Adopt-a-stream, Vol. 19, no. 1 (Jan.-Feb 2012)

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream

Volume 19, Number 1 January/February 2012 Allison Hughes, Tara Muenz, Editors

Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division

Adopt-A-Stream in Action 2011: Meeting Our Four Goals and Beyond!

If you're an Adopt-A-Stream volunteer, you know our four goals by heart. We make it a top priority to explain these goals at our workshops and trainings, and at the State Office we reflect on these often when planning for growth and development of the program. A major part of this reflection is how we can better support those who make this program happen, our volunteers! Let's take a look at how all of us, as volunteers, trainers, coordinators and AAS Board members met these goals in 2011, contributing over $491,796 of in-kind service to the State of Georgia.

Increase Awareness The Adopt-A-Stream program works diligently to increase public awareness of nonpoint source pollution and water quality issues in Georgia. In 2011, we accomplished this by hosting a successful Confluence conference in which 180 volunteers joined together to expand their knowledge in various important water quality topics, and strengthen their monitoring backgrounds. We also delivered via hard copy or e-mail our bi-monthly newsletter to over 6,576 households statewide, provided our manuals and resources on our website, and hosted some of our rarer workshops including ones that focused on our amphibian and freshwater wetland monitoring programs. We also strengthened our efforts and presence throughout the state, focusing on regions that do not (yet) have had an AAS presence. New AAS programs were started in Coweta and Spalding Counties, Braselton, Columbus, Thomasville, Gordon College and the Greater Atlanta Trout Unlimited Chapter.

Provide Tools and Training Remember all those wonderful trainers that provided you with your certifications and training? It's been an amazing and busy year for them all, and we had 67 trainers in 2011 leading over 386 workshops, training over 3,362 volunteers! Great news too, we recruited 24 new trainers and coordinators, and they can be found on the back page of the newsletter to see if one is near you! We have continued to offer equipment loans and replacement reagents to our active volunteers.

Creating Partnerships Adopt-A-Stream puts much effort into sustaining our partnerships and fostering the growth of new ones. Our most vital partners are the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation and the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia (EEA), who serve as our fiscal partners. We continued to strengthen our partnership with the Georgia River Network by assisting with their Annual Conference and Paddle Georgia on the Oconee River. The Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia and Environmental Education in Georgia remain strong partners, helping us connect with educators through annual conferences and online resources. We also partner with the Georgia Association of Water Professionals, where we serve on the Outreach and Education Committee. AAS Advisory Board members and Community Coordinators/ Trainers continue to serve as important partners and help us in many ways to strengthen our monitoring program and reach out to new volunteers across the state.

Collect Baseline Water Quality Data

As we all know, collecting baseline water quality data is key to understanding the health of a waterway and determining

background levels. This year, baseline data was collected during 2,745 monitoring events, with 158 new sites and 63

new groups registered, bringing our total active sites to 394 and active groups to 195. This year, the Environmental

Protection Division used AAS volunteer data to help in choosing their regulatory monitoring sites for 2012. We are

pleased to announce that five AAS sites have been added to their monthly monitoring schedule. Way to go AAS

volunteers!

( continued on page 2.)

Adopt-A-Stream in Action Continued...

Top Groups for 2011 We would like to recognize and honor our top ten monitoring groups with the most monitoring events in 2011. Thank you for all that you do to protect our most vital natural resource.

2011 Top 10 Monitoring Groups

Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Coosawattee Watershed Assoc. McIntosh High School Coosa River Basin Initiative Eyes on the Upper Flint Atlanta Regional Commission Henry County Stormwater Three Forks Alliance New Echota River Alliance Sierra Club Cobb Centennial

155 118 102 83 75 56 52 47

221

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Rivers Alive 2011
2011 was a banner year for Rivers Alive! Rivers Alive organizers hosted 241 cleanup events statewide, removing over 699,000 pounds of trash from 1,781 miles of waterways. With over 28,000 participants, Rivers Alive is slowly inching towards our long-term goal of eclipsing 30,000 volunteers. We hope to meet this goal next year, but we cannot do that without your support. We encourage Adopt-A-Stream groups who are not currently organizing an event to start thinking about adding this to your monitoring schedule for 2012. Organizers who register their events by July 31, 2012 will receive free Rivers Alive t-shirts, promotional materials and trash bags. For more information about Rivers Alive, visit www.RiversAlive.org.

