Community-Based Restoration Monitoring: Volunteer Information

General Information

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund (CBSF) has implemented numerous restoration practices aimed at reducing the impact of agricultural practices and urban/suburban land uses. It is critical for NFWF to assess whether these practices are improving the quality of local streams in order to ensure the investments are helping to meet Chesapeake Bay restoration goals.

The Community-Based Restoration Monitoring Project was developed in order to track the progress of stream restoration, riparian forest buffer, and cattle exclusion fencing practices funded through the NFWF Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.

The project provides all equipment, training, and guided hands-on experience at no cost.

Volunteer Duties

Monitor a site for 3-4 hours with a team of 3-5 people, including the monitoring team leader
Monitor two times per year, once in the spring and once in the fall
Monitoring stream health includes measuring:
- Water quality indicators: water temperature, air temperature, and water clarity
- Visual physical assessments: stream geometry, substrate composition, periphyton, canopy cover, riparian zone, and biological habitat
- Collect benthic macroinvertebrates (Spring only)
Clean monitoring equipment
Record data on the project field datasheet
Submit all datasheets to the monitoring team lead
When borrowing monitoring equipment, ensure it is all returned to the monitoring team lead

Volunteer Requirements

You must be 18 years or older
Comfortable wading into 2 feet of stream water
Able to scramble up and down streambanks
Able to get to and from the monitoring site with your own transportation
Attend the virtual training session (1.5 hours)
Fill out the volunteer waiver
Sign up for a site(s)

Volunteer Benefits

Help protect a local stream by collecting vital data on stream restoration impacts on stream health
Learn stream monitoring techniques
Participate in hands-on community science with an experienced monitor team lead
Visit local streams and connect with other nature-loving participants

“I have been monitoring the same restoration site for 3 years now and I look forward to every visit. Comparing the pre-restoration stream to the most recent time I returned, the stream is almost unrecognizable! It’s been amazing to watch the buffer grow in, see scouring and the substrate become less silty, and notice wildlife return.” – Isabel Ruff

How to Sign Up

Contact the project coordinator, Maya Sterett (msterett@allianceforthebay.org), for the newest trainings and how to get onboarded as a volunteer.

Monitoring takes place at pre-selected sites in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Virginia. To volunteer with this project, please fill out the form below. Once the form is filled out, the monitoring team will connect volunteers with a site closest to them.

Sign Up Now

Monitoring Resources

Monitoring Methods Manual WAIVER VOLUNTEER PACKET Field Datasheet

How To Methods Videos

Below are volunteer protocol videos for review before or during monitoring. View these videos on this
website or on the Alliance’s Community-Based Restoration Monitoring Volunteer Training Playlist on
YouTube.