The Illinois EcoWatch Network is seeking out volunteers to monitor and collect data in local streams.

Volunteers are required to attend one training session and one field session. A training session will be held at Eastern on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Life Sciences Building, and lunch will be provided. If anyone is interested in attending, they need to call Justin Fuller or Jeanette Beazly at 309-557-0299 or e-mail at [email protected] before Saturday.

The training session will last eight hours, four hours in the lab and another four working in the field, said Justin Fuller of the Illinois EcoWatch Network.

Site work requires about six or seven hours in the field per site and will be done between May 1 and June 30.

“Anyone who has an interest in the outdoors and the environment should volunteer,” Fuller said.

The only requirement for volunteers is that they have a high school education.

At the sites, volunteers will learn to identify indicator macroinvertebrates, such as snails, worms and mussels and conduct habitat and biologicals surveys, Fuller said. The data collected is entered into a statewide database used by professional scientists of the Illinois Natural History Surveys who identify long-term trends occuring in the streams of Illinois.

“People can learn a little bit more about nature and do real nature work,” Fuller said.

Local sites that volunteers will go to are Riley Creek in Mattoon and Polecat Creek in Ashmore and other sites are also open in Edgar, Douglas and Cumberland Counties.