As stated in the last blog post, the monitoring season for MMW funded groups has now begun. In the month of May MMW has trained two more groups, the Rock Creek Watershed Group + Carbon County Resource Council and the Yaak Valley Forest Council. Based in Red Lodge Montana, the RCWG/CCRC monitors in South-Eastern Montana in the Rock Creek Watershed. This is a bit of a drive from the Flathead Lake Biological Station, 6 hours and 17 minutes to be exact. Although the drive was long, it was worth it to meet the monitoring crew for the group in person. The day started off foggy and cold. I (Claire) trained the groups on how to collect unfiltered and filtered samples, as well as field blanks and duplicates. After training at the first site, I tagged along to the 8 other monitoring sites along Rock Creek. It was great to see the volunteers so passionate about water quality and conservation. By the end of the day the sun was shining and everyone had been trained on the standard operating procedures. The RCWG/CCRC is off to a great start for 2022. MMW also made a trip up to Troy Montana to train the Yaak Valley Forest Council. We went to one of the many monitoring sites for the YFVC where we went over collecting filtered and unfiltered grab samples, as well as taking temperature measurements. After reading the SOP, the four YVFC members each went through and demonstrated how to collect the samples. The current was fast and water level was high so samples were taken from the shore or close to it. Meeting with the Yaak Valley Forest Council was a great opportunity to connect face-to-face with the group as well as see the beautiful Yaak Valley. Both groups are planning to monitor at the end of May/early June and put their training into use!