The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Scenic Rivers program is seeking volunteers to conduct water quality monitoring in the Central Ohio region.

Local community residents interested in helping with stream quality monitoring (SQM) are invited to attend workshops. Volunteers will be given free training on how to sample the water quality by learning how to seine (net) and identify the aquatic macro-invertebrates (insects) that live in the rivers. The type, number and diversity of these aquatic macro-invertebrates are indicators of water quality. The data that volunteer monitors collect is published in an online annual report, which determines the health of that portion of the stream.

Interested participants are asked to attend a SQM training workshop. Volunteers are asked to wear old clothes and closed-toe shoes as this activity occurs by wading in very shallow portions of streams. SQM is vital to our state’s rivers, and would not be possible without the active help of volunteers. SQM workshops for the Central Ohio region in May are listed below:

• Tuesday, May 17 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park. Volunteers will meet at the Indian Ridge Picnic Area bulletin board – 2705 Darby Creek Drive, Galloway, OH 43119.

• Tuesday, May 31 – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. on the Olentangy River at Highbanks Metro Park. Volunteers will meet at the parking lot by the streamside programming area – 9466 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center, OH 43035.

More information on the SQM workshops are available at: http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/sqm. For more information on SQM workshops for the Central Ohio region, please contact SQM Coordinator Tiffany Taylor at 740-548-5490 or [email protected]. ODNR ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the ODNR website at ohiodnr.gov.