EcoWatch Monitors Keep Vigil

On October 15, staff support for the Illinois EcoWatch program fell victim to state budget cuts. But the staff and volunteers still hope to find a way to continue the program.

For ten years, trained citizen scientists have contributed biological monitoring data to the Critical Trends Assessment Program (CTAP) through three EcoWatch projects, RiverWatch, PrairieWatch, and ForestWatch. CTAP is a program of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to identify long-term changes in the health of Illinois ecosystems. In 2004, EcoWatch had 1,854 active volunteers, who had earned approximately 2,200 certifications as trained monitors. In the words of Mike Rzepka, a RiverWatch volunteer since 1996, "The volunteers' efforts provided information that would cost too much to be gathered any other way."

Pete Jackson, formerly the program coordinator for ForestWatch and PrairieWatch, reports that all the volunteers with whom he spoke were eager to continue their monitoring work and agreed to submit their data for 2004 despite the program's uncertain future.

"I had always heard of 'matching the hatch' from fly fishermen, but had only the barest idea about the diversity and marvelous chemical adaptations of life

in our streams and rivers," said volunteer James Hoyt. "From RiverWatch trainers

I learned so much about the different benthic macroinvertebrates that inhabit Illinois streams."

Jackson and others have been looking for a new home for EcoWatch. Their current proposal pares down the staff from ten people to four. The program could continue to rely on CTAP for data storage and analysis. As of early November, several institutions had regretfully concluded that they would be unable to take on the program.

— Barbara Hill