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

2. 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 for area 16, the Cape May watershed.

3. AmeriCorps
A national service initiative started in 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 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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..

12. 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.

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

14. 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)

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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

22. 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.

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

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. Any Questions
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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?