Adopt-a-stream, Vol. 4, no. 6 (Nov./Dec. 1997)

GEORGIA
Adopt-A-Stream
Volume 4, Number 6, November/December 1997
Eve Funderburk, Editor
What A Day!

Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division

Even drizzle, hail and fog could not stop the dedicated citizens around the State of Georgia from attending, speaking at, and generally making the Fourth Annual Adopt-A-Stream conference a huge success. Preliminary numbers put conference attendance at 340! Dr. Ben Dysart, Dysart and Associates, started off the conference with a bang during his energizing keynote speech. We ended on a great note, too, with Mr. Charles Seabrook from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution presenting the volunteer recognition awards during the lunch ceremony. Although a little soggy, the field trips were rumored to be lots of fun. Thanks to all of you who braved the weather to join us at North Georgia College and State University for a day of informative sessions and a chance to learn what others are doing around the State. We couldn't do this without all of our amazing volunteers!!
Students attending this year's conference had a new choice to make - attend the regular sessions OR attend the special Youth Track Session sponsored by the Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association. Thanks to GW&PCA and local water utilities, 75 students were sponsored to attend the conference. All were welcome to sit in the fun and educational Project WET sessions on groundwater, wetlands, wastewater treatment and macroinvertebrate mayhem. We were all impressed with the number of students at this year's conference!
U Check out some of the Outstanding Award Winners:
U Volunteer of the Year, Ellen Busck, City of Roswell Adopt-A-Stream U Program of the Year, the Proctor Creek Watershed Education Initiative,
The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper and the Carver Hills Sustainable Communities Initiative U Nymph Award, Brenda Brochstein and the Sutton Middle School StreamKeepers U Partnership of the Year, Georgia Adopt-A-Lake, Georgia Lake Management Society and Georgia EPD U Student Project of the Year, The Stream Adventurers of the Friends School U Outstanding Beautification Award, Help the Hooch - Columbus, GA and
Ft. Pulaski Savannah River Clean Up - Savannah, GA U Project WET Teacher of the Year, Karen Horacek, Baker Elementary U Special Recognition, Dee McCoy-Hunter, Savannah, GA
Bill Pardue, Atlanta, GA Kendryck Starks, Gwinnett County, GA Brad Britton, Dorothy Weatherby and John and Gretchen Lugthart, Conasauga Watershed Adopt-A-Stream

Thank you North Georgia College and State University and the conference planning committee for helping us host this wonderful event again! We're already looking forward to next year's conference!

Let's Get Clean!
The 1997 Georgia River Clean Up Week has come to a close, bringing to light several success stories. Here are two that show forming partnerships is a vital part of getting all of the community involved:

Savannah's Clean Up - Denise Ransom, SavannahChatham County Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator
The Jiffy Lube Ft. Pulaski River Clean Up was held in Savannah, Georgia on Saturday, October 19 . Despite overcast skies and the prediction of rain (which held off just long enough!), we had 95 volunteers of all ages turn out to pick up trash from the Savannah River. Approximately 60 bags of trash, a 55-gallon drum, 4 tires and a complete wheel were all taken from the river and adjacent marsh.
The success of the clean up was no doubt largely due to our strong sponsor support. Jiffy Lube was the main sponsor of the clean up. Other major sponsors were I-95/WBMQ radio, Jones Communications (a local cable provider), Oatland Island Education Enter and Chatham County Adopt-AStream. Jiffy Lube invested in very substantial advertising on both television and radio, as well as advertised through flyers and on the marquees of the three Savannah stores for the clean up. They also purchased t-shirts for the volunteers. They will be following up this effort with a similar advertising campaign encouraging do-it-yourself mechanics to dispose of waste oil properly. All volunteers received free breakfast (courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts) free lunch from CiCi's Pizza and Pepsi, a t-shirt, water bottle,a free pay-per-view movie from Jones Communication and CDs from I-95.

The Third Annual Help-The-Hooch CleanUp - Becky

Champion, Adopt-A-Stream Regional Training Center

Director

The Third Annual Help-The-Hooch Cleanup

was a rousing success. The HTH Coalition that

coordinates the cleanup is headed by The Chattahoochee

Riverkeeper with Coalition members from the Columbus

Water Works, Columbus State University, Oxbow

Meadows Environmental Learning Center, Keep

Columbus Beautiful Commission, Columbus Regional

Medical Center, The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer,

Peachtree Mall, Chattahoochee Valley Community

College, River Kids, Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources

Division, Alabama Natural Resources Conservation

Service, The Jordan Company, and The Riverfront

Development Committee.

