AmeriCorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Program 2006-2007 I’m here to tell you about the Americorps NJ Watershed Ambassador Program.

Presented by Helen Edwards your watershed ambassador for Watershed Management Area 16 Cape May My name is Helen Edwards and I’m your watershed ambassador for 2006-2007 for area 16, the Cape May watershed.

AmeriCorps A national service initiative started in 1993. AmeriCorps was placed under the umbrella of USA Freedom Corps in 2002. Programs focuses on five areas: Public Safety Environment Human Need Education Homeland Security Since 1994, 400,000 have served in AmeriCorps, providing needed assistance to millions of Americans First some background on Americorps. It is the domestic peace corps, a national service initiative started in 1993. The program focuses on five areas – Public Safety, Environment, Human Need, Education, and Homeland security. The watershed ambassadors work principally on the environment. We are just a small part of the over 400,000 individuals who have served since 1994.

AmeriCorps State and National AmeriCorps funding is distributed to Governor appointed State Commissions, which in turn distribute and monitor grants to local nonprofits and agencies. The NJ State Commission on Community and National Service is housed within the NJ Department of State. This year, New Jersey was awarded 1 national funded grant and 16 state funded grants. Here is some background of how the program works.

AmeriCorps + NJDEP = NJ Watershed Ambassador Program Hosted by NJ Department Environmental Protection’s Division of Watershed Management since 2000. Members act as liaisons between DWM and the community. Focus on community education, outreach & stewardship This is the seventh year that NJ’s DEP has hosted the watershed ambassador program.

NJ’s 20 Watershed Management Areas This map shows the twenty WMA’s in NJ. My area is 16, the southern-most watershed in NJ, part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain highlighted in yellow here.

Accomplishments Over the past six years Watershed Ambassadors have: Completed over 3,000 visual assessments and over 1,600 biological assessments on local waterways Presented over 3,200 Enviroscape demonstrations Generated volunteerism with over 40,000 hours of community participation Formed over 120 sustaining partnerships Fed and clothed the homeless throughout NJ Planted over 2,000 trees and clean up 25 tons of trash from streams Read slide.

AmeriCorps and Division of Watershed Management Watershed Education and Outreach Schools Civic Organizations General Public Watershed Monitoring Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL’s) Land use or Ground Truthing Targeted Stream Segments Nonpoint Source & Watershed Grant Projects Volunteer recruitment and training Americorps members work together with NJDEP’s division of watershed management to provide education, perform monitoring and recruit and train others. The watershed monitoring we do may help to set the TMDL standards for specific pollutants.

Host Agencies 2006-2007 Members Represent 3 Organizations NJRCD Sussex County MUA Skylands CLEAN PVSC Hackensack Riverkeeper Inc. Great Swamp Education Center Union County Parks Dept. Upper Raritan Watershed Association NJ Water Supply Authority Stony Brook Millstone Wtrshd. Assoc. DRBC Monmouth County Office of Plng. Forest Resource Education Center J.C. Nat’l Estuarine Research Res. ACUA Cape May County Planning Cumberland County Impr.Auth. NJDEP: Southern Enforcement Rancocas Conservancy Mercer County SCD Each ambassador has a host agency, mine is the Cape May County Planning Office, in CMCH. Members Represent 3 Organizations

Role of Host Agency Provide Office Space and Supplies Daily Supervision Guidance and support for members and objectives Knowledge of local area and community Read slide

Member Objectives Topic Areas: Needs & Services Member Development Community Strengthening Each ambassador has three topic areas of objectives: Needs & Services, Member Development and Community Strengthening. To elaborate..

Needs and Services Members give at least 30 watershed related presentations per WMA. They complete 30 Visual Assessments and 20 Biological Assessments on targeted waterways. Members implement a volunteer monitoring program by facilitating at least 5 monitoring trainings per WMA to community groups. Read slide.

Public Education and Outreach Here’s another member with a class discussing nonpoint source pollution with the watershed model.

Project WET (Water Education for Teachers) Project WILD (Wildlife in Learning Design) Here are some of the programs we use. They are designed to fit in with NJ’s core curriculum standards. NJ WATERS (Watershed Approach to Teaching the Ecology of Regional Systems)

Visual Assessments Each ambassador completes at least 30 visual assessments. These involve visiting the site, recording what is seen, heard or felt, then documenting in a complete report that includes site maps, photos and the physical description.

Visual Monitoring Training We offer training to interested groups or classes. Here’s me trying to net some macroinvertabrates, but getting mostly leaves in a very muddy stream.

