North Shore Road.

Among the findings last year were abundant invasive zebra mussels in Lake Mendota off Governor’s Island. At another location, nets revealed a pair of exotic Chinese Mystery Snails, a species assumed to have been dumped into the river from a home aquarium. Specimens gathered by citizen-scientists around the state on Snapshot Day are sent on to the DNR and shared on the SWIMS database (Surface Water Integrated
Monitoring System).

Snapshot Day is coordinated by the River Alliance of Wisconsin in partnership with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, UW Extension and more than 20 partner organizations around the state, including Friends of Cherokee Marsh and Wild Warner. Snapshot Day takes place every August.

Training will be done online, and social distancing will be observed in all procedures on Snapshot Day. Check to see if you can still sign up to participate at wisconsinrivers.org/statewide-snapshot-day.