The Thurston County Wetlands Project is a
long-term monitoring program designed to provide a better
understanding of wetlands and the species that rely on those
habitats. Thurston County has over 3,000 wetlands www.geodata.org ranging from bogs,
freshwater ponds, and marshes to swamps and tidal estuaries. This
diversity makes Thurston County an ideal place to study wetland
dynamics.
The WDFW Habitat Science Team is seeking volunteers to
participate in this study. Details including opportunities for
volunteer training sessions are provided below.
Launched in January 2002 by the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife (WDFW), the Thurston County Wetlands Project represents
a major research effort by the agency's Habitat Program Science
Team and relies heavily on assistance from volunteers. Volunteers
are trained to not only collect, record, and enter data, but also
to help design quality controls and assist in data analysis.
The Thurston County Wetlands Project includes a wide variety of
tasks, providing diverse opportunities for volunteer
participation, from the simple to the complex.
While collecting data in the field, volunteers learn first-hand
how wetlands work and play a critical role in research designed
to advance scientific understanding of wetlands statewide.
The Thurston County Wetlands Project will ultimately focus on
three animal groups: amphibians, fishes, and invertebrates.
Presence of a particular species in a wetland will be examined in
terms of the biological and physical properties of that wetland
and the surrounding area. Understanding the relationship between
specific species and the habitat they inhabit will provide a
"window" into the complex processes that occur in wetlands.
In the first year of the Thurston County Wetlands Project,
efforts focused on sampling amphibian egg masses and larval
stages, recording data on animals (or their signs) thought to
influence amphibians and fishes, and collecting data on selected
elements of wetland structure (e.g., vegetation). These sampling
activities are designed to generate basic data that will be used
to develop fundamental questions (or hypotheses) about the way
wetlands work and how wetland sampling should be done in the
future. More emphasis on fish, invertebrate, hydrology, and water
quality is likely to occur in the future.
The WDFW Habitat Science Team is seeking volunteers for two
components of the project. The first component requires
volunteers to sample sites randomly selected throughout Thurston
County; the second component seeks volunteers to sample wetlands
on their own property. Each study component will use the same
sampling approach. That is, wetlands will be sampled three times
during late winter-early spring (February-May) in 2003.
Volunteers are required to attend at least one two-hour training
session to register for the program. Training is provided and
scheduled upon request. Obtain information on training by calling
or e-mailing the contacts below.
The WDFW Habitat Program Science Team provides instruction in the
survey methods and identification of egg mass and target
vertebrates; map and directions to the target sites;
Volunteers need to provide their own transportation, and need to
have rubber boots, waders, or footgear that will allow them to
wade in water up to 2 feet. Participants will be asked to
register as volunteers with the WDFW and to fill out time sheets
on a monthly basis. Individuals under 18 years of age must have
adult supervision.