Adopt-a-stream, Vol. 18, no. 2 (Mar.-Apr. 2011)

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream
Volume 18, Number 2 March/April 2011 Allison Hughes, Tara Muenz, Editors

Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division

Adopt-A-Stream Honors our 2010 Award Winners
This year's Volunteer of the Year Award goes to Frank Carl, an Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) Coordinator for the Savannah River Basin and a retired Savannah Riverkeeper. Frank has a rich history with AAS. In more than a decade of service to AAS, he has led over 70 workshops, certifying 285 volunteers. His service does not stop there, as he is the epitome of an Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator, meeting the four goals of our program and beyond. He provides many workshops for the community and serves as a lead trainer for the region, helping us train our new trainers. He has created many successful partnerships to address water quality issues and increase awareness within the Savannah Basin. Most recently, he initiated a partnership with the Augusta Chronicle and Augusta State University to embark on a 50 site bacterial analysis of surface waters in Augusta. Through their work, they identified problem areas and worked with their local government to repair aging sewer pipes as well as separate combined sewer lines, just in time for the 2010 Ironman competition which uses the Savannah River for their swimming course. We honor Frank with this award for his dedication and continuous support of Adopt-A-Stream.
The Coosawattee Watershed Alliance (CWA) has been selected for this year's Extraordinary Volunteer Watershed Effort Award. The Coosawattee Watershed Alliance is dedicated to protecting, conserving and restoring the water resources of the Coosawattee Watershed. They do this through Adopt-AStream monitoring, streambank restoration projects and their Agricultural Pollution Prevention Program. CWA has been instrumental in providing tools and local training for Gilmer, Fannin, and Pickens county residents. Since 2008, CWA trainers Renee Gracon and Tom Sewell have trained 95 volunteers and have loaned out equipment for chemical, biological and bacterial monitoring. To better understand water quality issues along the Coosawattee, they have taken the watershed monitoring approach. They have adopted 17 monitoring sites along the Coosawattee and its tributaries, the Ellijay and Cartecay Rivers. Recently they have added bacterial monitoring and have partnered with Georgia Mountain Outfitters to create a bacteria "lab" in their retail store. Data collected during their monitoring events are shared with the local governments to help identify potential sources of pollution and improve water quality in the Coosawattee watershed.
Volunteer monitoring data can make a difference, but only if it's collected consistently and under a QA/QC plan. Mary Lambright the recipient of this year's Excellence in Data Collection award consistently collects QA/QC quality data and recognizes the importance of data integrity in her monitoring program. Mary has been a volunteer with the Coastal Adopt-A-Wetland program since 2001 and monitors two sites. Her first site is in partnership with her students at Johnson High School. Since 2001, they have conducted 121 monitoring events. In 2009, she adopted another site along Shipyard Creek and has consistently submitted data every month. We applaud Mary and her students at Johnson High School for their excellence in data collection and reporting.

Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer Awards
The Three Forks Alliance has been selected for the Outstanding Outreach and Partnership award. This group was formed through a partnership between the Benton MacKaye and the Georgia Appalachian Trail Associations. Each month they travel over 70 miles one-way to monitor four sites along the Appalachian and the Benton MacKaye Trails. They have partnered with the National Park Service to collect water quality data for the Appalachian Trail MEGA Transect Inventory Program that evaluates water quality along the trail. They have also joined together with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the Blue Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited to enhance native trout habitat in Stover Creek. These partnerships help promote the protection and restoration of these pristine river systems.
Each month, Mrs. Searcy and her 5th grade Talented and Gifted (TAG) class take a walking field trip to Rocky Creek to conduct water quality monitoring. The students are dedicated to their monitoring project, which is very apparent in all areas of their studies. In fact, in a unit on Economics, the students were charged with the task of creating a company that would sell a product and make a profit. They chose to make hand-crafted holiday wreaths and to use their profits to beautify Rocky Creek. The students decided they would purchase benches, plant flowers and clean up the area. They are currently working with an environmental consulting firm to enhance and restore their stream. For this we honor Mrs. Searcy's 5th grade TAG class at Mountain Park Elementary for the Adopt-A-Stream in Action award.
This year, Adopt-A-Stream created the Nymph Award to recognize a new group that has excelled in meeting the four goals AAS. We would like to recognize Eyes on the Upper Flint for their incredible efforts. This group is certified in chemical and bacterial monitoring and has taken off since they were first certified in July 2010. They have adopted nine sites along the Flint River and it's tributaries near Thomaston, Georgia. Their leader, Donald Fowler has been very active with helping members get started, and for those that cannot enter data he gladly helps to support them in maintaining their data records. This group has created a partnership with the Flint Riverkeeper, reporting sites of concern to them and the Environmental Protection Division. They are also continually enhance their knowledge of water quality by frequently contacting the AAS office with questions about their data to ensure they are collecting and interpreting their results correctly.
Also new this year is the Friend of Georgia Adopt-A-Stream award. We found it very fitting to name Ted Mikalsen, a founding member of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program, as the first recipient. Ted was instrumental in the development of our program back in the early 1990's. With the support of the Environmental Protection Division (EPD), he submitted and received an Environmental Protection Agency grant to explore the feasibility and objectives of a State Adopt-A-Stream program. This was the beginning of a very successful program that has reached over 20,000 citizens and has fostered the protection of Georgia's waterways. Since it's inception, Ted has played an active role in AAS by serving on the Advisory Board and leading workshops. In 2010, Ted retired from the EPD and now resides in Jacksonville, Florida where he intends to volunteer with the St. John's Riverkeeper. We sincerely thank Ted for his insight, forward thinking and dedication to the protection of our water resources.
The AAS Red Flag award recognizes a group who has taken action to address water quality issues at their site. Mrs. Connie Gosh and her students at McClesky Middle School discovered something strange at their site on Rubes Creek. They noticed a fuzzy white substance on the streambank and floating on the surface of the water. This coupled with a strong odor, led them to think that there was something wrong. They contacted their local coordinators at the Cobb County Watershed Stewardship Program and within hours an emergency maintenance crew detected and repaired a broken sewer line. Thanks to their keen knowledge of their site and fast action, the problem was fixed in a timely manner.

