High Schools and Universities Team Up for Water Quality Monitoring

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High Schools and Universities Team Up for Water
Quality Monitoring

• The Lower Fox River Watershed
  Monitoring Project
• FWWA Stormwater Conference
• Neenah, WI
• March 31, 2004

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Overall Project Goal

• Establish a long-term monitoring program that
  improves our ability to address watershed quality
  issues (water quality, ecosystem integrity,
  etc.).

3
Project History
4
Project Partners

• UWGB Project Coordination
• UW-Milwaukee
• 5 High Schools
• Arjo Wiggins Appleton, Inc.
• USGS
• GBMSD
• Oneida Nation
• County Conservation Departments

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Major Project Elements

• Continuous Monitoring
• USGS, UW Milwaukee, UWGB, Oneidas, GBMSD
• School-based stream ecosystem monitoring
• UW Milwaukee Stream Ecology Group
• High school monitoring program

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Continuous Monitoring Program

• 5 USGS Monitoring Stations
• Real-time flow data
• Precipitation
• Sediment and
  nutrient loads
• Teachers can use
  data for classroom
  comparisons

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Continuous Monitoring Program

• UW-Milwaukee
• YSI multi-parameter sondes
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Turbidity
• pH
• Summer biotic assessments
• Macroinvertebrates
• Fish
• Habitat

• Conductivity
• Temperature
• Depth

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School-Based Monitoring Program

• Structured to provide meaningful, long-term data
• Picture of existing conditions (Baseline)
• Changing conditions over time (Trends)
• Can be used by students, teachers, scientists and
  managers to answer questions about watershed
  dynamics and integrity. (Cause and effect
  relationships)

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Four Watersheds / Five Schools

• Spring, summer and fall monitoring for water
  quality and habitat at
• Baird Creek (Luxemburg-Casco / Green Bay West)
• Duck Creek (Green Bay Southwest)
• Apple Creek (Appleton East)
• Spring Brook (Markesan)

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Sampling Locations
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School-Based Parameters

• Physical Elements
• Temperature
• Turbidity (Clarity)
• Specific Conductance
• Streamflow

• Chemical Elements
• pH
• Dissolved Oxygen
• Soluble Reactive P
• Nitrate
• Ammonia

Biotic Elements Habitat Macroinvertebrates Amphibi
ans Birds
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Setting up the Program

• Teacher / School Participation
• Curriculum Issues
• Training Teachers and Students
• Sharing Lessons Learned

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Teacher / School Participation

• Selection of teachers
• Gaining support from school administrators
• Financial support
• Equipment
• Stipends
• Travel expenses

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Curriculum Issues

• All schools using the same methods and equipment
  for data comparability
• Protocols based on the Student Watershed Research
  Project (SWRP) in Oregon
• Flexibility for individual schools to incorporate
  the program as a classroom or club activity
• College credit available for participating high
  school seniors

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Training Teachers and Students

• Determining the level of training needed for
  teachers
• Summer Teacher Training Workshops
• Periodic training updates during the school year
• Sampling assistance provided
• Students trained by individual teachers

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Summer Workshop

• 3 ½ days at UWGB
• Watershed Science
• Protocol overview
• Hands-on practice in lab and field
• WQ
• Habitat Bugs
• Birds Frogs
• Use and access to data

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Sharing Lessons Learned

• Project website
• http//www.uwgb.edu/watershed/
• Annual Watershed Symposium
• May 19, 2004
  at UWGB

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Annual Watershed Symposium

• Hands-on training for bird monitoring
• Students learn about Fox-Wolf basin and bigger
  picture in joint student and community plenary
  session.
• Student Teams share information about their
  watershed and monitoring techniques
• Students Teams participate in monitoring
  technique challenges (quiz bowl)

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Questions?