Surprisingly, the health of freshwater systems in the US has not been well studied, despite the fact that having unhealthy streams impacts people's drinking water, has negative effects on fish, insect, and amphibian populations, and disrupts nutrient cycling from small creeks all the way to our oceans. But before we can clean up streams, we need to know: where are they?
Help Stream Selfie, coordinated by the Izaak Walton League of America, build the first-of-its-kind map of streams across America. Take pictures of streams near you and upload them to Stream Selfie through SciStarter’s portal, along with your observations about the health of that stream. The streams can be located anywhere, including ones you see during a walk in the woods, others channeled through urban communities, or they could be in your backyard. Scientists will use your data to zero in on streams with issues that need monitoring. Help move us one step closer to protecting our nation's drinking water.
