Selecting a site to monitor

Your monitoring site should have good access and you should always get landowner permission (unless in a public right of way). Be sure your site is not already being monitored by another organization. Please contact Stacey Brown if you are not sure. If you need help selecting a site, contact your regional coordinator or Stacey Brown for suggestions.

Monitoring should be done at one station, defined as a single stretch of a stream not more than 100 yards long. If you wish to assess a longer section of a stream, select two monitoring stations (which are subsequently identified using latitude and longitude coordinates) at the top and bottom of the stretch, or multiple sites along the length of the stretch at quarter-mile or greater intervals. Be sure to revisit the same station each time so that your results will be comparable. Carefully record the location of your monitoring station on your SOS Stream Survey form. If you do not know the latitude and longitude coordinates when you monitor, use an accurate description of the site that enables you or another monitor to return to the same location. Use roads, bridges, and other significant landmarks to aid in pinpointing the location.

If you are monitoring more than one station you should begin monitoring at the station furthest downstream and work upstream. This will prevent macroinvertebrates disturbed from your first test from washing downstream and getting caught in your net a second time. Each station should include only the organisms present at that location, and not those disturbed from previous tests.