Adult Monitoring
A Stream Monitoring Program for Adult Volunteers
In 1998, Project Watershed received a grant award from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Fund to develop an adult volunteer stream monitoring program in Central New York. Although the ‘Select-A-Stream’ program was funded for only one year, Project Watershed has found the means to continue this successful program.
The goals of the original ‘Select-A-Stream’ adult volunteer program were to:
- Recruit adult volunteers to monitor streams sites that have not been a part of the existing Save Our Streams effort and have been identified as having long-term problems related to point and nonpoint source pollution
- Conduct bi-monthly surveys on selected streams in Onondaga County
- Connect these adult volunteers with Project Watershed’s existing volunteer student surveys during a forum that focused on stream survey results for the past year, and highlight the relationship between land use practices and nonpoint source pollution
- Inform local officials with watershed management responsibilities of the program’s survey results
The initial five compromised streams selected for adult monitoring in Onondaga County were: Beartrap Creek, Ley Creek, Nine Mile Creek, Onondaga Creek, and Skaneateles Creek.
In 1999, five adult volunteer “Teams” ranging in size from three to five individuals conducted four surveys on each of these streams, using Save Our Streams physical, chemical and biological procedures. The adult teams are accompanied by a Project Watershed volunteer liaison, who provides the necessary stream monitoring equipment, and records the stream data.
By 2008, the Adult Volunteer program had expanded to seven teams in Onondaga County, with the addition of Butternut Creek and Limestone Creek to the stream sites surveyed. Stream data collected by adult volunteers since 1999 can be viewed here.
For more information or to become a volunteer, please contact:
Les Monostory
Project Watershed Adult Team Leader
(315) 637-6735