Press and Publications
Stream of Consciousness Newsletters:
In this newsletter, watershed coordinators share reflections on Restoration Monitoring, highlight the return of Macroinvertebrate Workshops, spotlight ALLARM partners, and more!
In this year's edition of the ALLARM newsletter, Watershed Coordinators share their research, exciting upcoming projects, and more.
Delving deeper into a virtual world, Watershed Coordinators summarize ALLARM's community engagement, volunteer monitoring programs, and more in the 2021 newsletter.
In 2020, ALLARM Watershed Coordinators navigated changing times as the global pandemic shifted how work is done in this field. Read our annual newsletter that highlights the changes made at the beginning of COVID-19 and more here!
In the annual Stream of Consciousness newsletter, ALLARM Watershed Coordinators gather stories pertaining to recent scientific advancements in water quality, volunteer engagement, memorable events hosted by ALLARM, snapshots of water-related current events, and much more. Read our annual newsletter here!
ALLARM Annual Reports:
ALLARM's 2023 Annual Report
2023 was a year of conferences, both attended across the nation, and hosted at our home at Dickinson College.
ALLARM's 2022 Annual Report
In 2022, ALLARM onboarded three new counties for Stream Team, welcomed back macroinvertebrate workshops, and saw ongoing progress for a restoration monitoring protocol.
In 2021, ALLARM celebrated 35 years and the launch of a new partnership looking at the role of volunteer scientists in assessing restoration best management practices.
Despite the years unpredictability, ALLARM successfuly transitioned to virtual meetings and trainings (with comprable passing rates as in person trainings!) while still engaging with student watershed coordinators.
2019 marked the beginning of our Stream Team program, reaching almost 90 voluteers at 37 sites!
We worked with organizations across Pennsylvania and New York to help them monitor, protect, and restore their watersheds. We launched new monitoring and outreach programs and continued to elevate the field of volunteer monitoring and citizen science. What an exciting year! View our report here.
Other Publications:
Chemical Monitoring Data Reminders
Need assistance regarding what value to record in your data sheet for a chemical parameter? Use this document as a reference when recording and analyzing data with your ALLARM chemical monitoring kits.
Sampling Pole Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
The Sampling Pole DIY provides instructions to create a stream monitoring sampling pole at home!
COVID-19 Monitoring Guidelines
This document outlines the protocols to keep yourself safe while monitoring in the field.
C-SAW Offers Free Assistance for Cleaner Water Resources
The Consortium for Scientific Assistance to Watersheds (C-SAW) is offering both organizational and scientific assistance, made possible by a Growing Greener grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. ALLARM Director Julie Vastine says, "C-SAW has been a crucial program to ensure that volunteers have access to technical support to make their monitoring programs strong and scientifically robust." Learn More.
Written by Candie Wilderman and Jinnie Monismith. Published in the inagural Citizen Science Association Journal, this paper documents the operational models of Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) used by ALLARM, describes the volunteer monitoring protocol developed, and examines three years of water quality results from hundreds of monitoring sites in Pennsylvania and New York. Read the paper here.
Tests of Time: ALLARM Turns 30
ALLARM recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, and 30 years of volunteer monitoring programs in Pennsylvania! Learn more about our past, present and future projects in the citizen science/volunteer monitoring world.
Sustain IT Workshop: Rain Barrel Building With ALLARM
In this short clip, Dickinson community members and ALLARM staff build and construct rain barrels to be handed out to Carlisle residents later in the Spring. Through a partnership with the Carlisle Borough, all Borough residents can sign up to receive a rain barrel!
Getting Pennsylvania Back on Track - Dickinson College
Director Julie Vastine discusses ALLARM's role in a multi-state, multi-organizational federal grant from the EPA marking an unprecedented level of federal support of work in the citizen science field.
Looking to the Future: Reflections on Monitoring Marcellus Shale
Article from Fractracker Alliance - ALLARM Director Julie Vastine discusses past and future challenges, successes and experiences monitoring for shale gas impacts, alongside other regional water quality monitoring leaders.