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

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

5. 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 What Assistance Does WAV Provide?

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

7. What Types of Data Collected: DataMethodFrequency TemperatureThermometerMonthly Water clarityTurbidity tubeMonthly Dissolved oxygenHach Chemistry kitMonthly Biotic Index (macroinvertebrates) D-net samplingTwice a year (spring/fall) HabitatSite assessmentOnce a year Stream flowOrange float methodMonthly

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): Education and Advocacy Problem Screening Rigorous Assessments Data Quality

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

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.