Watershed health monitoring cycles

Random sites help estimate regional conditions and trends

The network of streams we monitor are naturally formed, freshwater, and flow year-round. Between 2009 and 2019, we sampled 544 random sites. We did not sample random sites in 2020.

Half of the sites in a sample season are drawn from those that were already sampled in the previous survey. Comparing results over time should objectively show if regional conditions decline or improve.

Reference sites give context to random sites

We've handpicked 117 locations, so far, to represent least-disturbed conditions among three large-scale reference regions in the state. Sixteen of these sites, called the sentinel sites, have been sampled annually and help us to estimate large-scale environmental trends. We hope to expand the reference site list.

See where we've sampled

Explore the maps below to see the sites that we've sampled from 2009 to 2020. Click on each site, then click on the circled arrow in the pop-up box to see its location data and when it was sampled. Click on the up arrows at the bottom of the map frame to see tables of all site data in the map.