Volunteer
Restoration Project MonitoringBe a Big T-eammate in
Restoration project monitoring
This year, the Big Thompson Watershed Coalition is starting a new science & stewardship project to engage committed community members in river monitoring techniques. We will be working with a Colorado State University graduate student, Haley Smith, to develop this project, train a small group of volunteers, and conduct field surveys on our project sites. This opportunity is science based, preferably open to ages 15+, medium physicality, and finally plant knowledge is helpful but not necessary!
As a part of our long-term commitment to our restoration projects, we monitor the success of our work years after completion of construction.
Help us complete our surveys to compare site conditions before and after construction by capturing information through taking photos, surveying vegetation (plants), surveying river banks, and measuring overall river conditions and habitat features.
After surveying, we typically need additional office help entering and analyzing data and presenting it to our communities through social media. Much of these skills can be taught by our team and are crucial to getting project success metrics to our project partners and community members. This information guides the understand of our project impacts, future partnership development and project design, as well as long-term management needs at each site.
Estimated survey schedule:
Plant surveys: summer, usually 2-3 day commitment
River assessments: summer, during low flows
Photo points: summer, during low flows and/or winter
River bank assessments: summer, during low flows
Fish and aquatic invertebrate surveying may be added in the future with increased funding and capacity!
Contact us to find out when the next surveys are taking place!