Stream Walk and Boat Brigade Resources
March 24, 2015
Riverkeeper Team
In January 2015, Riverkeeper was invited by the Rosendale Commission for the Conservation of the Environment to make a presentation about how stream walks can be used to help understand and address contamination sources, including the fecal contamination citizen scientists are helping to document with Riverkeeper's help. The event was attended by representatives from environmental advisory boards in Wawarsing, Rochester and Kingston.
Subsequently, the Wallkill River Watershed Alliance began hosting a series of Boat Brigades, and towns in the Rondout Creek watershed hosted their own boat brigade as part of Ulster County Creek Week in September 2015.
We aim to include in this blog post a list of resources for groups interested in stream walks and boat brigades. It isn't comprehensive, and we will update it as new resources come to our attention.
Riverkeeper's Stream Walk Presentation (January 15, 2015)
Stream Walk Resources from Jeremy Cherson
Stream Walk Methods
Lower Hudson Council of Conservation Districts Streamwalk Method
- Glossary
- Segment Survey Sheet
- Impaired Site Assessment Form
- Segment Survey Instructions
- Segment Survey Scoresheet
Center for Watershed Protection Illicit Discharge Tracking Guide
- Illicit Discharge Tracking Guide
- Microbes and Urban Watersheds: Concentrations Sources and Pathways
- Use of Tracers to Identify Sources of Contamination in Dry Weather Flow
- Desktop Analysis of Illicit Discharge Potential
- Using Illicit Discharge Programs to Monitor Bacteria (Recorded Webcast)
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Other Resources
- NYS Council of Trout Unlimited Visual Stream Assessment Protocol
- Conducting Sanitary Surveys to Improve Coastal Water Quality (Maine Healthy Beaches Program)
- Tools for Tracking Human Fecal Pollution in Urban Storm Drains, Creeks and Beaches (City of Santa Barbara)
- Volunteer Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination (IDDE) Method (Lexington, Mass. / UMASS-Lowell)
Hudson Valley Stream Walk Reports
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County
- Hunns Lake Creek Stream Walk (Wappinger Creek watershed)
- Jackson Creek Stream Walk (Fishkill Creek watershed)
Quassaick Creek Watershed Alliance
- Silver Stream, August 2014
- Silver Stream, September 2014
- Pollution investigation, September 2014
- Millers Pond Stream Walk April 2014
- Route 300 North Survey, September 2013
Wallkill River Watershed Alliance
- Boat Brigade, Town of Shawangunk, June 6, 2015
- Boat Brigade, Village of New Paltz, June 27, 2015 (Update on algae.)
- Boat Brigade, Town of Rosendale, July 2015
- Information on algae observations by Wallkill River Watershed Alliance, August/September 2015
Related campaigns
Water quality monitoring
Riverkeeper is the go-to source for information about the quality of the water along the Hudson River and its tributaries
Emerging and unregulated contaminants
Toxic chemicals can harm the health of people, wildlife, aquatic ecosystems
Sewer and stormwater pollution
Working to keep sewage and street pollution out of our waterways