Citizen Science Evening - River Ecosystems

Interested in finding out more about how national citizen science monitoring programmes can be used to assess and improve river health? This event will explore different ways to look at the life that lives in and around our rivers, diving into Riverfly and Modular River Surveys.

This free public talk is open to everyone - whether you are a citizen scientist wanting to find out more about how your data is used, if you are interested in getting involved, or if you just want to hear more about rivers!

LINE UP

Steve Brooks, Riverfly Partnership Co-Chair and Natural History Museum "Using Riverfly to monitor river restoration and the development of RICT Target Scores"

The Riverfly Monitoring Initiative is one of the longest running national river citizen science schemes since its establishment in 2004. Steve Brooks, one of the founding members and Co-Chair of the Riverfly Partnership, will join us to discuss how the aquatic invertebrate survey can be used to assess river health and monitor restoration projects. Including recent developments of Extended Riverfly and the new RICT system of modelled target scores.

Dr Helen Moggridge, Cartographer "The MoRPh survey: a tool for understanding the physical health of rivers and improving river restoration outcomes"

MoRPh is a citizen science survey that assesses and monitors the physical health of rivers. At 10 years old, it has been widely adopted by volunteers, conservation organisations and professional bodies and over 10 000 surveys have now been conducted within the UK. Helen Moggridge who coordinates the national MoRPh programme, will explore what this valuable dataset can tell us about the physical condition of rivers nationally and demonstrate some of the applications of MoRPh for river restoration and for improving our scientific understanding of rivers.

Iona McMillan, Chiltern Chalk Streams Project "Ecological health of the River Chess"

Following on from the previous talks, Iona McMillan - Citizen Science Coordinator for the Chiltern Chalk Streams Project - will then explore the findings of citizen science surveys including Riverfly and MoRPh on the River Chess and how they are being used to understand and improve the health of this precious chalk stream.

Volunteers identifying aquatic invertebrates as part of a Riverfly Survey

Conducting MoRPh surveys to assess river habitat

What to expect:

Meeting at 6.30pm at the White Hill Centre we will have a series of presentations exploring citizen science data on the ecology of the River Chess, and rivers more widely through national citizen science schemes.

There will also be free light refreshments and a chance to chat.

Meeting location:

This event is happening at the White Hill Centre, White Hill, Chesham HP5 1AG.

There will be signs on the night to direct you to our event room.

Getting here:

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: The White Hill Centre is only 5 minutes walk from Chesham Train Station, with easy train links to other towns along the Chess such as Chorleywood and Rickmansworth.

PARKING: There is free parking available on site at the White Hill Centre.

Who is this event for?

This free event is open to everyone! Whether you are already involved in Chess citizen science or interested in volunteering; a local resident to the Chess; want to learn more about chalk streams; are involved in rivers elsewhere ... anyone with any interest is very welcome to come along.

Contact:

If you have any questions about the evening, please email us at [email protected].