Protect Your Local Creeks and Streams - Become a Blue Thumb Volunteer!
We can't achieve our goal of protecting streams across Oklahoma without the work of dedicated volunteers who are the eyes and ears of their local waterways, advocates for those waterways, and educators in their communities. Blue Thumb volunteers get involved in two primary ways: Education and/or Monitoring. The first step to both of these is attending one of our volunteer training sessions, which happen across the state and throughout the year. Scroll down for a list of training dates!
Blue Thumb Volunteer Training
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Blue Thumb offers several 2 day trainings throughout the state every year. While the location of these trainings are determined by staff, if a request is made to hold an additional training, we will work with you to schedule a training, even if the days cannot be held back to back.
The first day of training covers an introduction to the Blue Thumb program. Participants will get an overview of the program's history, staff, mission, goals, and how they are achieved. They will also get some first-hand experience with some of the educational activities that we use most frequently to teach about nonpoint source pollution and other water-related topics. |
We will also take a trip to a local creek to explore the biology and physical habitat of a stream, including looking for bugs and fish. At the end of the day, you will have an understanding of what Blue Thumb does, how you can become involved, and whether or not you are interested in volunteering with us, as an educator, creek monitor, or another way.
The second day of training focuses on the chemical tests that our monitoring volunteers perform monthly. After a quick review of water quality and nonpoint source pollution, we will visit a nearby creek, where our professional staff will walk through the stream-side monitoring procedures, including what we look for and the reasons we sometimes find things in a creek that normally shouldn't be there. We will then return to the indoor location to perform the chemical tests, talk about the acceptable ranges for each test and the causes for results that fall outside of those ranges, how this offers us additional information about the creek, and what to do with the results when you are done. We will then work with you to help you adopt a creek if this is something that you are interested in pursuing.
The second day of training focuses on the chemical tests that our monitoring volunteers perform monthly. After a quick review of water quality and nonpoint source pollution, we will visit a nearby creek, where our professional staff will walk through the stream-side monitoring procedures, including what we look for and the reasons we sometimes find things in a creek that normally shouldn't be there. We will then return to the indoor location to perform the chemical tests, talk about the acceptable ranges for each test and the causes for results that fall outside of those ranges, how this offers us additional information about the creek, and what to do with the results when you are done. We will then work with you to help you adopt a creek if this is something that you are interested in pursuing.
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Stillwater Blue Thumb Training
January 29 & 30, 2022
8:30 am - 4:30 pm Oklahoma State University 164 N Monroe St. Stillwater, OK 74078 |
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McAlester Blue Thumb Training
March 5 & 6, 2022
8:30 am - 4:30 pm McAlester Expo Center 4500 W Hwy 270 McAlester, OK 74501 |
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Woodward Blue Thumb Training
March 26 & 27, 2022
8:30 am - 4;30 pm Northwestern Oklahoma State University, Chem Lab Room 152 2007 34th St. Woodward, OK 73801 |