A long-time citizen science program is looking for volunteers to explore streams and gather data.
Hannah Griffis, with the non-profit Riverwatch, says while the Illinois Environmental Protection agency is charged with monitoring waterways, they don't have enough staff to cover everything.
"They only get to about 15 percent of the streams every year. So us being able to send, anybody who is interested, out into their local streams really helps collect data."
Griffis says once a year the data is compiled into a report and made available to policymakers, but, she says, volunteers can also help fix problems faster.
"But we also really encourage our volunteers to be stewards of their own watershed. If they find problems to take data that they find in their streams to local governments because that moves so much faster."
People interested in becoming a volunteer need to attend a training workshop on March 26 at Giant City State Park. For more information
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