Coastal Adopt-A-Wetland (AAW) Program in 2011 The Coastal AAW program was fortunate to have Shelly Krueger as program coordinator for all of 2011. Shelly played a vital roll in providing support to our coastal volunteers, and developed the Coastal Georgia Biological Monitoring Quality Assurance Project Plan while also revising the Coastal Adopt-A-Wetland monitoring manual. In September, she hosted the annual Volunteer Appreciation Oyster Roast where over 40 volunteers joined us for a day on Skidaway Island. Due to funding limitations the Coastal Adopt-A-Wetland coordinator position was not funded for 2012, and Shelly has moved on to another position within the Marine Extension Service. To provide continuity for the coastal program until a funding source is secured, the state office held a coastal Train-The-Trainer workshop, training 7 chemical and 6 bacterial trainers. With these new trainers on board, we should be able to provide further support for coastal monitors. Thank you Shelly for your service and dedication to the Coastal AAW Program!

Adopt-A-Stream Welcomes our New Groups!

GGC Environmental Club, Gwinnett Co. Lemley Family, Lumpkin Co. High Shoals Elementary, Oconee Co. Stream Raiders, Fulton Co. Ogeechee River Rebels, Effingham Co. Upper Chattahoochee Trout Unlimited, Fulton Co. Rabbittown Bunnies, Hall Co.

Peanut Gallery, Fulton Co. Colehmayeh, Fulton Co. Georgia Southwestern Geology, Sumter Co. Burnt Hickory Hills, Cobb Co. Hippocampi, DeKalb Co. Salty, Cobb Co. Butler Creek South, Richmond Co.

Confluence Updates
March 16th-17th, 2012 Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center in Buford, Georgia
Online Registration Now Open!! Confluence information and registration can be found online at
www.GeorgiaAdoptAStream.org or by calling the State Office at 404.675.6240. Registration is $20.00 per person and includes Confluence materials, meals and door prizes.

Agenda at a Glance: Friday Events
2:00-5:30 pm: `More Than A Message' Workshop with Eric Eckl (free, registration required) 3:00-5:30 pm: Tree Top Canopy Quest (10% discount for Confluence attendees) 5:30-9:00 pm: Confluence Social ($15, registration required)

Saturday Events
8:00 am: Registration 9:00 am: Welcome and Opening Remarks 9:15 am: Keynote Speaker Eric Eckl of Water Words that Work 10:00 am: Morning Session 11:30 am: Posters, Lunch and Awards 1:30 pm: Afternoon Session 3:30 pm: Basin Breakouts 4:30 pm: Closing Remarks

Morning Session - Rain Gardens - Visual Stream Monitoring - Macroinvertebrate Identification - Water Words that Work Part 1 - Reducing Your Water Footprint - Clean Water Act 101

Afternoon Session - Watershed Delineation - Streambank Restoration - AAS Database - Water Words that Work Part 2 - AAS in the Classroom - Pollution Prevention - Working to Protect Georgia's Waters

Thank You to Our Sponsors & Partners:

Sponsorship: We are still seeking conference sponsors and donations for our silent auction and door prizes. All donations are tax deductible through our fiscal partner, the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, and can be made by contacting us at AAS@gaepd.org or by phone at 404.675.6240.

Thank You to Our Active QA/QC Trainers, You Are Gold to Us!
*Trainers who have led at least one QA/QC workshop in 2011

Laura Aikens Jennifer Arp Frank Carl Vicki Culbreth Ruth Eilers Kevin Finney Lori Forrester Mary Gazaway Renee Gracon Harold Harbert Annie Huff

Sheila Humphrey Bob Joyner Chris Kodani John Kominoski Shelly Krueger John Malloy Dan McBee Jennifer McCoy Ruth Mead Susan Meyers Kate Mowbray

Michael O'Shield Robert Phillips David Promis Lisa Randolph Michael Reardon Andrea Searles Tom Sewell Tyler Sims Kevin Smith Sharon Smith Brian Sterner

Sue Sturges William Tietjen Johnna Tuttle Kelly Voss Andrew Walter Dianna Wedincamp Jim Wedincamp Tom Weiland Dave Wenner Brian Wiley

Welcome New Trainers and Coordinators

Alexa Robinson-Spalding Co. Brandi Cagle-Augusta Eric Cagle-Augusta Jason Ulseth-Chattahoochee Joshua Smith-Consauga Pam Keel-Fulton Co.

Rachel Small-Cobb Co. Dave Smith-Coweta Co. Wentzel Briar-Augusta Alex Foshee-Rome Chad Johnfroe-Rome Lauren Mullen-Rome

Bryan Sandidge-Rome Jose Canedo-Muscogee Co. Roger Martin-Chattahoochee Jennifer Collins-Muscogee Co. Cassie Myers-Muscogee Co. Sue Ebanks-Coastal Georgia

Beverly English-Coastal Georgia Jan Mackinnon-Coastal Georgia Kristin Peney-Coastal Georgia Obby Tapley-Coastal Georgia Elizabeth Harris-Coastal Georgia Blake Caldwell-Coastal Georgia

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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