GEORGIA Adopt-A-Stream Volume 10, Number 2, March / April 2003 Harold Harbert and Kim Morris-Zarneke, Editors Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division Congratulations to the 2002 Award Recipients The Volunteer of the Year for 2002 is Bill Sapp for his dedicated and energetic support of Rivers Alive. Bill has participated as a fulltime volunteer for Rivers Alive since it's inception in 1999. In that first year, Bill served as the chair of the Fundraising Committee, helping to secure over $30,000 in two months. In 2001 Bill moved on to chair the Education Outreach Committee and assisted in attracting nearly 19,000 volunteers statewide. For 2002, Bill took on new challenges as the Chairperson for Rivers Alive, helping to create by-laws, refining the roles of the various committees, and continuing to expand Rivers Alive with his ideas, creativity and hard work. Thanks Bill for 3 plus years of service to Rivers Alive. Nolton Johnson first became certified as a QAQC data collector in the summer of 1998. He then spent the next year conducting reconnaissance work to determine what monitoring location best fit the needs of their newly formed group, Toonigh Neighbors. After settling on a monitoring site, Nolton and the Toonigh Neighbors have not missed a single month of data collection (41 months and counting!) or the quarterly biological sampling in 3 and half years. Every year, Nolton dutifully gets recertified exclaiming, "It's fun, I learn something different from each training." In addition, Nolton has recently expanded the test program to include bank profiling and erosion monitoring. For best trend monitoring, Nolton receives the 2002 Adopt-A-Stream award for Excellence In Data Collection. Congratulations Nolton! This year's Outstanding Outreach and Partnership Award goes to Jennifer McCoy of Cobb County Adopt-A-Stream. Through the perseverance of Bob Bourne, Jennifer's supervisor and long time Adopt-A-Stream advocate, this program was initiated in the summer of 2002. Because of Jennifer McCoy's hard work, Cobb County has set a new standard for getting the most done in a short period of time. Jennifer has worked diligently with communities to educate and assist homeowners. She has also worked with school groups to promote water education. In the first 6 months on the job she conducted 12 training workshops. Way to go Jennifer! This year's winner of the Red Flag Award is Doug Mayer. Doug has been working for the past two years on the Amicalola Fecal Project. Every week for 10 months Doug has been sampling stream water at seven sites on the mainstream and each of the significant tributaries to Amicalola Creek. All water samples were submitted to Environmental Management Services laboratory for analysis. The fecal coliform data produced by this project along with the land use information from a concurrent land use survey has been submitted to Georgia's Water Protection Branch for review. In addition to this project, Doug has consulted with several local homeowners on water quality issues and assisted them in training and learning more about Georgia Adopt-AStream. Thanks Doug for all your hard work! Sometimes the Extraordinary Volunteer Watershed Effort occurs in places with nebulous watershed boundaries. Such is the case in 2002. The winner of this year's award goes to Karen and Philip Grainey of Clean Coast in Savannah. When this team is not organizing beach cleanups on Georgia's Barrier Islands, they are collecting chemical and biological monitoring data on Moon River near Skidway Island or attending Savannah Riverkeeper meetings and helping this new team in protecting the Savannah River Watershed. Working on one watershed can be a challenge but working in three-Savannah, Ogeechee and Satilla-- is true dedication to protecting our water resources. We thank Karen and Philip for their dedication to truly working in the watershed! Although there were many great nominations for Adopt-A-Stream In Action: Photograph & Video of the Year, one nomination stood above the others, Ray Swords for the Name That Bug website. Name That Bug has fantastic photos but better yet, the images are presented in an interactive educational format that helps teach volunteers how to identifying benthic macroinvertebrates. If you haven't already done so, checkout the website at www.riversalive.com/aas.htm. It speaks for itself. Thanks for all the great photos Ray. Adopt-A-Stream Calendar of Events The following workshops, taught by certified AAS trainers, provide training in visual, biological and chemical monitoring of streams. Teachers may receive 0.5 SDU credits for participation in a workshop please go to the AAS website under Teacher Corner for more details. Please call to register for a workshop. What Getting Started & Chem. Biological Getting Started w/ AAS Chemical & Biological Biological Intro to AAS Intro, Bio & Chem Getting Started w/ AAS Getting