This year, ALLARM hosted the Mid-Atlantic Volunteer Monitoring Conference from the 29th to the 30th of June. The sessions and events included, featured volunteers, career scientists, and organizations from the Mid-Atlantic region, all with unique experiences and perspectives to share. ALLARM’s full time staff and summer student workers, as well as additional Dickinson College students working and researching on campus, all helped moderate and ensure that the sessions ran smoothly. This was the first time that the conference has been held since 2015, and aimed to bring together people involved in both community monitoring and the management of watersheds to network, swap ideas and stories, and promote projects.
Whimsy Mark-Ockerbloom ’24:
My favorite session that I attended was “Putting the Clean Water Act to Work” with Colleen Walters and April Ingle of the River Network. It was a dive into the application of the Clean Water Act (CWA) focusing on implementation at different levels of government, all while using examples in geographic regions important to the attendees. Attendees were also given CWA manuals for future reference and reading. It was a fascinating look into the legal and political side of water management that I have not seen done elsewhere, and I found it incredibly rewarding!
I also greatly enjoyed the conference downtime: the space just after sessions, time allotted for meals, and buffering periods of setup, when participants and speakers can chat amongst themselves and discuss the sessions and workshops. This conference had a plethora of these moments, the most notable being the inventor and volunteer spotlight night at the end of the first day. It was a perfect blend of professional and personal communication, talks over the inventions of some of our volunteers (a DIY point locator triangulation compass! A long-distance gage stick!), their personal forays into project management, and what everyone had been doing in the 8 years since the last conference. People were so excited to share their work, and it was so heartening to see the immense passion that volunteers bring to the protection and monitoring of streams and watersheds. I loved discussing the sessions of the day with the speakers as well as the attendees, creating ideas for the future in personal and professional work as well as potential future conferences!
Kailey Sipe ’25:
The sessions that I attended during the MAVMC were “Water Quality Interpretation 101” with ALLARM’s founder, Candie Wilderman, “Intro to State Standards” with Julie Vastine, Matt Stover, and Tish Robertson, “All Things Green: HABs and SAVs” with Kristin Strock and Brooke Landry, “Hot Topics: Microplastics and Salt” with Carol Armstrong and Abby Hileman, and “Region 3 Database Tools” with Matthew Kierce, Kira Carney, and Dave Parrish. By attending the Conference, I was able to further understand water monitoring efforts through our partners and current volunteers.
The aspect of the conference that I enjoyed the most would also hands down be the inventor and volunteer spotlight reception at the end of the first day. The reception was able to shed light on what our volunteers and partners are currently doing, as they presented their own inventions and work. I made an effort to get to know each volunteer and partner, and was able to gather a better understanding of how they personally monitor their waters, from Pocket Tester holders to bacteria monitoring. It was an unforgettable experience as I was able to see the true kindness and dedication that they all bring to the table.
Overall, we truly enjoyed the MAVMC and appreciate all of the volunteers, partners, and career scientists who were able to attend. We want to give a special thanks to all of the speakers and workshop leaders for their commitment, time, and hard work. It was great to see everyone come together for this event, asking questions, engaging with the sessions and workshops, and having fun. ALLARM was honored to host this event this year and look forward to the next time that the Mid-Atlantic Volunteer Monitoring Conference comes around!
