The Town has contracted with an environmental consultant for benthic sampling in Bolin Creek since 2001. The monitoring was initiated to provide documentation of stream health and variability. During the first year, sampling events were conducted quarterly; in subsequent years the surveys have been for the most part conducted annually. Over this period, sampling has been repeated at four locations, providing an opportunity to analyze changes at each site over time, and has also branched out to include additional tributary sites. Chapel Hill has also been using benthic monitoring for several years, and the State has pursued benthic sampling less frequently and at fewer local sites. Bolin Creek has one of the best benthic monitoring records of any creek in the State. The photos show many of the sampling sites.