Heavy rains Monday night prevented state biologists from surveying a portion of Big Canoe Creek this week, but Pat O’Neil wasn’t that disappointed.  

“I’d rather have the rain,” the director of the Geological Survey of Alabama’s Ecosystems Investigations Program said Tuesday as he stood in a field on Bryan Burgess’ 400-acre farm north of Ashville.  

Burgess hosted four geological survey teams and representatives from five conservation groups who plan to return later this month to take research samples from a 1,000-foot stretch of Big Canoe Creek, which snakes its way through the middle of Burgess’ property near the border of St. Clair and Etowah counties.

The spot is one of 29 targeted by the geological survey to provide data aimed at helping researchers assess water quality in the Coosa River watershed.

“We’re here to collect biological information about the condition of Big Canoe Creek,” O’Neil said, a process that involves sampling the more than 60 different fish communities and mussel populations inhabiting the tributary.  “If critters can live in these streams, we know the water is in relatively good shape, and our goal is to make sure Alabama has a bright water future.”

A number of the fish and mussel species is endangered, making the survey of interest to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, according to private lands biologist Eric Spadgenske.

“We are one of the key stakeholders in this project because we are responsible for the critters – the mussels, snails, and fish,” he said.  “Clean water is what all those things need, and when something offensive is in the water, the critters, being most sensitive to it, are the first ones to show signs of distress.”

While the fauna isn’t the main focus for the geological survey, O’Neil said the aquatic creatures do provide biologists with information about their environment.

“They’re like little monitoring devices.  We have to read what they’re telling us correctly.  When we go out and evaluate a fish community, if it’s not balanced and the diversity is not as it should be, we know something is wrong.  It takes a lot of detective work to find out where issues are in a watershed.”

The collected and analyzed data is provided to local landowners and such organizations as Friends of Big Canoe Creek, the Alabama Rivers Alliance, Turkey Creek Nature Preserve, and the Alabama Clean Water Partnership.  

“Water quality is a very, very local issue,” said Kellie Johnston, a basic facilitator for the latter organization.  “It’s all about what Mr. Burgess is doing.  The best situation is to have local landowners and stakeholders come up with a local solution.”

O’Neil said that the efforts are not related to enforcement of property-related regulations..

“It’s not about us coming in and telling property owners what to do.  This is about education.  It’s about our economy and livelihood.  It’s all connected.  People have to understand the resources we have and feel an economic benefit, and they’ll do the right thing at the end of the day.”

Efforts such as the survey are actually a buffer against regulation, according to Johnston.  

“When people do the right thing, there’s no need for regulation,” she said.  “Everybody has an interest in water quality:  landowners, water treatment plants, city and county governments.  If you drink water, you’re a stakeholder.”