Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter October-December 2019 Subs cribe Pas t Is s ue s October-December 2019 https://mailchi.mp/bcadfc24feff/adopt-a-stream-newsletter-april-june-28... View this email in y our browser Trans late RSS Send Us Your AAS Award Nominations! October-December 2019 Newsletter at a Glance The full version of the newsletter is available on the Adopt-A-Stream website. Five Years of Fall Float on the Flint: A Comparison of Nitrate Data Confluence 2020 is just around the corner, and one of our favorite parts of our annual conference is the Adopt-A-Stream Awards. T he awards ceremony is our chance to celebrate YOU, and all of the amazing work you do! Nominate an outstanding volunteer, trainer, or watershed group (or yourself!) for an AAS award today! Deadline for submissions: January 13th, 2020 See full award category descriptions and submit nominations on the AAS Awards Submission page. New Adopt-A-Stream Groups Garrison Mill Target Jaki LGriffin Social Circle Chemistry Class Roberts Rockets SHCA Camden County Challenge - David L. Rainer Sugarmill Challenge Rossi Rascals JC Linear Park Lake Camden County Challenge Matilda Harris Elementary Tolomato Island, Darien Remember to Submit Your 2019 Data! With 2020 right around the In addition to natural variation, human activity can have a large impact on nitrate concentrations in streams. Sewage leaks, agricultural runoff and pet waste can all cause spikes in nitrate levels. If they reach high enough levels, the stream can become eutrophic, or oversaturated with nutrients. Algal blooms often form in these conditions. When they die, bacteria come to break the algae down, depleting the dissolved oxygen in the process and making it very hard for organisms like macroinvertebrates and fish to survive. Many volunteers wonder why nitrates are not one of the Adopt-A-Stream core parameters if they can have such a huge impact on the health of a stream. To determine the validity of field nitrate testing, we utilized data collected during our 5 years of participation in Georgia River Network's Fall Float on the Flint. We compared results from field techniques, specifically those collected using the LaMotte Nitrate Nitrogen (high range, 0-15 ppm) Tablet Test Kit, to data from samples sent to the UGA and Jones Center Labs to determine the accuracy of such methods. Read More Georgia River Network by Dana Skelton, Director of Advocacy and Operations Rise and shine at 6am, grab a sack lunch, jump on a bus headed for the river, launch a canoe, take water samples all day and then process those samples at night. T his is a day in the life of the Adopt-A-Stream staff when they team up with Georgia River Network (GRN) on our Paddle Georgia, Spring on the Satilla, and Fall Float trips. GRN has been a partner of AAS for many years, co-hosting conferences, conducting trainings and joining forces for events. For over 15 years, AAS staff have trained GRN paddle trip participants, including our underserved youth group, in monitoring techniques while they paddle the river. T hese participants are then able to take this knowledge back to their hometowns to start their own monitoring program or join up with existing groups. Read More Community Partnership Highlight: Flint Riverkeeper Flint Riv e rke e pe r 's Work, Goals and Call to Arms by R.J. Gipaya, Watershed Specialist for Flint Riverkeeper Since 2008, the Flint Riverkeeper (FRk) organization has been watching over the Flint River watershed, which stretches from Metro Atlanta all the way to Lake Seminole on the Florida-Georgia border, and has tirelessly worked toward establishing and maintaining a resource with enough clean water to 1 of 4 1/2/2020, 8:19 AM Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter October-December 2019 https://mailchi.mp/bcadfc24feff/adopt-a-stream-newsletter-april-june-28... Subs cribe Pas t Is s ue s corner, now is the time to finish submitting any unentered data from this past year so that we can ensure that our annual analysis is as accurate and inclusive as possible. You can submit your data through our website at AdoptAStream.Georgia.gov. While you're there, you can also check out the graphs to see seasonal and long- term changes and trends at your site! Please send any questions or concerns about the data submission process to AAS@gaepd.org. We will work as quickly as possible to respond to your issues and questions. T hank you so much for all of your hard work in 2019 we truly couldn't do it without our incredible vo l u n te e rs! Riffles Around Us: Check these out! AAS Award Nominations due January 13 AAS Water Science Poster Abstract due January 13 EEA Conference 2020 March 6-8, Jekyll Island Confluence 2020 March 27-29, Unicoi State Park & Lodge Visit our online calendar for monitoring workshops and AAS events! If you'd like to become an AAS trainer, please contact the State Office for workshop information. Check out our website! Trans late RSS support the surrounding communities and ecosystems. One of FRk's goals this year is to help Adopt-A-Stream establish a large and reliable group of volunteers throughout the Flint River watershed. Hopefully this short term goal will turn into a long term success, ensuring the health of the river and its watershed for years to come. We have been working with local communities to help draw interest to the Adopt-A-Stream program by hosting training events, finding funding for kits and helping people identify areas around them to do their own testing. Read More Community Partnership Highlight: Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Working Toge the r to Ke e p Watch Ov e r All Our Wate rs by Mike Meyer, Program Director of Neighborhood Water Watch Chattahoochee Riverkeeper (CRK) firmly believes