Volunteers Wanted!

The Great Lakes Marsh Monitoring Program (MMP) is looking for interested naturalists to monitor birds, amphibians and their habitats in marshes throughout Ontario and the Great Lakes states including the Sault Ste, Marie area.

MMP volunteers, new and returning, conduct their surveys during spring and early summer. Each has an interest in birds, amphibians, or both and they share a common desire to conserve marshes and their inhabitants.  Volunteer-supplied data have enabled MMP researchers to detect significant declines in populations of American coot, common moorhen, sora, black tern, pied-billed grebe, sedge wren, and even the ubiquitous red-winged blackbird. Similar declines have occurred for chorus frog and American toad. Significant increases were detected for common yellowthroat and mallard.

If anyone is interested in spending a few evenings each spring helping to assess the quality of Great Lakes coastal and inland marshes please contact Kathy Jones, Aquatic Surveys Coordinator at 1-888-448-2473 or aqsurvey@bsc-eoc.org. For more information download the Marsh Monitoring Program brochure and sign up sheet. (Be patient this file takes long to open, you may have better luck downloading it).