Adopt-A-Stream Watershed Awards
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream relies heavily on our more than fifty Local Adopt-A-Stream Programs. In 2010, there were over 400 workshops led and 2,600 volunteers trained. To show our appreciation, we present `Watershed Awards' annually to our most outstanding local programs. Our 2010 Watershed Awards were given to Cobb County Watershed Stewardship Program, Lee County, Cherokee County Water & Sewerage Authority, the New Echota Rivers Alliance and the Oconee-Savannah Targeted Watershed Monitoring team. These programs have excelled in meeting the four goals of Georgia Adopt-A-Stream.
Oconee-Savannah Targeted Watershed Monitoring
Cobb County Watershed Stewardship Program's mission is to promote respect for our environment by providing the community with learning opportunities concerning the connection between our behavior and water quality. During the 2009-2010 reporting year, 6,376 community members participated in programs provided by the Watershed Stewardship Program. Specifically for their Adopt-A-Stream program, they trained 267 volunteers who have held 566 water quality monitoring events. In Cobb County, there are 40 active AAS monitoring groups.
Lee County's river protection movement began with their first Rivers Alive cleanup event in 2007. After three years of cleanups, they decided they wanted to do more. We contacted Jim Wright and offered to schedule a series of workshops for citizens and county employees. Since then, 12 local volunteers have been trained in chemical and bacterial monitoring and four monitoring sites have been adopted. To further educate the community, they have started a storm drain marking program, written newspaper articles about their Rives Alive and Adopt-A-Stream activities and have worked with numerous youth and civic groups educating them about local water resources.
Cherokee County Water and Sewerage Authority provides its citizens with an opportunity to learn, evaluate and protect local waterways. They accomplish this through Adopt-A-Stream workshops, Rivers Alive Cleanups, Project WET presentations at local schools and educational brochures. In partnership with the Upper Etowah River Alliance, they hosted 23 Adopt-A-Stream workshops certifying 168 people. Their two Rivers Alive cleanups removed over 100 bags of litter and several large appliances from the Etowah and Little Rivers. Their school-based water quality education program reached over 4,000 students and teachers in Cherokee County, spreading information about water quality and conservation.
The mission of The New Echota Rivers Alliance (NERA) is to inform and empower citizens so that they may become involved in the process of creating a cleaner, healthier, more economically viable Coosa River Basin. To create a more informed community, they have led three AAS chemical monitoring workshops, taught their "Water Drop" pollution education program to all 4th grade students in Gordon County, and hosted seven guided paddle trips introducing more than 350 people to the local waterways. The results of these efforts is a community that is more connected to the river and committed to its protection.
Oconee-Savannah Targeted Watershed Monitoring is a partnership between Northeast Georgia Regional Commission, the University of Georgia, the City of Wakinsville and Morgan County. This partnership was formed to evaluate bacteria levels in the Big Indian (13 AAS Sites) and Calls Creeks (16 AAS Sites) using the Adopt-A-Stream bacterial monitoring methods. These streams are listed as impaired due to high fecal coliform bacteria levels. The goal of this study is to identify potential sources of bacteria, install best management practices to reduce non-point source pol-

Adopt-A-Stream Welcomes our New Groups
(First data entry from 01/04/2011 to 03/15/2011)
Reinhardt University Allied Health Club, Cherokee County Lake George Group, Liberty County
Shiloh Middle School, Gwinnett County Emory Conference Center Hotel, DeKalb County Garden Hills Elementary School, Fulton County

Correction - Top Ten Monitoring Groups for 2010
(We inadvertently made a mistake in this listing in our January-February Newsletter)

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper

152 Coosa River Basin Initiative

81

McIntosh High School

152 Bishop Lake

63

New Echota Rivers Alliance

121 Three Forks Alliance

54

Oconee-Savannah Target Monitoring 120 Milton Grow Green-Hopewell Middle

50

Coosawattee Watershed Alliance

118 Bluecreek Monitors

48

Please visit our calendar of events at www.GeorgiaAdoptAStream.org for upcoming monitoring workshops and Adopt-A-Stream events.

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 404.675.6240 www.GeorgiaAdoptAStream.org

GEo-nBewlAuseAl!eStSt@iegrgnabueypped-f.moorragoiluinrg

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