As the Eastern Shale Gas Monitoring Coordinator for Trout Unlimited, Jake Lemon manages the organization’s citizen science programs focused on ​monitoring​ ​for​ ​potential impact​ ​from​ ​shale​ ​gas​ ​related​ ​development. He is responsible for the Marcellus Shale region of Central Appalachia, a large swathe of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, primarily within the Monongahela National Forest, Virginia, and the George Washington National Forest. Part of Jake’s job is to help community members identify strategic monitoring locations by providing technical support and using the best available information and science to place monitoring sites in the right place at the right time. He uses an analysis, put together by the Nature Conservancy, that projects the probability of future shale gas development in given areas, and overlays that data with trout population data to identify the areas where baseline water quality data is most needed. Jake believes it’s important not only to match a volunteer with an area that needs data, but also with an area that they love.

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