Be a Spring Seeker and carry our simple survey form on your smartphone when you’re hiking.
If you find water, complete the survey to easily alert us about the spring’s condition and guide where we work to protect springs next. All of the spring health information submitted to the Spring Seeker project gets incorporated into our Spring Prioritization Tool to help us track the state of springs across the Sky Island region and identify priorities for spring stewardship projects.
Since Spring Seeker’s launch in 2020, we have surveyed 500 springs in the U.S. and Mexico. Will you help monitor more?
How to be a Spring Seeker
Get Started
- Download Survey123 – Visit the app store for your smartphone or tablet and download the free Survey123 app.
- Download the Spring Seeker survey – Download and open the survey on your smartphone or tablet in the Survey123 app before you go to the field.
- Link: https://arcg.is/18aCjm. Choose “open in Survey123”
- Read about land access and safety in the field: Spring Seeker Safety
- Spring Seeker Waters Map – Use this map to plan your explorations of springs in the Sky Islands. Zoom in and identify the name of the spring and the Site ID to include in your Spring Seeker survey.
Spring Seeker User Guide 
Learn about our Spring Seeker survey by using this guided User Manual. Click on the first image, and then use the Next arrow to move throughout the steps.
Click here to download a detailed Field Manual.
Wetland Plants Photo Gallery
Click through our Wetland Plants Photo Gallery. Click on the first image and use the Next arrow to move to the next image.
Woody Plants Photo Gallery 
Click through our Woody Plants Photo Gallery. Click on the first image, and then use the Next arrow to move to the next image.
Invasive Species Photo Gallery 
Click through our Invasive Species Photo Gallery. Click on the first image, and then use the Next arrow to move to the next image.
Helpful Resources
- In-depth Field Manual
- Seek by iNaturalist—This useful application will help you identify woody, wetland, and invasive plant species in the field, even without cell signal or internet.
- Avenza PDF Maps Application – This Application will help you navigate in the field. You can add maps from the Map Store, and then see your location on the maps when you’re out in the field.
- Gaia GPS—This application is another option to help you navigate in the field.
- Google Earth Pro – This application can be used to view satellite imagery, including multiple years of images for the same location.
- Hike Arizona – Trail descriptions, GPS routes, water reports, etc.! We use this extensively when planning trips, especially the Plan > Map page.
- Seeking Sky Island Springs Coffee Break
- Spring Seeker Training Coffee Break
- Wilderness Springs Training
See Spring Seeker in Action
Please don’t forget to enter your volunteer time HERE!
Contact US
struebe@skyislandalliance.org