9/29/2026 | Conor Harrington, Land Steward

The beginning of Fall brings a busy schedule of NeighborSpace activities; if you’ve been keeping up with our website, you’ll know that we’ve been active! In September, we hosted successful events at three different NeighborSpace sites: bug blitzes at Levickas Woods in Catonsville and Tollgate Wyndham Preserve in Owings Mills, and a 9/11 Day of Service at Adelaide Bentley Park in East Towson.

Volunteers at Adelaide Bentley Park for the 9/11 Day of Service

Some of you may be wondering: ‘What’s a bug blitz?’ This fun outdoor activity encourages children and adults alike to experience the world of aquatic macroinvertebrates under the magnifying lens or microscope. If you’re wondering what a ‘macroinvertebrate’ is, ‘macro’ equates to ‘large’ (visible to the naked eye), and ‘invertebrates’ are organisms lacking a spine. This category  includes freshwater insects, crayfish, and more, many of which can be found in backyard streams and community waterways. Despite being visible without aid, many of these aquatic critters are still quite small, and therefore a magnifying lens or microscope is useful in identifying them.

Crayfish found in the stream at Levickas Woods

At both Levickas Woods and Tollgate Wyndham Preserve, I was joined by families interested in getting to know not only the critters that exist in the streams of their local parks, but also the quality of the water. A successful bug blitz includes not only the excitement of discovery and exploration, but also an educational aspect about local water quality. Certain insects are more resistant to pollution than others, so you can gauge a waterway’s health just by examining the types of insects that occur in the stream. To this end, we utilized our magnifying lenses and microscopes to observe critters after retrieving them from the stream. Species such as Mayflies, Caddisflies, and Hellgrammites are all sensitive to pollution, and observing them in large numbers shows a relatively unimpacted stream. Other species, such as Midges, Black flies, and Lunged snails are pollution tolerant, and therefore reveal a relatively impacted stream. Pollution can and does often include runoff chemicals from commercial businesses, roads, and lawns, but it can also include pollution such as sediment from erosion, and even heat! As a stream gets cloudier with dirt, and hotter from lack of shade, it is less likely to provide habitat for sensitive species. If you’d like to learn more about what goes into a bug blitz, feel free to contact me, or join us in the spring!

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Baltimore County Volunteers for helping us organize the 9/11 Day of Service at Adelaide Bentley Park in East Towson. Two separate organizations joined us to mulch the entirety of the trail. A huge shout out and thank you to the groups from the Alpha Kappa Alpha Towson Chapter and the Cornerstone Public Affairs Group for showing up and helping us out!