1. Partnering with watershed organizations to produce tributary-specific report cards Caroline WIcks EcoCheck (NOAA-UMCES Partnership) Virginia Water Quality Monitoring Summit October 22, 2011

2. Outline Ecosystem health report cards Purpose of MTAC Development of sampling and analysis protocols for tidal indicators Finished document Next steps & upcoming products Acknowledgements

3. Ecosystem health report cards are popular education and outreach tools Provide a performance-derived grade for an ecosystem component or a geographic region Enable communication of complex information to a broad audience Can provide accountability; measuring the success of a particular effort Identify regions or issues of concern

4. Differences in scale matter What about my local river? Local monitoring programs are able to collect information at a finer scale than state or national agencies

5. Purpose of MTAC Mid-Atlantic Tributary Assessment Coalition Formed to foster collaboration & enhance report card utility across water systems – Increase scientific validity – Standardize indicators and methods – Provide guidelines for successful report card production Develop protocol document!

6. Development of sampling & analysis protocols Select indicators – Six core, but elective indicators are also encouraged

7. Development of sampling & analysis protocols Reach consensus on sampling guidelines – Temporal sampling regime Preferred vs. minimum time periods, resolution

8. Development of sampling & analysis protocols Reach consensus on sampling guidelines – Location of sampling sites Sub-region delineation Salinity regime Depth Location of sampling sites

9. Development of sampling & analysis protocols For each indicator, reach consensus on: – Field sampling procedures – Laboratory analysis methods (if necessary) – Data analysis methods Criteria to use? Scoring techniques – Pass/fail – Multiple thresholds

10. Example –Chlorophyll a Each chapter begins with an introduction to the indicator Field sampling procedures – Necessary equipment – Sample collection process – Preparation of samples for analysis Laboratory analysis

11. Example – Analysis and scoring of Chlorophyll a data Explain threshold criteria, data sorting & organization process Step by step scoring process – Station scores – Sub-region scores – Area weighting to find overall region scores

12. Development of sampling & analysis protocols Provide guidelines for synthesis and communication of results via a report card – Think about communication strategy

13. Final product! Available as a free PDF download (along with tributary report cards and other documents) at: www.eco-check.org www.eco-check.org Direct link to PDF: http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ecocheck_report_313.pdf http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ecocheck_report_313.pdf

14. Next steps & upcoming products Continue to grow… Bacteria meetings were held in Spring 2011, supplementary document forthcoming Beginning work on non-tidal protocol document Fall 2011, expect completion during 2012

15. Acknowledgements MTAC is funded in part by the Chesapeake Bay Trust Thank you: Caroline Wicks, Heath Kelsey, Bill Dennison, Jana Davis, Katie Foreman, Peter Bergstrom, Diana Muller, Chris Trumbauer, Ron Melcer, Carol Cain, Cathy Wazniak, Carol McCollough, Jamie Brunkow, Megan Ward, Beth Wasden, Rupert Rossettti, Theaux Le Gardeur, Sally Hornor, David Florez, Eliza Smith Steinmeier, Brent Bolin, & Masaya Maeda Link to protocol document (PDF): http://ian.umces.edu/pdfs/ ecocheck_report_313.pdf