Roadtripping for Trainings!

In May the Izaak Walton League’s Virginia Save Our Streams Coordinator trekked across central Virginia to provide benthic macroinvertebrate trainings in Petersburg and Blacksburg. The Petersburg training was attended by Virginia State University faculty and members of the Virginia Master Naturalists Pocahontas Chapter. The training was held on VSU’s campus where volunteers learned the Rocky and Muddy Bottom protocols and braved the humid day of counting macros.

The Blacksburg training was hosted the next day at the farm of a current VA SOS monitor that is working on developing a riparian buffer on his property. Virginia Tech students learned the Rocky Bottom protocol along with New River Valley Virginia Master Naturalists, who were able to provide local knowledge and experience for the group! The volunteers did a great job collecting and counting macros in spite of a sudden downpour!