How to Volunteer for Stream Team

• Volunteers must be 16 or older
• Volunteers must commit to one day a month for a minimum of six mths/year (5 - 10 hrs/month) 
• Stream Team sampling typically occurs monthly on the first Sunday
• Our next Stream Team training is June 2, 2012 and the deadline to apply is May 20, 2012.  Submit a Volunteer Application (required).
• To learn more about Stream Team's water chemistry sampling events or be notified of upcoming trainings, contact us. 
• Creek Stewards is currently on hiatus, but will resume soon. To learn more about our Creek Stewards program, contact us.

STREAM TEAM

Since 1998, almost 6,000 volunteers have gone through intense training and given their time as members of Heal the Bay's Stream Team. This volunteer crew of dedicated outdoors people spend their free time collecting environmental data in the Malibu Creek Watershed, which is the last natural watershed in Los Angeles, and home to some of the most beautiful wilderness in the L.A. area. Unfortunately, Malibu Creek, which drains to world-famous Surfrider Beach, suffers from high levels of bacteria, excessively high levels of nutrients and threatened habitat.

The Stream Team began by mapping Malibu Creek and its tributaries, using GPS technology to pinpoint the location of outfalls, pollution sources, and degraded habitat. We conducted extensive habitat restoration by removing invasive vegetation and replacing it with native plants. And we removed barriers to natural fish passage and migration, like the Texas Crossing in Serra Retreat. We also did research on the insects that live in the creek, which are good indicators of the overall health of the ecosystem. All of this data helped us determine where much of the pollution in the creek is coming from, how development has impacted the creek, and where some of the most urgent pollution problems are.

Stream Team Sponsor

Moving Forward - Today and Beyond

Today, Stream Team volunteers visit about 20 sites in the Malibu Creek watershed and conduct monthly water chemistry testing. They look at the site surroundings, speed of the water, clarity, and water temperature, and measure oxygen, dissolved solids, bacteria and nutrients. We enter this information into a database that then can track the health of a particular site over time, measuring impacts of things like development and rainfall. Does hiking along streams in the Santa Monica Mountains and getting a little bit dirty and/or wet for the sake of science and the environment sound like fun to you? We would love to have you join our team.

creek Stewards

What is the Creek Stewards program?
Our new Creek Stewards program educates volunteers about pollution problems in the Malibu Creek Watershed so that the general public can help identify and report potential sources of pollution and habitat degradation as they are occuring.

Why are Creek Stewards' monitoring efforts important?
The Malibu Creek Watershed is the fourth-largest watershed draining into the Santa Monica Bay. It is one of the few watersheds in the region that is dominated by open space, and it drains to historic Surfrider Beach. Volunteer monitoring through the Creek Stewards program helps to identify areas of concern in the watershed, document water pollution and areas of degraded habitat, and makes sure that environmental standards are being upheld. Water pollution and degraded stream and riparian habitat negatively impacts stream health; threatens sensitive species, like the endangered southern steelhead trout; and threatens the health of people recreating at local streams and beaches. The data collected by our Creek Stewards help to identify polluted or degraded areas and inform actions to help reverse these problems – but we need your help! 

What kinds of pollutants are found in the Malibu Creek Watershed?
While trash and debris are the most obvious kinds of pollutants that contaminate streams and oceans, urban runoff is the leading source of pollution to California’s coastal waters. Urban runoff can transport excess dirt, nutrients, bacteria, and debris into waterways during storms or periods of dry-weather flow. The Malibu Creek Watershed also suffers from water pollution associated with septic systems and wastewater treatment plant discharge. Heal the Bay is concerned that runoff from several land-uses in the watershed, such as wineries, animal boarding facilities, and construction sites, may transport fertilizers, pesticides, nutrients and excess sediment into streams if those establishments do not follow best management practices.