Georgia adopt-a-stream, 2017 April/June [Apr.-June 2017]

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream
Volume 24, Number 2 April - June 2017
Adopt-A-Stream Staff, Editors
Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division
Congratulations to the 2016 Adopt-A-Stream Award Winners!
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is sincerely grateful for all the volunteers, trainers and partners who give their time and energy to protect and improve Georgia's waterways. We are honored to recognize the following individuals and groups for their achievements.
Adopt-A-Stream Trainer Awards
Kevin Smith, Trainer of the Year (Paid) Keep Forsyth County Beautiful ~ 26 Workshops ~ 412 Volunteers Certified
Kevin is a veteran Chemical, Bacterial, Macroinvertebrate and Amphibian trainer. He assisted two schools working to gain STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) certification by training every 4th and 5th grader in chemical and macroinvertebrate sampling and every 2nd and 3rd grader in a new frog monitoring program.

Frank Carl, Trainer of the Year (Unpaid)
Savannah Riverkeeper 11 Workshops ~ 66 Volunteers Certified
Frank is a veteran trainer in Chemical, Macroinvertebrate, Bacterial and Visual monitoring. He accompanies volunteers to monitor their streams until they can confidently gather accurate data alone. Frank established a listserv to announce monitoring events and share interpretation of monitoring results.

Photo by Joe Cook

Tamela Mills, New Trainer of the Year (Unpaid)
Yellow River Water Trail 12 Workshops ~ 31 Volunteers Certified

Tamela is a Chemical, Bacterial and Macroinvertebrate trainer and promotes workshops through local papers and social media. Tamela works to ensure new volunteers have equipment and a group so that they are more likely to stay engaged with the program. In addition, Tamela helps maintain a collaborative relationship between Georgia Wildlife Federation, the City of Covington and AAS volunteers.

Sumner Gann, New Trainer of the Year (Paid) Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful
12 Workshops ~ 86 Volunteers Certified
Sumner trains Chemical and Bacterial volunteers and partners with the Gwinnett Department of Water Resources to offer free monitoring equipment. She also provides a guide with helpful tips and instructions to get new volunteers started. With Sumner's leadership, Gwinnett AAS has grown from 12 sites in 2015 to 31 sites in 2016, and the number of volunteer hours increased by 26%.

Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer Awards
Jackson Lake Homeowners Assoc., Extraordinary Volunteer Watershed Effort Jackson Lake ~ Chemical & Bacterial Monitors ~ Active Since 2014 ~ 43 Monitoring Events
The Jackson Lake Homeowners Association (JLHA) has a core group of 5 members who conduct chemical and bacterial monitoring at 5 sites each month. They host 4 trash cleanups every year and offer support to other organizations for additional cleanups. They also share their monitoring results with JLHA members and other homeowners at meetings and in newsletters. They even invite guest speakers from Georgia Power, local water trails, and the water quality field to address their quarterly meetings.
Gretchen Lugthart, Outstanding Outreach and Partnership Award Dalton ~ Chemical Monitor ~ Active Since 2012 ~ 13 Monitoring Events Gretchen Lugthart is the leader of the group "Lugthart AAS Clan" and has monitored a section of Mill Creek for several years. Gretchen actively seeks ways to improve water quality in the Conasauga River watershed. She recently helped two neighboring landowners plant several hundred seedling trees along their sections of creek bank to protect the buffer. The funds to purchase the trees came from a 319 grant and students helped with the planting. Gretchen has also organized the annual Conasauga Watershed Cleanup, an annual "Stream Zoo" booth and has taught two stream ecology classes at Dalton State College.
Peter Fox, Excellence in Data Collection Macon ~ Chemical & Bacterial Monitor ~ Active Since 2009 ~ 28 Monitoring Events Peter adopted 2 sites on the Lower Ocmulgee River Watershed 4 years ago, which was significant because volunteer water quality data had been lacking in this area for years. Peter has collected data once a month for four years without missing one sampling event. He drives 100 miles to conduct his monitoring, compiles annotated time lapse photos of his sites and is always looking to recruit more volunteers.
Edward Hafner, Volunteer of the Year Griffin ~ Chemical, Macroinvertebrate & Visual Monitor ~ Active Since 2015 ~
32 Monitoring Events Edward quickly became certified in Chemical, Macroinvertebrate and Bacterial Monitoring and has also conducted visual monitoring. He regularly monitors and collects trash at two sites on a stream near his home. Though restricted by his work schedule, he monitors consistently and thoroughly documents all major changes and matters of concern.
Anne Ledbetter, Red Flag Award Cobb County ~ Chemical, Bacterial & Macroinvertebrate Monitor ~ Active Since 2012 ~
16 Monitoring Events On February 13, 2016, when there had been no recent rain events, Anne knew to quickly report that Poplar Creek had high flows and was very turbid. She took photos of the issue and provided a map of the suspected source. This information was helpful to the City of Smyrna officials who responded and soon found an issue with a nearby detention pond. Anne's actions helped to resolve a water quality issue and educate the retail developer, hopefully deterring them from repeating the violation at other locations.

