In a single project in 2005, volunteers • Spent more than 120 hours of personal time, • Assessing 123 specific reaches of stream and adjacent watersheds , • Resulting in 14 miles of stream corridor prioritized for restoration or protection.

DRN monitoring data is used in a variety of ways depending on the goals of the monitoring initiative. DRN staff and volunteers, civic groups, and watershed groups use data to advocate for stream protection when proposed impacts threaten a local stream. Data is regularly distributed to government agencies to assist with assessments and restoration or protection plans. When necessary, data is also used to initiate enforcement actions or to alert officials of pollution incidents. DRN publishes data reports, works with volunteer monitors and local watershed groups to use data to protect local streams, and publicizes results with the goal of continually expanding public awareness of the need to protect our aquatic resources.

DRN cannot stress enough the importance of developing a monitoring study design before volunteer monitors set foot in a stream to collect their first readings. Study design, put simply, is a logical series of choices about why, what, how, where, when, and who of a monitoring program. By answering these questions, monitoring programs can implement effective projects that achieve protection and restoration goals. DRN has a multi-tiered study design that includes six different initiatives. With these initiatives, DRN is able to use appropriate protocols and parameters to fit the need of specific watersheds and local watershed groups.

Upcoming Delaware Riverkeeper Monitoring events:

• Vernal Pool Identification and Monitoring in the Alexauken Watershed - mid March to mid April, 2007, Hunterdon County, NJ. Volunteer monitors will monitor potential vernal pools in the watershed and note amphibian activity this breeding season. This information will be used to certify and map these vernal pools so they will be protected. Contact Faith at 215-369-1188 ext 110 to volunteer.
• Bug Madness - late March - mid April, 2007- Join DRN scientists and interns as we perform macroinvertebrate monitoring at various sites throughout the watershed. DRN usually performs monitoring in 10-15 tributary streams where restoration, protection, and advocacy efforts are being led. Critters are counted and identified stream-side and then returned to the stream. Contact faith@delawareriverkeeper.org for more information or to sign up to help.
• New Jersey Stream School - Join DRN and the Watershed Watch Network as we learn about macroinvertebrates from Stroud Water Research Center. Stream School will be held March 21-22, 2007 at South Branch Watershed Association in Flemington, NJ. Contact faith@delawareriverkeeper.org for more information.
• Horseshoe Crab Monitoring - Join DRN as we perform a census on horseshoe crab populations in the Delaware Bay that is part of a University of Delaware project. Monitoring is performed at night (on a new or full moon) in May and June, 2007. To receive more information about this event, contact Faith at 215-369-1188 ext 110 and faith@delawareriverkeeper.org

Interested in monitoring? We especially need volunteer monitors to sign on to be a part of our Adopt-A-Buffer Initiative.