Over the past year, Stream Team has reevaluated its goals and focus. With a program that has existed for 24 years it was time to assess the data collected and needs of our jurisdictional partners and volunteer monitors.

Stream Team is still focused on engaging with community members as they are our “eyes and ears” of the watersheds, alerting us to issues and communicating the importance of protecting water quality. That will not change.

The first improvement is the creation of jurisdictional reports that highlight data over the course of a water year (October 1 – September 30). These reports can be found on the Stream Team page on the Pierce Conservation District website.

With these reports in hand we met with our jurisdictional partners to discuss the results and identify priority sites. We also gathered information about streams and watersheds that jurisdictions want us to share. The outcome is there are now Stream Team prioritized sites that we will place new monitors on.

As well, we have changed site numbers to reflect river miles to make identification easier. 2018 jurisdictional reports will be produced soon, and 2019 educational workshops are being planned. Look for more information in 2019!

If you have any questions, please contact Belinda at: belindap@piercecd.org

Stream Monitor Program Goals 

• Educate citizens about stream ecology, stream health, and nonpoint source pollution
• Involove citizens in observing, monitoring & reporting stream conditions 
• Provide useful data/information to local jurisdictions 

What do our stream monitors do? 

• Measure dissolved oxygen, water temperature, pH, nitrate-nitrogen and turbidity 
• Measure stream flow 
• Conduct an annual habitat assessment 

Why is monitoring important to your jurisdiction?
Volunteer monitors build awareness of pollution problems, learn about pollution prevention, raise awareness of problem sites, provide data for waters that may be unassessed, and increase the amount of water quality information available to local communities and decision makers.

Program Background
Pierce Conservation District has coordinated a volunteer stream monitoring program in all four watersheds in Pierce County since 1994. Since that time, PCD has engaged over 1,000 citizens in this program and currently more than 70 volunteers are involved with this effort. The goals of this program are to provide education to Pierce County residents about local streams, and the impact of our daily lives on stream water quality and habitat; as well as provide information on current stream conditions.