FORT PIERCE – The UF/IFAS St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension is seeking volunteers for the UF/IFAS LakeWatch water quality monitoring program. Florida LakeWatch is a citizen, volunteer freshwater monitoring program that facilitates “hands-on” participation in the management of Florida lakes, ponds and rivers through monitoring activities. Volunteers can come from any location in St. Lucie County – with priority needs in the Lakewood Park neighborhood in Fort Pierce.
LakeWatch is currently active on several freshwater bodies in St. Lucie County including Lakewood Park, Savannas Preserve State Park and Port St Lucie Botanical Gardens. To become part of the LAKEWATCH team, volunteers are required to have access to a boat (almost any kind) and complete a training session, on their lake, which takes about two hours. The training session includes: Learning techniques for collecting water samples, filtering lake water to obtain algae samples, and taking Secchi disk readings (or water clarity readings). Supplies are provided. Volunteer hours would be submitted to the Natural Resource Extension Agent.
For information about Florida LakeWatch, please visit the project website online at https://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu. To volunteer, please complete the volunteer forms and submit it to the Florida LakeWatch program. Volunteer forms are online at https://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/LWVolunteer.htm or e-mail:fl-lakewatch@ufl.edu.
