Illinois RiverWatch Network

Description

The Illinois RiverWatch Network is a volunteer monitoring initiative coordinated by the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center.

• Goal The primary goals of the program are to measure how the conditions of our state's streams are changing over time, and to educate Illinois citizens about the ecology of Illinois’ water resources.
• What do volunteers do? RiverWatch Citizen Scientists conduct annual habitat and biological surveys of their adopted stream site(s) during May and June. They collect and identify small aquatic organisms that are important indicators of stream health.
• Where will you monitor? Citizen Scientists adopt a 200-foot stretch of wadeable stream to monitor near to their job, home, or school.
• What happens to the data? Data is available to the public and can be downloaded from the database.
• Who can participate? RiverWatch welcomes families, organizations, and interested individuals! No prior experience is required.
• How much will it cost to join? While we charge a small, one-time training workshop fee, there are no membership fees. Monitoring equipment can be borrowed from any one of our loaner kit locations.
• How to join Contact us at 618-468-2784 or riverwatch@lc.edu for additional information and to be added to our mailing list.