Volunteers Needed to Assess Matawan Creek

Volunteers Needed To Assess the Matawan Creek WHAT: LOCAL CITIZENS ARE NOW BEING RECRUITED TO ASSESS THE CONDITION & ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY OF THE MATAWAN CREEK WATERSHED WHEN: ASSESSMENTS TO BEGIN IN LATE MARCH / EARLY APRIL The Matawan Creek Watershed, which flows into the Lake Lefferts and Lake Matawan, is now at a critical stage. Available data suggests that the lakes are severely impaired and are in various stages of erosion. To improve the quality of stormwater of the streams within the watershed, a watershed restoration & conservation plan is now being developed by Monmouth University which will seek to improve water quality by stabilizing eroded stream banks, improving the habitat & quality of stormwater entering the lakes. The first stage in the development of the watershed restoration plan is a stream visual assessment of the entire Matawan watershed. Citizen volunteers are now being recruited to help collect data for the assessment that will begin in late March/early April. They will be given free training in visual assessment protocols and will be required to attend one of two trainings that will be offered prior to the start of the project. After training, volunteers will pair up with a partner and be assigned about a stream segment to walk for a one-time survey in March/April. Some of the work will include examining stream riparian buffer quality, documenting pollution inputs and areas of significant erosion, taking photos and GPS coordinates, assessing stream conditions, performing stream sampling using rapid bioassessment techniques and identifying storm drains. If you are interested in volunteering with this important monitoring effort, contact Vicky Allen, at matawanlakesproject@gmail.com or Councilwoman Debbie Buragina 732-566-3898 x602.