The Abington Public Library was the place to be last Wednesday, January 14! Over 40 volunteer citizen water quality monitors gathered for a light dinner, presentation on plants, and to learn more about water quality efforts being conducted within our upstream Philadelphia watershed.
The audience was composed of our star citizen water quality monitors from Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association’s Creek Watch program, TTF Streamkeepers, the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, and the Friends of Poquessing Watershed. These volunteers monitor creeks each month to collect data about changes in water quality, erosion, and creekside vegetation.
To kick the night off, we invited guests to enjoy delicious food donated by Curds ‘n Whey, Jenkintown gourmet shop and cafe (thanks, Davida!). Krista Sheirer, Montgomery County Conservation District Watershed Specialist covered some watershed challenges, particularly invasive plant species, including some not-so-commonly known invasives she often encounters while conducting site evaluations. TTF’s Alex Cooper then presented the first TTF water quality report, compiled by TTF intern Doug Kripke.
This citizen science effort is funded through the William Penn Foundation‘s Delaware River Watershed Initiative. Through this effort, participating organizations are implementing stream restoration and green infrastructure projects and informing municipal stormwater permits and public investments, using monitoring data gathered through aligned, science based efforts.
The Academy of Natural Sciences and Stroud Water Research Center are leading the watershed analysis work, and guiding us as we train and mobilize citizen scientists to collect information.
Interested in becoming a Streamkeeper for TTF? We still have sections of the Tookany Creek that are not being monitored. To get involved, contact Alex at cooper@ttfwatershed.org or 215-744-1853.
