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Water Action Volunteers’ Citizen Stream Monitoring Program

Water Action Volunteers’ Citizen Stream Monitoring Program. Kris Stepenuck - UW EX/WI DNR Statewide WAV Coordinator Mike Miller - WI DNR Baseline Stream Monitoring Coordinator. Presentation Overview. 1) Status of Water Action Volunteers’ (WAV) Program 2) New and Future WAV Activities

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Water Action Volunteers’ Citizen Stream Monitoring Program

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  1. Water Action Volunteers’ Citizen Stream Monitoring Program Kris Stepenuck - UW EX/WI DNR Statewide WAV Coordinator Mike Miller - WI DNR Baseline Stream Monitoring Coordinator

  2. Presentation Overview 1) Status of Water Action Volunteers’ (WAV) Program 2) New and Future WAV Activities 3) WI Baseline Stream Monitoring & Opportunities for Volunteer Monitors

  3. Who’s participating in WAV? • Established in 1996 • Citizens and school groups • 35 local programs • Over 250 adults and 1000 students

  4. Who’s Coordinating WAV? Local Coordination • DNR/UWEX • Counties / Municipalities • Non-profit Organizations • Nature Centers • Teachers • Interest Groups (e.g., T.U., Sierra Club)

  5. What Assistance Does WAV Provide? • Helps initiate local program • Provides written methods • Helps local groups obtain equipment (often through a W.E.R.C.) • Sponsors “Train the Trainer” events • Helps to plan and carry out local training events

  6. WAV Assistance for Local Groups • Provides statewide online database • Provides a website with stream monitoring information and resources • Provides a list server for networking • Analyzes data and prepares summaries

  7. What Types of Data Collected:

  8. Where WAVs Are Monitoring • Since 1996: • 135 streams and rivers monitored • Over 250 stream sites assessed • Data from over 100 stream sites were submitted via the web in 2003

  9. Where to Obtain Equipment Watershed Education Resource Centers (W.E.R.C.) • 19 across the state (see WAV website) • Have a variety of monitoring equipment and resources • Library-style loaning

  10. Volunteer Monitoring Can Be a Tiered Approach(Why WAVS are monitoring): Rigorous Assessments Problem Screening Data Quality Education and Advocacy

  11. 2) New and Future WAV Program Additions • Crayfish surveys (Summer 2004) • Macroinvertebrate wildcards (Summer 2004) • Family-level macroinvertebrate identification key (Fall 2004) • E. coli monitoring (Spring 2005- pilot) • Understanding River Data booklet (Summer 2005)

  12. 3) WI Baseline Stream MonitoringOpportunities for Volunteer Assistance Goals: • Comprehensive statewide assessment • Establish status and trends • High quality, web-accessible information for science-based resource management WI has 22,613 perennial streams

  13. Baseline Stream Monitoring Effort • Since 1999: • 1300 streams have been surveyed • Data collected • Fish Community • Stream Habitat • Macroinvertebrates • Limited Water Chemistry

  14. Gaps in Stream Data Stream Monitoring Sites Geographic gaps in stream data Small (lower-order) streams are most numerous but least sampled in WI

  15. Bridging the Stream Data Gap • Ensure volunteers, academics and agencies collect quality data using comparable methods • Collect meaningful and relevant data • Volunteers may be able to help fill geographic and small stream data gaps

  16. Conclusions • Volunteers can help bridge stream data gaps. • Quality volunteer data will require increased capacity to: train/certify citizen scientists, effectively workplan, process field samples, and efficiently capture and analyze data. • Long-term cost savings can be realized by using volunteer help. • Along with education and resource advocacy, improved stream assessment and management can result from improved volunteer efforts.

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