partnerships play an essential role in its mission to advocate for and secure the protection and stewardship of the Chattahoochee River and its tributaries for the people and wildlife that depend on them. In fact, CRK has been partnering with Georgia Adopt-A-Stream, local watershed groups and community partners to monitor creeks and waterways through Neighborhood Water Watch (NWW) since 2012. With NWW, creek-side communities and groups up and down the Chattahoochee Watershed participate in weekly water sampling, delivering collected samples to trained CRK staff. T hese staff members then utilize up-to-date Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved procedures to test for E.coli and other indicators to assess and address waterway health and potential sources of contamination. Read More Board Member Highlight: Jessica Sterling, Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jessica (Jess) Sterling joined the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream (AAS) board in 2018, but was first trained as an AAS volunteer in 2004 with the Upper Oconee Watershed Network in Athens. Jess had just moved to Athens from her native state of Ohio, where she developed a love of water during summers spent with her family on the Great Lakes. She was feeling landlocked in Athens as a University of Georgia genetics research lab technician, so getting involved with AAS was the ideal way for Jess to get in the water and do science outside of the lab. Soon after getting her AAS certifications, Jess joined the board of the Upper Oconee Watershed Network (UOWN). She became active with the group's science and monitoring committee and continued sampling streams in the Athens area. She became the organization's President in 2005 and served as the volunteer leader of UOWN until 2008, working on sewer issues, promoting stream buffers and water conservation with local government, and organizing the group's annual River Rendezvous. She also met some new friends, started paddling, and fell in love with Georgia's diverse rivers. Read More Like us on Facebook! Follow us on Instagram! How to Download Data from the AAS Website Are you a trainer looking for a way to display data collected by Adopt-A-Stream volunteers in your area? A researcher looking to utilize citizen science data from multiple different regions for a study? Or maybe just a curious citizen that wants to know more about what is happening in the waterbodies in your backyard? Whatever your reason, it is quick and easy to access all of the Adopt-A-Stream data through our website, AdoptAStream.Georgia.gov. Simply go to the "Data Views" tab and click on the "View Data by Region" in the dropdown. T hen, you can sort the data based on city, county, watershed, coastal, and water plan region. Once sorted, you can select the year you would like to view (or even "all years" if you wish to view all of the data for that region) and then click "Save to Excel" to download. If you have questions or concerns about accessing your data, please contact the AAS State Office at AAS@gaepd.org. 2 of 4 1/2/2020, 8:19 AM Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter October-December 2019 Subs cribe Pas t Is s ue s https://mailchi.mp/bcadfc24feff/adopt-a-stream-newsletter-april-june-28... Trans late RSS Thank You and Good Luck, Seira! Seirisse (Seira) Baker has contributed a lot to the water quality community in Georgia and it has been an honor having her on our team. If you were looking for the textbook Adopt-A-Stream workshop, you need look no further than Seira; she was always organized and prepared, her attention to quality assurance impeccable. And her communication and writing skills were downright legendary. In fact, we've saved many of her correspondences for use by future coordinators! "I have so appreciated learning from and working with all of you over the last five years. I owe a lot of professional as well as personal growth to my experience with AAS... Georgia is a beautiful state and I am thankful that I have had the chance to experience the geographic and ecological diversity it offers. However, my favorite part of working with AAS has been the incredible community of people that make this program as powerful as it has grown to be today... Thanks for all you've taught me and for the passion and dedication you give to protecting our waterways. I'm so thankful and proud that Georgia has these programs to engage and support our citizens, and I am grateful to have been a part of them." -Seira Baker Behind her serious and professional demeanor was a genuine sense of humor and an ability to make light of even the most challenging situations, like spending 16-hour days paddling and monitoring Georgia rivers, sitting through mind-numbing IT database meetings and responding to tricky inquiries from oh-so-passionate volunteers! We wish Seira the best as she embarks on a new life in her hometown of Asheville, pursuing graduate school and new career opportunities. Adopt-A-Stream will certainly miss you! - Harold Harbert, Adopt-A-Stream Manager Georgia Adopt-A-Stream is a program of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division Outreach Program. The preparation of this newsletter was financed in part through a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under provisions of Section 319(h) of the Federal Clean Water Act of 1987, as amended. Our mailing address is: Georgia Environmental Protection Division 2 MLK Jr. Dr. S.E. Suite 1462 E Atlanta, GA 30334 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences 3 of 4 1/2/2020, 8:19 AM Adopt-A-Stream Newsletter October-December 2019 Subs cribe Pas t Is s ue s https://mailchi.mp/bcadfc24feff/adopt-a-stream-newsletter-april-june-28... Trans late RSS 4 of 4 1/2/2020, 8:19 AM