FORECASTER • April 19, 2021
Recruiting is on again this year for volunteers to seek out big water bugs in area streams. The Stream Explorers program’s survey of large aquatic insects helps the state Department of Environmental Protection monitor the health of Maine’s rivers and streams. Held for the first time last year in the Lakes Region, the program is expanding this year in southern Maine. “Land use and climate change is affecting stream quality. The DEP can’t monitor all the rivers and streams and can only get to around 50 to 60 a year,” said Hannah Young, a conservation associate with Maine Audubon. “They don’t have the resources to monitor all the streams and rivers, so there is a real need for this.”