Registration for sampling dates and training is open for 2025-26 study!
If you’ve already been trained, no need to do so again, simply select sampling dates below. If you haven’t gone through a virtual or in person training, sign up for one, or both below, as well as selecting a few sampling dates as they fill up fast. If you can’t make it to a training, please let us know at [email protected] and we can arrange a quick virtual or in person training.
Learn more about the study:
Each spring Hangman Creek fills with sediment, spewing tons of dirt into the Spokane River. This cloudy water is bad for fish, macroinvertebrates, and all who depend on them. The Spokane Riverkeeper, with help from Spokane Fall Trout Unlimited, leads a citizen science monitoring project to study water transparency (turbidity) in Hangman Creek and the Spokane River.
You can volunteer for this study! What do volunteers do? After going through training with Waterkeeper Jule Schultz, you'll collect water samples and measure turbidity levels to help us better understand sediment pollution from the Hangman basin. Each sampling run has 4 sampling locations (about a 9 mile, 1.5 hour loop) where you will use a transparency tube and collect samples to measure water clarity (turbidity) levels at each spot. We will use these data to determine the intensity and duration of degraded water quality in Hangman Creek and its effect on the Spokane River.
Hangman Creek pollutes the Spokane River with tons of sediment each day in the spring, choking sensitive native redband trout and burying their nests.
STUDY RESULTS
Turbidity and Sediment BACKGROUND
Watch our series of videos from Cutboard Studio explaining some of the issues we have in the Hangman Creek watershed.
Learn more about why this work is important and what we are doing to address sediment pollution.