April Trainings Expand Save Our Streams Reach

In April the Izaak Walton League of America hosted three Save Our Streams trainings. The trainings were held to certify new benthic macroinvertebrate monitors in the rocky and muddy bottom collection protocols.

The first two trainings were held in Richmond, Virginia and were cohosted by IWLA and Wild Virginia. 13 people attended and were able to get firsthand experience in stream sample collections and macroinvertebrate identification. They also heard from Dave Sligh of Wild Virginia on how to be an advocate for clean water and use data to enhance advocacy efforts at the local, state, and federal level.

The last training was held in Fredericksburg, Virginia and was hosted by the IWLA Fredericksburg-Rappahannock Chapter. 6 people attended, with ages ranging from a high school junior to retirees!

These trainings were held in an effort to certify more monitors in central and eastern Virginia, where we have limited macroinvertebrate data on stream health. The Save Our Streams team is excited to welcome these new monitors and support them as they help us build a more complete stream health understanding across the state!