Adopt-A-Stream Volunteer Awards continued...
ERM Atlanta, Nymph Award Cobb County ~ Chemical, Bacterial & Macroinvertebrate Monitor ~ Active Since 2012 ~
15 Monitoring Events In 2015, Amy Gutierrez and Julie Knight at ERM Atlanta contacted the Cobb County Watershed Stewardship Program to see how AAS would fit with their internal sustainability program. ERM Atlanta adopted a site on Gunby Creek to monitor runoff from nearby developments and their office building. What really sets ERM Atlanta apart is the amount of staff engagement within the firm. They have contributed over 135 volunteer hours and have never missed a month of data submission. The company has invited Adopt-A-Stream trainers to give presentations during staff meetings, and ERM Atlanta has continued to involve their staff in monitoring events to raise awareness of their potential impacts on the watershed.
Beyond Borders Awards This award goes to trainers, volunteers or groups who have gone beyond the call of duty to improve water
quality and meet AAS goals outside the state of Georgia.

Dr. Jack Turner & Beth Button Spartanburg, SC
Jack and Beth with the Watershed Ecology Center (WEC) of the University of South Carolina (USC) Upstate hosted 10 AAS training workshops and issued 90 certifications in 2016.

Shelly Krueger Florida Keys
Shelly developed Florida Keys Water Watch, which uses the same volunteer water quality monitoring procedures as GA AAS. Shelly has trained residents and students who monitor 75 sites in Florida.

Rachel & Adam Enggasser Greenville, SC
Adam and Rachel organized their high schools to conduct a city-wide monitoring event. They found the source of a bacterial impairment issue and worked with local officials to resolve the problem.

Legacy Trainer Thank you, Vicki Culbreth with City of Roswell, for 10+ years of active service as an AAS
Trainer and for your dedication and enthusiasm!

Want to Organize a River Cleanup in your Neighborhood?
The Rivers Alive website offers many resources to help you organize and promote a safe and fun cleanup in your community! Check out the homepage for links to `Tools for Organizing a Cleanup' as well as our Organizer's page for a FAQ guide, checklists and important documents to help your event run smoothly.
Register your August to December cleanup by July 31st to be eligible for free t-shirts and promotional materials!
Or, you can volunteer at an existing cleanup to help protect your local waterways! Head over to the `Locate a cleanup' page for a listing of upcoming cleanups. www.RiversAlive.Georgia.Gov

Adopt-A-Stream Watershed Awards

Georgia Adopt-A-Stream's annual Watershed Awards honor the efforts of local public utilities, government agencies, regional commissions, non-profits and watershed organizations that excelled in implementing the goals of AAS.

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful

Cobb County Watershed Stewardship Program

Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful works with the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources to reduce litter by focusing on targeted watersheds. To increase awareness of litter and other nonpoint source pollutants, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful developed the ME Campaign, for "My Environment." Through the AAS program, volunteers were recruited to conduct water quality data in these watersheds, more than doubling the number of sites from 2015 to 2016.

During the 2015-2016 school year, this program provided 396 hours of free watershed outreach programming for 84 schools, 663 classrooms and 15,269 students. Cobb's AAS program continues to offer free workshops to certify citizens in chemical, bacterial and macroinvertebrate water quality monitoring. In 2016, program staff facilitated 32 workshops, trained 320 volunteers, and provided 359 certifications. Volunteers from Cobb County have submitted over 2,900 data points to the Adopt-A-Stream database.

