Wading into Conservation: Blue Thumb promotes citizen science for water quality
Friday, December 19, 2025
Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu
With clipboards, test kits and jars, a group of Oklahoma State University students turned a quiet creek into a living classroom. It may look like a class field trip, but these students are helping map the health of Oklahoma waters.
Runoff, fertilizer, erosion and development all affect streams and other bodies of water in urban and rural counties across the state.
State agencies often do not have the capacity to monitor all of the tributaries and smaller creeks that lead to Oklahoma’s larger rivers, said Hunter Hodson, Blue Thumb education coordinator. Oklahoma’s Blue Thumb program bridges that gap, he added.
“When we’re advocating for these small streams, it’s really helpful if we can go to the representatives or municipalities with this data and say, ‘This is the reason why we need to protect this stream because we’ve seen what happens when we don’t,’” Hodson said. “Or the stream has been a great habitat and has been serving its purpose and filtering out pollutants for 20-something years. We don’t want to want to mess that up.”
Blue Thumb, a 30-year-old statewide citizen science program, allows volunteers to monitor the water in their local creeks and streams.
The OSU Environmental Science Club students work with the Blue Thumb program to monitor water health in Duck Creek, which flows through Myers Park in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and is part of the Cimarron River Basin.
Storm drains carry water to streams, which flow into larger bodies of water such as rivers, eventually becoming someone’s source of drinking water, said Cheryl Cheadle, Oklahoma Conservation Commission conservationist. Blue Thumb provides the training, guidance and equipment needed for motivated citizens to become monitors, gaining data on a stream, she added.
“A lot of times we drive over bridges and don’t give it a second thought,” Hodson said. “Our streams and ditches aren’t only serving a purpose of moving water for us when it’s a creature’s home and serves a huge overall ecological purpose.”
Trained Blue Thumb volunteers collect samples monthly, tracking metrics like nutrient levels, sediment and aquatic insects. These data samples help scientists spot trends, detect pollution sources and inform conservation strategies.
Volunteers record the information and can submit it through an app, or they can mail or email the data to Blue Thumb, Hodson said. The program includes not only research but also provides outreach through community education initiatives and work with local school districts.
“Blue Thumb takes the reports that they get from volunteers and submits them to the Oklahoma Conservation Commission,” said Ethan Johnson, Environmental Science Club vice president. “The OCC then develops reports and can present those to citizens as well as representatives and senators.”
The club’s involvement with the Blue Thumb program has allowed students to identify areas of the environmental science industry in which they are interested in pursuing a career.
Nicole Taylor, OSU alum and past Blue Thumb intern, now works at Garver, an Oklahoma City engineering, planning and environmental services firm. She said she began her undergraduate internship with little experience.
“I was excited to challenge myself, but I was also terrified to do something new in a subject I had no actual experience in besides studying it in school,” Taylor said.
She credited the program with providing the confidence she needed to succeed in her current career as an environmental specialist.
“Feeling as if you are truly being taught how to succeed makes all of the difference in your confidence moving forward in the search of the right job for you,” Taylor said.
The Blue Thumb program monitoring efforts are a volunteer, student-led component of the Environmental Science Club, and the students have passed the responsibilities down to each other through the years, said Karen Hickman, OSU environmental science director.
“The Ferguson College of Agriculture has a history of promoting extracurricular activities to help develop the whole person rather than just the academic side,” Hickman said. “The involvement is something bigger than the student club — it’s a personal interest. Contributing to society is huge, and I think that is what this program does for our students.”
Story by Savanna Metz | Cowboy Journal