Area Boaters and Hikers Needed to Help Measure Pollution in Gallatin River

Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation are looking for skilled outdoorsmen and women who want to help protect Montana rivers and reduce pollution downstream. Volunteer teams will be assigned a site in the Gallatin Watershed and commit to sample this site four times in a year.

The Gallatin River carries the mountain towards the sea. It carries our communities and our livelihoods. It carries our stories and dreams. And this river also carries something more ominous in its waters: Our garbage.

In an ASC pilot survey of five sites along the Gallatin River, microplastic particles were found in every sample, some in startlingly high numbers. With this knowledge, ASC is launching the Gallatin Microplastics Initiative to learn more about the abundance and types of microplastics in the Gallatin Watershed.

During the first phase of the project, we will survey more than 50 sites in the main Gallatin and its tributaries over the course of a year. The information gathered in this initial survey will help us better understand the extent of the global microplastic problem, and how to take steps to solve it.

For more information about the Gallatin Initiative, visit adventurescience.org/gallatin-microplastics.html