City of Griffin

City of Griffin coordinated a program in which students collected monthly chemical and macroinvertebrate data and aided the school in earning STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) certification. In 2016, Alexa Robinson conducted 9 AAS workshops and trained 52 volunteers. She also conducted speaking engagements at community garden meetings, environmental board meetings and in K-12 classrooms.

Help Us Find This Year's Award Winners!
See full award category descriptions and submit nominations all year on the AAS Awards Submission page at www.AdoptAStream.Georgia.Gov.
Thanks to our Generous 2017 Confluence Sponsors

For a complete list of event sponsors, visit the Confluence page at www.AdoptAStream.Georgia.Gov.

Thank YOU for Making Confluence 2017 a Success!
"Great experience. Great people. Great location and atmosphere."
"What a super event! I look forward to this every
year and they just keep getting better.

"Meeting all of the other fellow citizen scientists and engaging with the academic resources that are available to help with our growing understanding of
environmental factors."
I love the variety of sessions, the keynote speaker and meeting with old and new friends"

"Loved it! This was an amazing event. I loved every second of it."

"LOVED the food! LOVE the t-shirt!"
"First time attending, really enjoyed all the
enthusiasm and knowledge sharing
that happened!"

Quotes from Confluence attendees via post-survey. See more photos from the conference on the AAS Facebook page!

Board Member Spotlight: Tony Dodd, Georgia Power
Adopt-A-Stream Advisory (AAS) Board Member Tony Dodd is an Environmental Specialist with Georgia Power Company in Atlanta. He is an AFS Certified Fisheries Professional, NALMS Certified Lake Manager, and Board Member and past Secretary of the Georgia Lake Society. Since receiving a B.S. in Marine Biology from Troy University in 1982 and before joining GPC in 2007 he worked with the GDNR's Coastal Resources Division and several environmental consulting businesses. Tony conducted aquatic ecological investigations in streams, wetlands, and lakes in many areas of the eastern US. Those assessments involved a variety of disciplines in surface water quality, instream flow, sediment quality, watershed bioassessment, fisheries and fish health assessment, environmental toxicology, relicensing and compliance studies for industry and electric power generation facilities.
Tony's introduction to AAS began years ago through friends and coworkers who were students, trainers and advisors of AAS including now retired, former co-worker, Tom Broadwell. Tony's service as a program coordinator for the Southeastern Lake Management Conference in 2010 opened new friendships with the AAS Advisory Board which ultimately led to membership and service assisting with AAS's annual `Confluence' and other committees. Tony's primary involvement has been rooted in his technical interest in wanting to see AAS's Program, including the Adopt-A-Lake component, continue to grow with Georgia's burgeoning population of citizen scientists. Tony thanks you all for your commitment to AAS as he expresses the great privilege to be associated with the AAS Advisory Board and the AAS mission in continuing more than 20 years of volunteer-based growth in education and natural resource stewardship.

Volume 24, Number 2 April - June 2017
The preparation of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream quarterly newsletter is financed in part through a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency under provisions of Section 319(h) of the Federal Clean Water Act of 1987, as amended. For more information about the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program or to contribute to the newsletter, contact:
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream Environmental Protection Division 2 MLK Jr. Dr. SE, Suite 1462 East Atlanta, GA 30334 404.651.8512 / 404.651.8517 AdoptAStream.Georgia.Gov
AAS Staff: Harold Harbert, Seira Baker and Meredith Whitten
GO BLUE! Sign up for our e-newsletter
by emailing us at AAS@dnr.ga.gov

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Thank you to the 2017 Water Science Poster Session Presenters!
This year's water science poster session held at the annual Adopt-A-Stream conference Friday Social on March 24th was a great success with seven presenters who educated attendees about their student research and volunteer monitoring projects. The session included presentations from high school, undergraduate and graduate students as well as AAS volunteers.
Presenters' projects and abstracts can be found on the Water Science Poster Presenters & Winners page! Want to be a part of this fun session next year? Check out the guidelines and resources on the Confluence page of the AAS website.
Save the date for next year's Adopt-A-Stream conference:
Confluence 2018 March 23--24
Environmental & Heritage Center in Buford, GA