News

Water Quality Specialist Taylor Register Seijo was back on the water at Slocum Creek this week for a seventh round of water-quality sampling, courtesy of a North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant.

Postponed by last week’s rain, Taylor said she jumped at the opportunity to capture some good post-storm data for the Havelock creek.

“Opportunities to do so have been few and far between, with the lack of significant rain over the past few months,” Taylor said. “It definitely made for a worthwhile trip, all the rain caused the salinity to drop dramatically throughout the entire prong, which I think is a good data point for us to have when comparing how seasonality and other parameters affect our bacteria trends.”

As usual, she spotted plenty of wildlife on her Slocum Creek journey, past reporting of which has prompted Taylor to start a waitlist of people who want to join her for the next run.

“This month my husband, Lucas, was able to get away from his work for a little bit and go out with me. Lucky for him, we saw five or six alligators on our route, as well as some herons and a large brown water snake that was wrapped around a cypress knee. I know (Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper) Katey and (Volunteer Coordinator) Emily have been itching to join as well, so for next month’s sampling I’m going to try to plan it for a day when we’re all available,” Taylor said.

She also spotted another rare species on this week’s trip: another person kayaking the creek.

“I ran into my first ever kayaker aside from myself,” she laughed. “I’ve seriously been out here multiple times a month for over three years now, and I’ve never seen anyone else on the water aside from boaters going downstream into the river, so it was awesome to see and talk to someone else who was out there kayaking on their own volition and not for work. I found out that the large alligator that I always see by the rec area has been hanging out in that same spot for many years now!”

Like Taylor’s adventures in the field collecting critical data on the impaired Slocum Creek? We love them! Donate today to keep up her good work!