Twice a week, members of the state's rapid response team ride like amodern-day cavalry along the Neuse. Their purpose is to keep an eye onnature and to pinpoint problems that could threaten it.
Sophisticated equipment measures oxygen levels and other factors oftenassociated with the Neuse's fish kills.
Team member Chris Roessler says that technology lets his group keep trackof the river by seeing where the stress of the fish will be higher. Theequipment gives the team a little bit of a predictive capability.
Fish kills can strike and vanish in a matter of hours, making it difficultfor scientists to figure out what caused them. The weekly records shouldmake the next one easier to understand, and if necessary, easier to react.
The team is also admittedly a public relations tool, a chance for theState to show North Carolinians that it cares about our rivers. It's hereon a regular basis trying to protect them.
State leaders hope that will reinforce the trust between themselves andthe public.
"We are one of the steps in trying to improve the river," says responseteam member Dawn Davis. "We're out here accumulating data that in thepast has been hard for the Washington office and the Raleigh office to getdown here."
Now, that information will be available so inspectors and lawmakers canhave it nearby as they make decisions and rules affecting us all.
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