New Year, New Stream Team

As the fall season starts, our Stream Team volunteers are preparing for another sampling season.

Stream Team is a partnership water quality monitoring program made of Skagit citizen scientists and local partners.

Volunteer citizen scientists spend 2-6 hours per month diligently collecting stream water samples and testing parameters like fecal coliform, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and more.

These results are then shared in a publicly accessible database.

Newly recruited volunteers attended annual training at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in early September. They were introduced to the program structure, given a crash course about water quality science, practiced hands-on equipment training in a field trip, and learned lab procedures with the guidance of our long-time lab volunteer Jenna Cassells.

2026 is our 28th season since the program’s start, but this year brings a couple of changes. This season marks another wave of new volunteers and two new Stream Team Coaches: Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve Lab Manager Eric Ettner and Skagit CD’s new Outreach Specialist Laura Wagner.  

We’re excited to start a new season with returning and new faces, but that’s not all, folks!

There are still a few spots left for volunteers.

If you’re interested and have time to volunteer on Mondays or Thursdays from the morning to early afternoon (once every four weeks), email laura@skagitcd.org.

If you want to volunteer, but your availability doesn’t work with those slots, email to see if we can squeeze you in.

For updates throughout the season, follow our Facebook and Instagram and keep an eye out for future newsletter blurbs.