High school science students recently participated in the annual Day in the Life of a River field trip, a citizen science project that partners students with the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and Parks Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Central Pine Barrens Reserve and Suffolk County Water Authority to annually monitor the health of the river systems on Long Island.
This year, the students tested environmental, physical, chemical and biological factors at various sites along the mouth of the Connetquot River. Working with scientists and other schools, students worked at different parts of the river system on the same day to obtain a snapshot of the river’s health.