Making a Difference in Maryland Waters
The goals of the Stream Waders Program are:
- To increase the density of sampling sites for use in stream quality assessments.
- To educate the local community about the relationship between land use and stream quality.
- To provide quality assured information on stream quality to state,local, and federal agencies, environmental organizations, and others.
- To improve stream stewardship ethics and encourage local action to improve watershed management.
How to Become a Stream Wader
The first thing to do is fill out this 
Volunteer Form and bring the completed form to a training session. This document is a release form required from all our volunteers.
In order to become part of the program, volunteers agree to participate in a one day training session
and then spend about two more days during the March-April sampling
window collecting aquatic invertebrate samples from stream beds.
Volunteers can either make special arrangements to return their samples
to DNR, or bring them to the group collection generally held the first
weekend of May at their training site. Samples are sent to the department for "bug
identification" and analysis.
Volunteer samples and location data go through a process similar to
that used for the Maryland Biological Stream Survey for quality control
and analysis. Data and reports that result from this process are
available on the web in the online publications page.
Stream Waders 10 Year (2000-2009) Report.
Thank you all of the volunteers who slogged through the streams and endured frigid fingers to make it all possible!
Maryland Stream Waders 10 Year Report
