Clallam County, WA Streamkeepers

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Clallam County, WA, US

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Type: Program

Status: Ongoing

Source File: http://www.clallam.net/streamkeepers/

Description:

Streamkeepers, a citizen-based watershed monitoring program of Clallam County's Department of Community Development, provides volunteer opportunities and project assistance in the effort to protect and restore salmon habitat.

Streamkeepers is:

  • A volunteer opportunity for all Clallam County residents interested in monitoring, protecting, and restoring streams in our own watersheds;
  • A service provider for watershed planning groups and habitat restoration project sponsors who need monitoring assistance on local streams.

Program Goals

  • Provide useful, credible data to local natural resource planners acting to protect and restore streams.
  • Report the information collected on a regular and timely basis.
  • Perform small-scale restoration projects on local streams.
  • Facilitate public involvement in stream monitoring and watershed stewardship.

What sort of work do Streamkeepers do?
Our stream teams perform regular quarterly monitoring at established sites on streams ranging from Sequim to Forks, measuring components of stream health such as the quality of the water, the diversity of life forms, and the integrity of the physical habitat.

In addition, special teams perform other activities, such as trapping juvenile fish, counting redds, replanting riparian areas, controlling invasive weeds, conducting streamwalks, teaching about watershed stewardship in the greater community, and entering & analyzing data.

What do regular stream teams measure?
Streamkeepers trains volunteers to assess a variety of biological, physical, and chemical stream health indicators through a structured quarterly monitoring program:

Biological health

  • Benthic macroinvertebrates ("stream bugs")
  • Fish & wildlife
  • Noxious weeds
  • Fecal coliform

Chemical health

  • Temperature
  • Dissolved oxygen
  • Conductivity
  • Turbidity
  • Nitrates
  • pH

Physical health

  • Annual Streamwalk
  • Photographs
  • Reach maps
  • Flow
  • Gradient
  • Cross-section
  • Erosion & revetment
  • Substrate and pools
  • Large woody debris
  • Riparian vegetation

Streamkeepers can help on your watershed!
Streamkeepers accepts requests from citizens, organizations, and governments in need of special services. The scope of available assistance includes:

  • monitoring services
  • data management and analysis
  • outreach and education
  • hands-on restoration work
  • match for grants

For more details, see Streamkeepers´ Monitoring Services.

How do I get involved?
We train new volunteers once a year. Annual training takes place over several evenings and two Saturdays between June and September. We post the training schedule by May.

But you can always join Streamkeepers prior to formal training and learn to perform some of the procedures "on the job."