Started w/ AAS Getting Started w/ AAS Chemical Biological Biological Chemical Wetland Biological Who Ochlockonee Watershed Georgia Wildlife Federation Elachee Nature Science Center Elachee Nature Science Center Fulton County Adopt-A-Stream Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Cobb County Adopt-A-Stream Upper Etowah Adopt-A-Stream Gwinnett Co. Adopt-A-Stream Gwinnett Co. Adopt-A-Stream Gwinnett Co. Adopt-A-Stream Clayton Co Adopt-A-Stream Upper Etowah Adopt-A-Stream Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Upper Etowah Adopt-A-Stream When March 15 March 22 March 28 March 29 March TBA April 4 April 5 & 6 April 5 April 19 April 22 April 24 April 26 April 26 May 3 May 3 May 31 Where Thomas Covington Gainesville Gainesville Fulton County Coffee Co. Brantley Co. Cobb Cherokee Lawrenceville Lawrenceville Lawrenceville Clayton County TBA Clayton Co. TBA To Register 229-228-6659 770-787-7887 770-535-1976 770-535-1976 770-698-5739 404-675-1639 404-675-1639 770-528-1480 770-735-2778 678-376-7157 678-376-7157 678-376-7157 678-422-2838 770-735-2778 678-422-2838 678-640-2563 NOTE: Workshop times vary. Please call to get exact times and locations. Workshop information is updated weekly on our website at www.riversalive.org/aas.htm QA/QC Recertification: All QA/QC volunteers must renew certification on a yearly basis. This can be accomplished by participating in the second half of our regular chemical or biological workshop. To register, please contact one of our scheduled workshops. WET FOOT WORKSHOP SERIES 2003 On March 27th Cobb County Water System has invited guest speaker Patti Lanford, Senior Fisheries Biologist for GA DNR Stream Survey Team, to talk about fish sampling and the Fish IBI Index of Biotic Integrity used in Georgia to evaluate stream ecology based on fish populations. Contact Jennifer McCoy at (770) 528-1482 for more information. Now available: The USEPA's Community Culture and the Environment: A Guide to Understanding a Sense of Place This Guide explores the concepts of community and culture and provides tools for identifying, assessing, and working cooperatively within the social dynamics and local values connected with environmental protection. The Guide is designed for people involved in communitybased initiatives. To request a FREE copy call 1-800-490-9198 (publication number EPA 842-B-01-003) or visit http://www.epa.gov/ecocommunity/tools/community.pdf. The next Community Watershed Network meeting will be on March 25 at the North Fulton County Annex at 7741 Roswell Road. The topic will be bacterialogical and macroinvertebrate testing on the Chattahoochee. For more information please click on Community Watershed Network at www.riversalive.org/aas.htm. Join us for "Back to the Chattahoochee: Races and Festival" on June 7, 2003 in Roswell, Georgia. For more information or to register for the canoe race, please call 404-352-9828 ext 14. Event presented by Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, City of Roswell, and Rivers Alive volunteers. Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Workshop Trainers of 2002 Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is indebted to our dedicated and hard working trainers. The following individuals have conducted or assisted in presenting QAQC training workshops in 2002. Many work for county or city governments, some for local nonprofits and watershed groups and others volunteer their time and energy for a cause they believe in. All are required to be recertified on an annual basis and conduct at least one co-training workshop. Sharon Cowden, Ginny Brady, Melissa Rottenberg, Jeffery Boring, William Tietjen, Robert Lindsey, Duncan Cottrell, Calley Pate, Jennifer McDonald, Ken Fahey, Sue Eggert, Tom Weiland, Amy Gaddis, Kim Zimmerman, Norma Rainwater, Bess James, Eric Lindberg, David Llewellyn, Jennifer McCoy, Michael O'Shield, Alan Power, Steve Golladay, Amy McGowan, Robert Phillips, Chris Skelton, Katy Austin, Katherine Atteberry, Robyn Ray, Blain Jenkins, Kristi Rose, Elisabeth Elder, Joe Richardson, Eric Prowell, Mary Sweeney-Reeves, Gary Hawkins, Mary Sorensen, Brian Wiley, Courtney Reich Free Replacement Reagents For Monitoring Groups All active monitoring programs can apply for free replacement reagents through a program sponsored by the Environmental Education Alliance. International Paper is providing funding for the monitoring equipment. Please download an application at www.riversalive.org/aas.htm The Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter is published six times per year. For more information about the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program or to contribute to the newsletter, call or write to: Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Environmental Protection Division 4220 International Parkway, Suite 101 Atlanta, GA 30354 (404) 675-1639 www.riversalive.org/aas.htm Printed on recycled paper