What is a Watershed We talk about basic concepts. A watershed is the area of land, based on topography, that drains to a particular water body.

Options for Involvement Tier A: Environmental Education Tier B: Stewardship Tier C: Community Assessment Tier D: Indicators There are four levels of monitoring. Tier A being the least technical, but done widely to introduce monitoring. Tier B & C are what the ambassadors do, depending on the study. Tier D is very expensive and only done for special studies.

Tier A: Environmental Education Data Users Data Use Quality Needed Promote stewardship Raise their level of understanding of watershed ecology Participants Students Watershed residents Low level of rigor, but use sound science Wide variety of study designs are acceptable Quality assurance (QA) optional School and other education programs fall into this tier. The monitoring activities are for educating people and for exposure to different types of monitoring. The data can only be used by the class for educational purposes.

Tier B: Stewardship Data User Data Use Quality Needed Participants Watershed residents Landowners Local decision makers (optional) Gain understanding of existing conditions and how any changes over time Screen for and identify problems and positive attributes Low to medium rigor Variety of study designs is acceptable QAPP desirable This tier is where the DEP will accept your data. This type of data can be submitted to the Volunteer Monitoring Coordinator. The Coordinator will then pass the information to the proper data users in the DEP.

Tier C: Community and/or Watershed Level Assessment Data Users Data Use Quality Needed Local decision- makers Watershed association Environmental organizations Possibly DEP Medium level of rigor Data needs to reliably detect changes over time and space Study design is focused on pollution sources QAPP required Assess current conditions Track trends Source track down of Nonpoint source pollution This tier requires a high level of rigor. There needs to be a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP). The Volunteer Monitoring Coordinator should have an updated QAPP on file. Data can be submitted to the Coordinator and the Coordinator will give your data to the necessary data user

Tier D: Indicators (visual and biological assessments, and water quality) Quality Needed Data Use Data Users Assess current conditions and impairments Supplement agency data collection Research Evaluate best management practices (BMP) measures Medium to high level of rigor Study design and methods need to be equivalent and recognized by agencies using data Training required QAPP required NJDEP Local decision- makers Watershed associations Environmental organizations This is the tier that the NJDEP monitoring unit collects data at. This is the highest level of data collection. It requires a QAPP approved by the Office of Quality Assurance and the Volunteer Monitoring Coordinator. This where your data can be used for regulatory response.

Biological Assessments Collecting the sample Here we are doing muddy bottom stream sampling for biological assessments. Stream side sampling

Volunteer Monitoring and AmeriCorps Members train volunteers for the sole purpose of stewardship. We train others to carry out stream monitoring of their streams on an on-going basis.

Volunteer Monitoring and AmeriCorps Data collected from Members fits into Tier B (Biological) and Tier C (Visual). Opportunities for increased rigor, Tier C or D, exist depending on the use of the data. Read slide.

Volunteer Monitoring and AmeriCorps All visual and biological data will be collected, reviewed, and distributed to data users within the Division and the Department. Reports of visual and biological monitoring is entered into a database for future use.

Member Development Citizenship training- Members will identify 2 municipalities for future interviews & attendance at town meetings Post program career plans for each member Evaluated on ability to conduct and lead monitoring techniques Since the Americorps program is a temporary position, there is a focus on developing the member’s career after the term of service.

Strengthening Communities Partnership between two local entities Examples include: Storm drain markings Stream clean ups Restoration projects 400 Volunteer Hours 200 Volunteer Monitoring 200 Watershed Stewardship Projects Watershed Project with Host Agency Members organize partnerships and get involved with the local community.

Additional Sample Projects Community Day Events Water Festivals Storm Drain Labeling Volunteer Monitoring Trainings Watershed Hikes/Tours Stream Cleanups Tree Plantings Coordinate Water Quality Monitoring Efforts for either Visual or Biological Methods Other Water Quality Enhancement Projects Each member also participates in additional projects.

Additional Projects NJDEP Host Agencies National Service Days Clean Water Act § 319(h) Restoration Surveys Urban Watershed Education Angler Surveys Wetlands Violations Host Agencies National Service Days Groups within WMA As a group the watershed ambassadors participate in national service days. We did a tree planting in Camden on Make Difference Day in October and volunteered for homeless shelter in Trenton on MLK day.

Any Questions ???????? This concludes my presentation. Thank you for letting me share information about the Americorps program with you. Please see me if you would like volunteer training or know of a group that would like a presentation. Would anyone like to ask questions?