On Thursday, March 20th, I had the privilege of attending a virtual Westmoreland Stream Team Data Interpretation Meeting, along with my colleagues Jill Arriola (Staff Scientist), Lindsay VanFossen (Water Quality Technician), and fellow Watershed Coordinator Emma Spinelli ‘25. This virtual event, aimed at informing the Westmoreland Stream Team about certain factors that may be affecting their data, helped them to understand why they might be seeing certain, potentially interesting trends. The presentation itself included information on water quality influencers, state standards and policy, and the ALLARM-created data packets that highlighted the monitors’ sites. The overall purpose of this meeting was for the Westmoreland Stream Team to learn about what could be influencing their data, so that they are able to give perspective to their data, find trends and develop meaningful data stories.
For this event, I spoke to the influencers of water quality such as climate, climate change, and point and non-point sources of pollution. To prepare, I reviewed last year’s Stream Team data interpretation meeting to create a script, and from there, practiced my script with my fellow colleagues. A highlight from the event was when monitor Karen R. brought up a point about geology, stating that based on her knowledge, the geology that we presented about her stream was different from what she indicated. Coming from a GIS/data background working on these maps, I was curious about this insight. However, this process goes to show just how important data interpretation is, as there is always an outside perspective from volunteers that is important.
Attending the Westmoreland Stream Team data interpretation meeting was truly a full-circle moment for me. Over the past couple of years, I have had the ability to attend a check-in meeting and macroinvertebrate training with the Westmoreland Stream Team, getting to know each monitor and their site better. I am grateful for the opportunity to have attended this event and to learn about their progress from the last time I saw them. I am excited to hopefully learn more about their progress in the future!
