The Quarterly Newsletter of the

Volunteer Monitoring - Why?

 

by Geoff Dates

 

I've been asked to briefly discuss how volunteer monitoring adds value to more rigorous and complex monitoring programs such as the one in the Upper Big Thompson watershed. Here are two quick answers:

1) Volunteer monitoring can add significant information to what we already know about the Big Thompson, and

2) Volunteer monitoring creates an involved and informed constituency for the river.

Let's look a little bit closer at each.

Volunteer monitoring can add significant information to what we already know about the Big Thompson. A recent report by the US Government Accounting Office (GAO) is titled: "WATER QUALITY: Key EPA and State Decisions Limited by Inconsistent and Incomplete Data." The report makes the following startling finding: "The National Water Quality Inventory does not accurately portray water quality conditions nationwide." That's because only 19% of the nation's rivers and streams were assessed for the last inventory. In other words, the state of the nation’s waters is largely unknown! So, how are we making good decisions about restoring the integrity of our waters? Apparently, we're not.

Volunteer monitoring can increase our knowledge of the Big Thompson. Volunteers can monitor more sites, more frequently than agencies and consultants. I would argue that volunteer monitoring of a few indicators, especially rich ones like benthic macroinvertebrates, at more sites more frequently, often tells us more than monitoring lots of things at a few places a few times.

Volunteer monitoring creates an involved and informed constituency for the river. Today's impacts and threats to our rivers are fundamentally different from those that faced the framers of the Clean Water Act. Sediment, controlled flows, nutrients, invasive species, and other problems are more likely to come from changes in the watershed caused by urban sprawl, inadequate farming and logging practices, and other land uses, than from discharge pipes. Solving these problems involves more than technology. It requires changes in the way we use and manage our watersheds. It requires a deeper understanding of watershed health. It requires an understanding of how our watersheds work and how we can work with them. It requires the involvement of a lot of people in watershed work.

Volunteer monitoring involves people in understanding their watershed. It creates a sense of personal responsibility. Once you understand that the river is teeming with life; once you've experienced that life yourself; you can't think of its water as merely a commodity. Water makes that life possible! People with a greater understanding of rivers will be better stewards. They are more likely to change their lives in ways that restore and protect the river. And they are more likely to hold decision-makers accountable for decisions that affect the river.