MADISON, Wis.—“Citizens contribute a tremendous amount to helping protect and restore Wisconsin’s streams and rivers,” says Kris Stepenuck, University of Wisconsin-Extension and Department of Natural Resources’ Volunteer Stream Monitoring Coordinator.
There are more than 84,000 miles of
rivers and streams in Wisconsin.
Throughout the state, citizens are
involved in monitoring the health of
these streams and rivers. The
information collected increases
citizens’ understanding of how land uses
affect water resources. It also
contributes to scientific research and
benefits local stewardship initiatives.
“The Volunteer Stream Monitoring Awards Program recognizes the valuable efforts of citizens who have been involved with stream monitoring,” Stepenuck says.
The Stream Monitoring Awards Program
promotes awareness and participation in
citizen-based stream monitoring work in
the state. The program ecognizes
individuals and groups for their efforts
collecting stream data and sharing their
knowledge with others. Sponsors include
the University of Wisconsin-Extension,
the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources, and the Water Action
Volunteers (WAV) Program.
Teachers, local watershed groups, interested citizens, county and municipal staff, nature centers, and many others are actively involved in monitoring streams across the state. Volunteer stream monitors measure a variety of important elements of stream health, such as dissolved oxygen, temperature and steam flow, which have a direct impact on aquatic life and water quality. Some citizens’ groups obtain grants to perform specific research in a local watershed, while others monitor as part of defined programs such as WAV. Over 200 streams are monitored in the WAV Program alone.
This year’s winners will be recognized at local events relevant to each of the winners. The 2007 winners are:
The 2007 “Adult” award goes to Janice
Redford with Friends of Cam-Rock Park in
Rockdale. Janice began her involvement
in stream monitoring in 2001 when she
secured funding to establish a
monitoring program to assess the impact
of the removal of a dam and mill pond on
Koshkonong Creek. The group, under her
leadership, has since participated in a
variety of efforts including conducting
crayfish surveys as part of a DNR/UW
research study and conducting E. coli
bacteria monitoring as part of a
six-state research study in the upper
Midwest. She serves on the Rock River
Coalition as the citizen representative,
helping to expand and support citizen
monitoring efforts throughout the Rock
River Basin. Pete Jopke, Dane County
Watershed Manager says, “Janice
exemplifies volunteerism through her
commitment to the program and passion
for the creek.”
The 2007 “Student” award goes to Patrick
Cassidy, a senior at Sheboygan North
High School. For the past four years,
Pat has monitored a site on the Pigeon
River as part of the Water Action
Volunteers’ stream monitoring program,
contributing to one of the longest
volunteer monitoring datasets on a
stream site in the state. Pat, who
sometimes monitors with his father,
Mike, also participated for the past two
years in a six-state project to assess
E. coli bacteria monitoring methods. On
multiple occasions, he collected water
samples and performed two bacteria
monitoring methods to assess the level
of E. coli at the Pigeon River site. He
also shipped samples to the State Lab of
Hygiene for comparison with his results
and shared his findings with others
involved in the project. Pat is also
president of the Sheboygan North High
School Environmental Club, which is
currently advocating for a full scale
recycling program for the school.
The 2007 “Group” award goes to two
groups, as both have made outstanding
contributions to citizen stream
monitoring in the state. The Pewaukee
River Partnership began participating in
the Water Action Volunteers stream
monitoring program in 2003. They have
trained almost 40 people since that time
and maintain 10 monitoring locations in
the watershed. To initiate monitoring,
the group obtained a grant from the
Greater Milwaukee Foundation. They now
coordinate their monitoring and
restoration efforts with the Waukesha
County Department of Parks and Land Use,
the City of Pewaukee, the Village of
Pewaukee, and the Pewaukee Parks and
Recreation Department, Pewaukee Sanitary
District, and the DNR. The group has
erected 10 signs to identify street
crossings with the Pewaukee River,
helped complete an 800-foot boardwalk in
a wetland, Simmons Wood Park, in the
Village of Pewaukee. They have shared
their monitoring results at “lakefront
on waterfront Wednesdays” and at a USEPA
Community Involvement Conference.The second group to win this year’s“Group” award is the Central Wisconsin
Chapter of Trout Unlimited. This group
has monitored for two years, and in that
time has trained more than 60 people to
participate. They have 14 members who
are trained as trainers. In all,
volunteers have spent over 1600 hours of
time monitoring. Nine members of the
chapter participated in level 2 stream
monitoring in 2006 as part of a
statewide pilot project. In addition,
the group applied for and received
Partnership Program funding through the
DNR and have partnered with DNR and
Waushara County Land Conservation
Department to begin monitoring a creek
intensely, to assess if it could be
removed from an impaired waters list.
About 20 group members also participated
in a pilot project to assess if citizen
monitors could be trained to accurately
identify macroinvertebrates to a level
more similar to the one used by
professionals to assess water quality.
Dick Pollock currently leads the chapter.
The 2007 “Teacher/classroom” award goes
to Jefferson Elementary School. The
fifth graders and some of their parents
monitor Brush Creek monthly throughout
the year (weather permitting in winter)
with guidance from teacher Jim Korb.
Jim initiated the project in 2000 with
Rockbridge Elementary School, continued
the project with Doudna Elementary in
2001, and has continued the project at
Jefferson Elementary since 2003. The
monitoring effort at Jefferson
Elementary extends school wide. The K-5
teachers developed a school wide
research project centered on Brush
Creek. Each grade level focuses on
subtopics related to the creek. Each
Earth Day kindergarteners record water
temperatures, first graders observe the
water cycle, and second graders collect
and identify aquatic macroinvertebrates.
Third graders explore the site for
signs of vertebrates, while fourth
graders study the riparian area
alongside the stream. Fifth graders
measure the amount of oxygen dissolved
in the water. A student group prepares
an iMovie to highlight these activities,
while others chart and graph the data
collected, or record their experiences
in journals. An historical component
has been added as well. Jim Korb and
others at Jefferson Elementary have
worked with numerous partners, among
them the Department of Natural Resources
and UW-Extension, who initially helped
with training and helping schools obtain
monitoring equipment. Each year an
annual monitoring report is published
and sent to interested individuals. Jim
Korb also posts the school’s data to the
Water Action Volunteers online database
(http://clean-water.uwex.edu/wav/datagate.htm)
and to the GLOBE program (a worldwide
education and science program) website.
The 2007 “Employee” award goes to Jayne
Jenks of the Waukesha County Department
of Parks and Land Use. Jayne has been
involved with citizen monitoring since
1999, helping to develop the Rock River
Coalition’s Rock River Basin citizen
monitoring program and serving as a
local coordinator for Waukesha County.
Annually, she supports more than 20
monitors, working with each at their
site after they’ve been trained, to
ensure consistent monitoring is
conducted across the county. She
conducts an annual training for new
monitors and over the years has trained
dozens of people. She reports volunteer
data results for over 30 sites in the
county to Water Action Volunteers
program online database
(http://clean-water.uwex.edu/wav/datagate.htm),
and assisted with the Pewaukee River
Partnership’s involvement in stream
monitoring. Rock River Coalition
Monitoring Director, Ed Grunden says,“Her knowledge of the environment and
her ability to work with volunteers was
unbelievable. No task seems to be too
small or too large for her.”