Volunteer Stream Monitoring Program

WCD staff coordinates a volunteer stream monitoring program for watershed districts and water management organizations in Washington County. Volunteers (teachers and students) from area schools collect and identify macroinvertebrates twice annually from stream sites in the county.

The data establishes a long-term record of the streams' capacity to support various life forms while engaging and involving volunteers in natural resource management. The volunteers are trained using EPA protocols and WCD staff performs quality control/quality assurance checks and manages data to ensure data usefulness to the watershed districts.

Links

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Information on Biological Monitoring

Metropolitan Council's Volunteer Stream Monitoring Partnership (VSMP)