Warm Springs Watershed Association

The Warm Springs Watershed Association began its annual season of stream monitoring on Thursday, July 3 when Stream Monitoring Team members Norman Dean, Kate Lehman, Tyler Orr, and Andy Swaim visited a section of the Warm Springs Run just south of Widmyer Elementary School. Other Stream Monitoring Team members include Michael Brooks, Susan Jones, Stan Oaks, and Kris O'Brien.

In 2009 the WSWA began monitoring various sites in the Warm Springs Run (WSR) and three of its five tributaries. Four to five key sites are monitored on an annual basis; other sites are monitored every two to three years. In November, 2012, there was a gasoline spill into Yellow Run, a tributary to WSR. Three sites – a control site in the main stem upstream from the spill, a site in Yellow Run upstream from the spill, and site where Yellow Run empties into Warm Springs Run – will be monitored several times a year for several years. The WSWA currently has plans to conduct stream monitoring for 2014 at the following locations:

• the intersection of U.S. Route 522 and Route 13
• the Country Inn
• Jimstown Road
• Fairview Drive
  

Long-term stream monitoring is an important way to track the health of a watershed. A single monitoring event is important only in that it establishes a baseline of data. Subsequent monitoring of the same site provides a way to see how land use changes and how restorative actions and applications of chemicals through the watershed impact the Warm Springs Run.

Warm Springs Watershed Association (WSWA) stream monitors follow the Save Our Stream (SOS) protocol. SOS has been used across the country since 1969. The majority of our monitors have been trained by a representative from the WVSOS program, including Norman, Kate, Tyler, and Andy. Three of our monitors have obtained scientific collecting permits; WV law requires that at least one person on any monitoring team is licensed.

For anyone interested in stream monitoring, the Warm Springs Watershed Association will be hosting a weekend monitoring session at the Board of Education Headquarters in which the general membership will be invited to participate. The event will be posted to both our website calandar as well as our Facebook Page when a date is established.

For more information on stream monitoring and our Stream Monitoring Team, visit our "Stream Monitoring" Page.

Questions regarding stream monitoring can be emailed to Norman Dean, Stream Monitoring Chair at [email protected]