Watershed group seeks volunteer monitors
WORCESTER — The Blackstone River Watershed Council/Friends of the Blackstone (BRWC/FOB) is seeking volunteers to assist with the 17th year of water quality monitoring of 17 sites in the Rhode Island region of the watershed.
A field monitor is needed to sample Cherry Brook in Woonsocket on Olo Street. Additional volunteers are needed so serve as “floaters” to cover sites on an “as-needed” basis.
Fieldwork not your thing? Come volunteer in the water-testing lab at the Friends of The Blackstone Environmental Education Center, located at 100 New River Road, Manville.
The BRWC/FOB is a member organization of the Blackstone River Coalition, which recruits and trains citizen scientists to participate in the Coalition’s watershed-wide volunteer water quality monitoring program. The goal of this long-running program is to gather information about the current status of, and long-term changes in, the health of the Blackstone River watershed. This information helps local policy makers, state officials, and concerned citizens make the Blackstone River cleaner for people and wildlife.
Over 90 volunteers work with the
BRC’s member organizations to sample 75 sites throughout the watershed from Worcester to Pawtucket. Sites are sampled on the second Saturday of each month from April through November. Field monitors and floaters are trained in a one-hour session to test for dissolved oxygen at the site, record physical and aesthetic parameters, and collect a water sample that they drop off at the lab between 9 a.m. and noon on the Saturday of testing. Lab volunteers, who help test these grab samples for nutrients, conductivity, and turbidity, do not need to commit to helping each month and can be trained the first time they assist.
The Headwaters Team is based in Worcester, and the Midreach Team is based in Uxbridge.
To volunteer as a field monitor, floater, or lab assistant, please contact Susan Thomas, Coordinator, BRC Volunteer WQM Program at 508-471-0988 or sthomas@massaudubon.org.
Blackstone Open Space and Recreation Survey also calling on public’s help
The Town of Blackstone is in the process of updating the Town’s Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP).
Public participation is a key component of preparing an OSRP. One way to participate is through completing the OSRP Survey. The survey is available on the Town website ( townofblackstone.org).
Additionally, paper copies are available at the Town Administrator’s Office in Town Hall. Blackstone residents are encouraged to participate in the OSRP by completing the survey. Survey responses will be accepted through March 12, 2020.
Completing an OSRP that gains approval from the Massachusetts Division of Conservation Services (DCS) serves two primary purposes: 1) to guide future Town decisions pertaining to open space and recreation and 2.) to make the Town eligible for grants that can be used to purchase open space and develop or rehabilitate recreation facilities.
Other opportunities for public input will be available at two public forums to be scheduled later in the Spring. The results of the survey, as well as a set of draft goals and objectives for the plan, will be presented at that time. A second public forum to present the draft OSRP will be held in several months.