Adopt-a-stream, May-June 2013

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream

Volume 20, Number 3 May/June 2013
Tara Muenz, Editor

Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division

Happy 20th Birthday Georgia Adopt-A-Stream!

By Harold Harbert, EPD Outreach Program Manager

I t's hard to believe that Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is 20 years old. Or is it actually older? The birth of volunteer monitoring in Georgia is at best a little hazy, with many key figures contributing a little something to its creation, and with citizens, private and government agencies all playing a role.

By and large though, the initiation of the Adopt-A-Stream

program began with Georgia Environmental Protection

Divison's (EPD) hire of Laurie Hawks in 1992. The list of

accomplishments for the early program is impressive:

formation of the advisory board,

creation of the quality assurance

project plan, the visual, chemical

and biological manuals and

corresponding

QA/QC

workshops, the train-the-trainer

program, an annual conference,

a bi-monthly newsletter, a

promotional video for the

program and the Adopt-A-

Stream logo.

Since the program's inception, many state coordinators have contributed tremendously to our success, each adding a little something to strengthen and expand volunteer monitoring in Georgia. And, each has recognized a common theme: Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is only as strong as our partners.

Partners of the program have come in many shapes and forms, but they all share a common passion for protecting our most valuable resource: water. Working for county or city governments, watershed organizations, not-for-profit groups or for themselves, local leaders not only conduct water monitoring workshops, they play an important role in guiding the development of the statewide program. These partners help with creating new monitoring methods, updating resources, assisting with our conference and most importantly, being a resource for citizens. Simply put, we could not be successful without their support.

If the state and local leaders are proud of their accomplishments, it can only be due to the incredible support Georgia citizens have provided. Just look at the numbers: in the past year volunteers monitored 487 sites, recording 16,633 data points. Over the last 20 years, more than 18,000 volunteers have participated in the monitoring program, conducting 20,248 monitoring events at 1,315 sites, totaling 107,715 data points. In monetary terms, the Independent Sector estimates the value of Georgia volunteers to be in excess of 3.5 million dollars.
While the monitoring numbers are impressive, the true value of the program may best be quantified in the
number of citizens engaged in watershed protection activities, helping to identify sewage leaks, erosion issues and stormwater runoff impacts. Through this process of engagement, citizens become invested in the health of their watershed.
Twenty years ago, Georgia EPD took a chance on starting a program that engaged citizens in learning about, monitoring and protecting our watersheds. It was a pretty radical idea at the time, and still is when you consider that Georgia might be the only state in the nation with a volunteer monitoring program housed in the state's regulatory agency.
For EPD, housing the Adopt-A-Stream program makes sense; Education and outreach are components of the regulatory permitting process, thus there is a logical connection between citizen monitoring and EPD. Those early pioneers of Georgia's volunteer water monitoring program may not have been fully aware of what they were creating, but their efforts sowed the seed for a very successful program, on many different levels. (Continued on the last page.)

Georgia Adopt-
199

1980's 1993
Stream Watch Trout Unlimited developed a procedure for observing and reporting water quality in Georgia and especially sediment problems. They called it `stream watch.'
Late 1980's

GA AAS Hires First State Coordinator Laurie Hawks Goals established, 300 volunteers active, 9 community programs initiated, and first rough drafts of manuals!

1994
First AAS Volunteer Awards Given

First AAS Conference Held at Kennesaw

Beginning ideas of a state `stream watch' program

1997

drifted through the halls of EPD=seed planted!

Freshwater Wetland

Monitoring

Program & Ma

1970's

AAS Advisory Board Formed Created

Eve Brantley (formerly

EPD Co-op Partnership with Trout Unlimited

Other local citizen Monitoring programs emerge in Georgia

Funderburk) Joins the Team as a State Coordinator

Began to sample streams in North Georgia

1991-1993

Teacher's Guide Created & First Newsletter Published

200

1996

1990
Gwinnett County Forms their Own AAS Program

1990 Ted Mikalsen

First Manuals are Official!

Biological & Chemical Getting Started

1998

Visual

Michele Drostin (forme

1995

Harold Harbert B State Coordin

Ted Mikalsen of EPD Water Protection Branch submits a grant proposal for a state `stream watch' program which gets approved! EPD contracts with ATL Regional Planning Commission to guide this effort including hiring a state coordinator, creating a program based on elements of a statewide `stream watch' program, GA Clean and Beautiful, Adopt-A-Highway, and Project WILD programs, as well as partnering with local governments and organizations. EPD applies for another grant to implement these ideas and was awarded!

Michele & Harold Significa Number of Community Coordin

-A-Stream History
93-2013

2006
5,000
Volunteers Reached!

Sally Mason Hired as State
Coordinator

2001

anual

Coastal Adopt-AWetland Program is Born!

2007
$1,000,000

Of In-kind Service to

300 & the State of Georgia

AAS

by AAS Volunteer

GROUPS!

Monitoring & Outreach Efforts

2013

600

100,000
Data Points Reached!
Over 70 Local

AAS AAS Programs &

2009

GROUPS Trainers Active

50,000
Data Points Reached!
Allison Hughes Returns for Round Two!

Tara Muenz Joins as State Coordinator
Database & Website Merge

29,000+ Monitoring Certifications
More Great Programmatic Updates to Come!

More Manuals! Watershed Visual (revised)
00
8
erly Droszcz) & Become nators
antly Expanded the nators in the Program

AAS Incorporates Amphibian Monitoring
Educator's Guide Created (revised
teacher's guide)
Allison Hughes Joins AAS as State Coordinator
2005
Bacterial Monitoring Manual Created
Kim Morris-Zarneke Hired as State Coordinator
2002

800
SITES ADOPTED!
10,000
Volunteers Reached!
$2,000,000
Of In-kind Service to the State of GA
New AAS Online Database Created
500
SITES ADOPTED!
2008

GO BLUE! E-newsletter Created

2010

Thank you volunteers & partners, we are so grateful
for your service to Georgia's waterways!

Volume 20, Number 3 May/June 2013
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
GO BLUE in 2013 by signing up for our e-newsletter & receive all the same news while saving our
natural resources. Sign up by emailing us at
aas@gaepd.org.

Dragonfly

Riffle Beetle

Dobsonfly

Stonefly

Net Spinning Caddisfly

Happy 20th Birthday Georgia Adopt-A-Stream! Cont'd

A s we look back at all those who contributed to the stream monitoring program in Georgia, it's important to understand the key role they all played in creating a foundation for our success. In the last few years, Georgia's volunteer monitoring program has experienced so much expansion, seemingly growing in leaps and bounds every year. With continued strong support from the state and federal government, our outstanding local community partners, and of course, the hard work of our dedicated volunteers, there's every reason to believe that the best of volunteer monitoring in Georgia has only just begun. Keep up the good work and thank you for your help in making us who we are today!

Laurie Hawks
1993-1997

Eve Brantley
1996-1998

Michele Drostin
1998-2001

Harold Harbert
1998-2005

Sally Mason
2006-2007

Kim MorrisZarneke
2002-2005

Allison Hughes
2005-2008 & 2009-2013

Tara Muenz
2009-present

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream's State Coordinators Over the Years

Please visit our calendar on www.GeorgiaAdoptAStream.org

for upcoming monitoring workshops and Adopt-A-Stream events.