The event has grown

by a factor of 2 every year both in sponsors and

participants. The 1995 event had 500 participants with 6 sponsors. In 1996, we grew to 1,200 participants with 12 sponsors. This year we had 2,400 volunteers with 32 sponsors! Sponsors ranged from individuals, to small businesses to large corporations. The sponsors helped raise $1,500 and provided over $30,000 in in-kind services. One of the truly exciting aspects of our project is the watershed concept. This is a 2 state venture with Phenix City, Alabama and Russell County pulling a
tremendous effort. Not only this, but we also had great publicity and lots of education concerning the river and the watershed.
FYI - Georgia's Streams will be focus of campaign Report outlines biological diversity
David Pace, Associated Press, October 31, 1997 Scientists released a new study of North
America's biological regions today, suggesting the continent contains some of the world's most ecologically important and environmentally degraded areas. The North American Conservation Assessment, produced by the World Wildlife Fund, found more than a quarter of the 116 "ecoregions" in North America are "globally significant", meaning their biological diversity equals or surpasses similar regions elsewhere in the world. But half of those regions also suffer severe environmental degradation, the study found. The World Wildlife Fund said it is launching a $10 million campaign to protect five of the most endangered regions. The five include the freshwater rivers and streams of Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee; the Florida Everglades; the Klamath Siskiyou forests of Oregon and Northern California; the Chihuahuan Desert in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico; and Alaska's Bering Sea. The five were selected based on the findings of the conservation assessment, complied over the past two years by more than 70 scientists.
William Eichbaum, the Wildlife Fund's vice president for U.S. programs, said the focus of the $10 million initiative will be to marshal public and private resources to reverse the decline of the biological diversity in the five regions. The assessments will reflect the new emphasis in environmental science to study and protect entire ecosystems, rather than simply focusing on individual endangered species and pollution hot spots.

Local Happenings...

Patch Work!!
Junior Girl Scout Troop 8163 and Cub Scout Den 4, Pack 266 have been part of the Georgia Adopt-A-Stream program since January 1996. The group adopted Wildcat Creek located in the Dunwoody Nature Center, Dunwoody, GA and the name "Wildcat Stream Team." This patch was designed by their leader, Mrs. Nancy Gerson, to be worn on their hats while they do chemical and biological monitoring. The girls are all 6th graders at Sandy Springs Middle School this year. What a great patch and an original way to get people to take notice!

Coosa River Basin Initiative Fifth Annual Meeting
Don't miss the November 14th CRBI Annual Meeting at Heritage Hall in Downtown Rome, GA! The keynote speaker will be Georgia Representative Buddy Childers. Be sure to be a part of next year's planning and learn all that has been accomplished this year. For more information, call Beth Fraser at 706-235-0131, email crbi@roman.net

Catalog of Federal Funding Sources for Watershed Protection
This EPA catalog has recently been published to provide information to State and local water resource professional and watershed groups on Federal funding programs that might be available to fund different aspects of watershed protection and local-level watershed projects. The catalog contains on-page fact sheets for each of the 52 funding sources that indicate to the reader what type of activities are funded and who is eligible for funding. Contacts and internet sites are also provided for each of the programs. Copies of the document are available free from the National Center for Environmental Publications in Cincinnati at (513) 489-8190 or (800) 490-9198 and fax 513-489-8695. Please include the EPA document number (EPA841-B-97-008) when ordering. In addition, the document can be found on the Watershed Academy homepage (http://www.epa.gov/OWOW/watershed/wacademy/fund.html).

When do I need new chemicals??

New method for determining reagent expiration, Chris Loft, Texas Watch Aquatic Scientist from the Texas Watch

Newsletter, Summer 1997

How can you tell when your reagents were produced? In the lower left corner on any LaMotte reagent's label

is a six (sometimes seven) digit number. The first three digits of this number indicate the date of manufacture of the

reagent. The first two numbers indicate the week, and third number indicates the year (in the 1990s) of manufacture.

Example: A reagent with 276175 on the lower left of the label was manufactured in the 27 week (July) of 1996,

while 0872321 would have been made in week 8 (February) of 1997. Texas Watch suggests when opening new reagents,

check this manufacture date, and by using the accompanying table, write the expiration date on each bottle. By having

the expiration date on each bottle, and then checking them each time you

monitor, you

will always know when they will need replacing. (A good suggestion for Georgia

Adopt-A-

Stream groups doing chemical monitoring, too!)

Shelf Life of Monitoring Reagents

Manganese Sulfate Alkaline Potassium Iodide Sulfuric Acid Sodium Thiosulfate Starch Indicator pH Wide Range Indicator

3 years 3 years 3 years 1 year
1.5 years 2 years

Helpful Hint: Easy as 1, 2, 3: For LaMotte Dissolved Oxygen test -- Label the caps of the first 3 reagents used in
dissolved oxygen testing 1(Manganous Sulfate Solution), 2 (Alkaline Potassium Iodide Azide), and 3 (Sulfuric Acid) to make it quicker and easier for you to do the test! Word of caution - be sure not to mix up the caps!
1997 Adopt-A-Stream Training Workshops
The following workshops introduce volunteers to specific water quality monitoring techniques and background information. Call to reserve your space in the following workshops. Space is limited!

What Biological Level I Citizens Watershed Mtg
Level I & Chemical

When Nov. 15
Nov. 15 Dec. 6
Dec. 6

Where Fernbank Science Ctr.
North GA College Emory University
Dunwoody Nature Ctr.

To Register 404-656-0099
706-864-1893 404-656-0099 or 404-352-9828 404-656-0099

Our workshop schedule is slowing for the winter months. Be sure to check out our 1998 workshop schedule which will be available shortly.
~~~~~Surf City~~~~~~~
Looking for some web fun? Check out these web sites: Calendar of upcoming environmental events can be found at www.ctic.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/Calendar.exe For wetland references and resources, go to www.epa.gov/docsRegion4Wet/wetlands.html Learn more about the Georgia Department of Natural Resources at www.ganet.org/dnr/ For more information on Georgia Environmental Protection Division check out www.dnr.state.ga.us/epd The Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper is located at www.riverkeeper.org Don't miss the chance to Surf Your Watershed at this cool EPA site www.epa.gov/surf/

Mail Bag
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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 7 ML King Dr. SW, Suite 643 Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-0099