Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Fourth Annual Macroinvertebrate Training and Sampling
September 29
9:00 to noon
Weston Grange 

Freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates are animals without backbones that are visible to the naked eye. The group includes crayfish, mollusks such as clams and snails, aquatic worms and immature forms of aquatic insects such as stonefly, dragonfly and mayfly nymphs. DEP water quality expert Michael Beauchene will spend the morning teaching participants about the relationship between macroinvertebrates and stream health and simple identification techniques. Volunteer teams then spend the second part of the morning at survey sites in the watershed recording their finds.  Mr. Beauchene moves from site to site to offer assistance in identification.

Ongoing Projects

Saugatuck River Watershed Continuity Project
A goal of the Saugatuck River Watershed Partnership is to reduce the impediments to fish, wildlife and other aquatic life that require passage in streams or along stream corridors.  To accomplish this goal, volunteers conduct surveys to identify problem culverts, dams and bridge crossings.

The network of roads in the watershed fragments the continuity of our rivers and streams.  Poorly designed culverts and bridges can prevent fish and wildlife from reaching spawning grounds and other important habitats.  Through this project, volunteers can learn to identify these problems and work with The Nature Conservancy and other partners to prioritize and plan for solutions.  There are over 500 river crossings in the watershed.  The degree of habitat fragmentation and degradation caused by these crossings has not been fully evaluated.

Information gathered through these surveys can be used to help local highway departments and conservation commissions with planning and maintenance decisions.  Additionally, the information collected about these crossings will become part of a basin-wide database.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): © Mary Ann Kulla (Volunteer helping to collect stream crossing data); © Sally Harold/TNC (Volunteers helping to identify macroinvertebrates during a sampling session).